Angus Scrimm

Born in Kansas City, Kansas, actor Angus Scrimm originally began his career as a journalist and writer for TV Guide, Cinema Magazine, and The Los Angeles Herald Examiner. Scrimm also wrote liner notes for many albums produced by popular artists including Frank Sinatra, The Beatles, Arthur Rubinstein and Itzhak Perlman. As an actor Scrimm was best known for playing "The Tall Man" in the 1979 movie "Phantasm." The film was a horror movie about a malicious sadistic undertaker, "The Tall Man," who turns the dead into nightmarish dwarf zombies who he trains to do his bidding in an effort to take over the world. The movie was independently financed and most of the cast and crew were amateurs or relative unknowns. The movie was poorly received upon its initial release, but later achieved a kind of cult status. The movie's popularity led to three sequels "Phantasm II" (1988", "Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead" (1994), and "Phantasm IV: Oblivion" (1998), the last two installments being direct-to-video releases. In between Phantasm-related projects, Scrimm appeared in a number of other feature film projects, including "Mindwarp" (1992), "Wishmaster" (1997) and "Munchie Strikes Back" (1994). Scrimm died in Los Angeles, California in January of 2016. He was 89 years old.