Variety reports that veteran actor Edmund Purdom, star of numerous Eurohorror features, passed away January 1 in Rome. He died of natural causes, at age 85.
Originally a stage actor who was part of Laurence Olivier’s company, Purdom traveled with Olivier to Hollywood in the ’50s, where he had leads and key supporting roles in the likes of THE STUDENT PRINCE, JULIUS CAESAR and THE EGYPTIAN. Later in the decade, he moved to Italy and began a long career in European features, including numerous actioners, Westerns and horror films. Among the latter were Luigi Bazzoni’s 1971 giallo THE FIFTH CORD, Paolo Lombardo’s THE DEVIL’S LOVER (1972), Jess Franco’s THE SINISTER EYES OF DR. ORLOFF (1973), Dick Randall’s FRANKENSTEIN’S CASTLE OF FREAKS (1974), Massimo Dallamano’s NIGHT CHILD a.k.a. THE CURSED MEDALLION (1975), Joe D’Amato’s THE MONSTER HUNTER a.k.a. ABSURD and ANTHROPOPHAGUS 2 (1981), Neri Parenti’s 1985 horror/comedy FRACCHIA VS. DRACULA (as the Count) and two movies for Juan Piquer Simon: the 1990 undersea-monster flick ENDLESS DESCENT (a.k.a. THE RIFT) and the notorious 1983 gorefest PIECES (pictured, with Paul L. Smith; see our DVD review here), playing the dean. For the PIECES producers, Purdom also directed his only feature, the 1984 kill-the-Santa-Clauses shocker DON’T OPEN ‘TIL CHRISTMAS, in which he also co-stars.
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