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Devil’s Rejects Star Sid Haig Passed Away At 80
It’s a bad day for horror fans as iconic actor Sid Haig passed away Saturday night at the age of 80. The news was shared by his wife on Instagram.
She wrote: “On Saturday, September 21, 2019, my light, my heart, my true love, my King, the other half of my soul, Sidney, passed from this realm on to the next. He has returned to the Universe, a shining star in her heavens. He was my angel, my husband, my best friend and always will be. He adored his family, his friends and his fans. This came as a shock to all of us.”
The news comes after Haig had been hospitalized several weeks ago, although at the time he had been doing better. Rob Zombie previously stated that Haig’s role in 3 From Hell had been drastically reduced due to his health.
Haig has been a long time character actor in Hollywood. He got his start appearing in a variety of exploitation films, notably in blaxpolitation and ‘women in prison’ fare with Pam Grier like The Big Doll House, Coffy and Foxy Brown. Arguably his biggest role, however, came thanks to Rob Zombie, who cast him as Captain Spaulding in House of 1000 Corpses and later The Devil’s Rejects. Haig took on a sort of second life in the horror genre after that and continued to appear in Zombie’s films through the remainder of his career.
Zombie wrote a memorial of his own on Facebook:
Last night I received a phone call I was dreading from Bill Moseley. He told me that our friend Sid Haig had died. It was shocking but unfortunately not unexpected. I’ve know for a long time how sick Sid was and what he was battling. Over the past year as I saw pictures of him still attending conventions I thought perhaps he had beat it, but last week when he returned to the hospital I feared the worst.
Sid and I had a long talk on the day that he told me of his condition and he knew 3 From Hell would most likely be his last appearance on screen. Sadly it was. I knew it was very important to Sid that Captain Spaulding make one more round and he did. Sid’s time the film is brief. He was in rough shape that day, but he gave it his all and made his scene very memorable.
I was fan of his as a kid watching Jason of Star Command all the way through our twenty years of working together. I can still clearly remember the first time we met. It was at the Edith Head Costume building at Universal. Sid came out of the dressing room wearing a clown suit which was a few sizes too small. We said hello then we both started laughing at how ridiculous he looked in his ill-fitting suit. We would find him a much better suit.
As we were making House Of 1000 Corpses neither of us knew he was creating a character that would live on and grow in popularity every year. Sid told me many times how thankful he was for the Captain and how that character changed his life. He had completely given up on acting and now suddenly had found a whole new audience at the age of 60. I know he was thrilled and blown away by that fact.
The Captain is gone… but he will never be forgotten.
Rest in Peace Sid
This photo is from March 14, 2018. The last time all of us were together.
411 would like to give our condolences to his family, friends and fans.
Let history record that just last month Sid Haig showed up for the Scares That Care charity event, flying cross country and taking care of his fans even when he was having trouble walking. He loved the horror family as much as horror loved him.@Shudder @kinky_horror pic.twitter.com/ghgro55VcY
— Joe Bob Briggs (@therealjoebob) September 23, 2019
