James Karen, Actor in 'Poltergeist' and So Much More, Dies at 94

The Hollywood Reporter ^ | October 24, 2018 | Mike Barnes

[Oatka]

He was a piece of work in "Return of the Living Dead". I'll stop and run the scene again and again when he calls the boss to tell him about the "accident" in the basement.

(1:35) We have a little problem

Some other neat clips (1:25): "BRAINS!" **

What's the weirdest thing you've ever seen

**The director said to get the skinniest actor they could find for the zombie guy. The one they brought in was SO skinny the had to pad him to make him look skeletonized.

[Red Badger]

Yes and yes..................

[dangus]

Well, he lived long enough we won’t count him among the cursed, like Dominique Dunne (1959-1982) or Heather O’Rourke (1975-1983).

Zela (”Head towards the light!”) eventually died (at age 76 in 2010), but she was often counted among the cursed long before her death. (She stayed out of the limelight, though, so became a small medium at large.)

Oddly, the Mom (Jo Beth Williams) was often cited among the killed, even though she had a fairly prolific acting career afterwards.

Craig T Nelson was also cited among the cursed, for his problems with drugs. But they pre-dated his work with Poltergeist, and then he cleaned himself up, so... maybe he was blessed?

[dangus]

THANK YOU!

I knew he had a role where I saw him A LOT, but none of the movies — not even Poltergeist — seemed to explain just HOW familiar he was!

[Impy]

A “that guy”. RIP.