Sid Haig, Horror Actor and Cult Figure, Dies at 80
Mr. Haig was a character actor with roles in more than 70 movies, including the murderous clown Captain Spaulding in Rob Zombie’s “House of 1000 Corpses.”
Sid Haig, a Hollywood character actor who for more than 50 years played thugs, villains and, most famously, a psychotic clown named Captain Spaulding, died on Saturday. He was 80.
His wife, Susan L. Oberg, announced his death on the actor’s Instagram account on Monday, writing, “He adored his family, his friends and his fans. This came as a shock to all of us.” No other details were given.
Mr. Haig, who lived in Los Angeles, played bit parts in more than 350 television shows and 70 movies, notably “Jackie Brown” and the James Bond thriller “Diamonds Are Forever.” He had become a cult figure among horror fans, who reveled in his portrayal of the murderous clown who terrorized people in the 2003 Rob Zombie film, “House of 1000 Corpses.” He would go on to play Captain Spaulding in two other films from the director.
Rob Zombie, a musician turned filmmaker, wrote on his Instagram account Monday of Mr. Haig’s death, “Horray for Captain Spaulding. Gone but not forgotten.” Fans, too, expressed their grief on Twitter. Mr. Haig was the recipient of numerous awards for his acting in horror movies. In August, he was awarded the Vincent Price Award for excellence in the horror genre.
“I had the greatest night of my career,” he wrote on Instagram then.
Mr. Haig was a hulk of a figure whose lanky, long body towered over fellow actors. He was born Sidney Eddie Mosesian on July 14, 1939, in Fresno, Calif., according to his official website. His parents were Armenian, and his father was an electrician. He took dancing lessons and acted in high school. And he loved music. In 1958, according to the website, he played drums on the song “Full House” by the T-Birds.
Soon after, he enrolled at the Pasadena Playhouse, a community theater with a school for theater arts that trained actors including Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman. In his early roles in film and on television, Mr. Haig played thugs and heavies mostly. In the 1968 cult classic “Spider Baby” he played a brother who cooks a cat; he was in the 1974 blaxploitation film “Foxy Brown” with Pam Grier; and he had a small role in “Diamonds Are Forever” in 1971.
Moviemakers delighted in his characters. Quentin Tarantino cast Mr. Haig in the 1997 movie “Jackie Brown,” a homage to the actor’s appearance in “Foxy Brown.” (Ms. Grier, too, starred in “Jackie Brown.”)
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