Movies

Horror icon Sid Haig, actor from House of 1,000 Corpses, dies at 80

Haig also appeared in 'Jackie Brown' and blaxploitation films like 'Coffy' and 'Foxy Brown'

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Published on September 23, 2019 08:56AM EDT

Sid Haig, a legend of the horror genre from films like House of 1,000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects, died Saturday following an unspecified “accident” two weeks earlier. He was 80.

In a statement shared on the actor’s Instagram account, wife Susan L. Oberg wrote, “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,” she continued. “This came as a shock to all of us. We, as a family, are asking that our privacy and time to mourn be respected.”

Earlier this month, Oberg wrote on Haig’s Instagram that her husband had been in an accident, but didn’t go into specifics. On Sep. 13, she updated the now-deleted comment by stating Haig was “winning the fight” after taking a “nasty spill.”

Haig got his start in horror with 1967’s Spider Baby or, the Maddest Story Ever Told. He was then cast in Rob Zombie’s House of 1,000 Corpses as Captain Spaulding and its sequel The Devil’s Rejects. Haig was meant to have a larger role in this fall’s third installment, 3 From Hell, but Zombie told EW that health issues prevented him from doing so.

“The movie that I prepped to make, and was getting ready to start shooting, it was Captain Spaulding, Otis, and Baby, the three originals,” Zombie said. “But three weeks out from shooting, I got a call from Sid Haig. He had been in the hospital, and he had just had surgery, and he was now recovering in a rehabilitation facility. I’m like, holy sh—, this is a serious business. So, I went to see him, and he had changed drastically from the last time I saw him. Because Sid, he’s big and burly, and now he’s tiny as a skeleton. So, I was like, oh man. I kind of realized, yeah, he’s in rough shape.”

Knowing how important it was to include Haig in the film, the director added, “Lionsgate was fine with me sort of sneaking him in one day to shoot as much as I could. It was on me to make sure that nothing went wrong. So I got him in, I shot everything I could shoot.”

Haig also appeared in Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown and would later re-team with the filmmaker on Kill Bill, Vol. 2.

Other credits to Haig’s name include Night of the Living Dead 3D, 2007’s Halloween, The Lords of Salem, and Bone Tamahawk.

Rosario Dawson, who filmed a deleted scene in The Devil’s Rejects, wrote in the comments to Oberg’s Instagram post, “Oh! Dear Sid. You will be missed beloved. Grateful to have met and worked with you. What a talent and energy graced this earth. Blessings and love to your adored family.”

In his own post, Zombie simply wrote, “Horray for Captain Spaulding. Gone but not forgotten.”

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