Sid HaigBirth Place: Fresno, California, USA Date of Birth: July 14, 1939 Heritage: American Contact Sid Haig |
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The Devil's Rejects Background: Actor Sid Haig has acted in over a hundred film and television projects since making his debut in 1960. However, he is perhaps best known for portraying Captain Spaulding in Rob Zombie's horror flicks “House of 1000 Corpses” (2003) and “The Devil's Rejects” (2005) and was recently awarded the Eyegore Award for Lifetime Achievement and the Maria Honorary Award from the Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival (both 2010). Haig also worked in several Jack Hill films in the 1970s, including “The Big Doll House,” “The Big Bird Cage” and “Black Mama, White Mama.” In 1997, he appeared in noted director Quentin Tarantino's “Jackie Brown” and Quentin’s “Kill Bill: Vol. 2” in 2004. Haig has been married to Susan Mosesian since 2007. Prior to the marriage, the two co-founded the production company The Haig Group in 2006. Haig is a Scientologist and has donated money to the charity organizations Habitat for Humanity International and the North Shore Animal League of America.
Childhood and Family: Sid Haig was born Sidney Eddie Mosesian on July 14, 1939, in Fresno, California, to an electrician father, Haig Mosesian. Due to his rapid growth that impaired his motor coordination, he took dance lessons at an early age to help his coordination. At age 7, he was hired as a dancer for a children's Christmas program and later worked in a vaudeville revival show. Young Sid also enjoyed playing the drums. A year after graduating high school, he landed a recording contract and at age 19, recorded the Top 10 hit single “Full House” with the T-Birds. While in high school, Sid received encouragement from Broadway actress Alice Merrill, who served as the head of the drama department at school, to pursue a career in acting. In his senior year, he was spotted by Dennis Morgan, a noted musical comedy star from the 1940s, and chosen to play a role in a play that Merill cast. After seeing Sid's performance in the play, Morgan advised him to take acting more seriously and study the craft. Within two years, Sid was on his way to attend the prestigious Pasadena Playhouse, where he studied from 1959 to 1961. He later moved to Los Angeles with his Pasadena Playhouse roommate Stuart Margolin. Sid married his assistant, Susan, on November 2, 2007.
Career: Sid Haig launched his professional acting career in 1960 when he starred with Sharon Bercutt and Joseph Hanwright in Jack Hill's student film at UCLA called “The Host.” His second film job was in Maury Dexter's western “The Firebrand” (1962). It was also in 1962 that Haig made his television acting debut in an episode of the popular series “The Untouchables,” which starred Robert Stack. Throughout the 1960s, Haig appeared in various films and on television, which included an unaccredited role in Lennie Weinrib's “Beach Ball” (1965), a supporting role in the horror film “Blood Bath” (1966), supporting Deborah Walley, Tommy Kirk and Bobby Pickett in Rothman's musical comedy “It's a Bikini World” (1967), and being featured in John Boorman's “Point Blank” (1967), a crime film based on the classic pulp novel “The Hunter” by Donald E. Westlake. He also worked with Rod Taylor in Joseph Sargent's “The Hell with Heroes” (1968) and was cast as Antonio in Richard Fleischer's “Che” (1969), a biopic about Marxist revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara (played by Omar Sharif). He was reunited with Hill for “Spider Baby” (1968, as Ralph Merrye) and the drama “Pit Stop” (1969, as Hawk Sidney). On the small screen, Haig appeared in episodes of “The Lucy Show” (1965), “Batman” (1966), “Laredo” (1966), “The Iron Horse” (1966), “Star Trek” (1967), “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” (1967), “The Danny Thomas Hour” (1967), “Daniel Boone” (1968), “The Flying Nun” (1968, “The Bob Hope Show” (1968) and “Here's Lucy” (1969). He also appeared on “Get Smart” (3 episodes, 1966-1970), the western “Gunsmoke” (4 episodes, 1966-1969) and “Mission: Impossible” (9 episodes, 1966-1970). Haig maintained a busy schedule in the following decade. He costarred with Joe Namath, Ann-Margret and William Smith in Seymour Robbie's “C.C. and Company” (1970), Robert Duvall, Donald Pleasence, Don Pedro Colley, Maggie McOmie and Ian Wolfe in the George Lucas directed science fiction film “THX 1138” (1971) and Sean Connery in the James Bond film “Diamonds Are Forever” (1971, directed by Guy Hamilton). He rejoined Jack Hill in a series of films, including “The Big Doll House” (1971, with Judith M. Brown, Roberta Collins and Pam Grier), “The Big Bird Cage” (1972, with Grier, Anita Ford and Carol Speed), “Black Mama, White Mama” (1972), “Foxy Brown” (1974) and “Coffy” (1973) and worked with director Eddie Romero in the films “Beyond Atlantis” (1973), “The Woman Hunt” (1973) and “Savage Sisters” (1974). Other film credits included Daniel Vance's “The No Mercy Man” (1973), Robert Vincent O'Neill's “Wonder Woman” (1973), Robert Aldrich's “Emperor of the North Pole” (1973), Richard Fleischer's “The Don Is Dead” (1973), Peter Hyams' “Busting” (1974) and “The Rockford Files” (1974). Haig also guest starred in a number of TV shows, including “Alias Smith and Jones” (3 episodes, 1971), “The Partners” (1 episode, 1971), “O'Hara, U.S. Treasury” (2 episode, 1972), “Police Story” (1 episode, 1974), “The Six Million Dollar Man” (1974), “Get Christie Love” (1974), “The Rockford Files” (1974), “Emergency” (1975) and “Monster Squad” (1976), to name a few. Some of the television movies he appeared in include “Who Is the Black Dahlia” (1975), “The Return of the World's Greatest Detective” (1976), “McNamara's Band” (1977), “Evening in Byzantium” (1978) and “Death Car on the Freeway” (1979). He was also cast on the CBS live action series “Jason of Star Command,” which ran from September 1978 to December 1979. Next up for Haig, he received roles in Ira Miller's “Loose Shoes” (1980), Robert Butler's “Underground Aces” (1981), David Lowell Rich's “Chu Chu and the Philly Flash” (1981, starred Alan Arkin, Carol Burnett and Jack Warden), Bruce D. Clark's “Galaxy of Terror” (1981), Steve Barkett's thriller “The Aftermath” (1982) and Sarky Mouradian's “40 Days of Musa Dagh” (1982). He also appeared in Fred Olen Ray's “Commando Squad” (1987) and “Warlords” (1988, with David Carradine and Dawn Wildsmith), and Charles B. Griffith's “Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II” (1989, starred Mel Welles, Robert Jayne and David Carradine). In addition, he landed guest stints in the TV shows “Hart to Hart” (1980), “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century” (2 episodes, 1980-1981), “Quincy M.E.” (1981), “The Dukes of Hazzard” (1982), “Bret Maverick” (1982), “T.J. Hooker” (1982), “Bring 'Em Back Alive” (1982), “Fantasy Island” (1983), “The A-Team” (1983), “Automan” (1983), “Scarecrow and Mrs. King” (1985), “Wildside” (1985) and “Hill Street Blues” (1985), to name a few. Entering the 1990s, Haig supported Laura Harring in “The Forbidden Dance” (1990), a romance helmed by Greydon Clark, teamed up with Terence Stamp, Peter Berg, Michelle Johnson and Michael Harris for Kurt Voss' crime thriller “Genuine Risk” (1990) and portrayed Colonel Gorda in the Sally Kellerman and Dave Thomas starring comedy “Boris and Natasha” (1992) before putting acting on the back burner in 1992 to get away from his character stereotype. He recalled, “I just didn’t want to play stupid heavies anymore. They just kept giving me the same parts but just putting different clothes on me. It was stupid and I resented it and I wouldn’t have anything to do with it.” Haig did not make his return until five years later in “Jackie Brown” (1997), Quentin Tarantino's adaptation of the novel “Rum Punch” by novelist Elmore Leonard. In the crime film, he was notable for portraying Judge. The film, starring Pam Grier, Robert Forster, Robert De Niro, Samuel L. Jackson, Bridget Fonda and Michael Keaton, earned positive reviews from critics and was a commercial success. After his promising comeback in 1997, Haig was cast in the important role of Captain Spaulding in the exploitation horror film “House of 1000 Corpses,” which was directed Rob Zombie. The production was completed in 2000, but was shelved until Lions Gate Entertainment picked it up and released it in 2003. Although the film generally received negative reviews from critics, it was considered a success at the box office. For his performance, Haig was handed a Chainsaw Award for Best Supporting Actor at the 2004 Fangoria Chainsaw Awards. Haig was reunited with Tarantino for the hit “Kill Bill: Vol. 2” (2004), where he played Jay, before reprising his role of Captain Spaulding in the 2005 installment “The Devil's Rejects,” again directed by Rob Zombie. The film grossed over $19 million worldwide against its budget of $7 million and Haig won a Chainsaw Award for Best Actor at the 2006 Fangoria Chainsaw Awards for his work in the film. Still in 2005, he also portrayed Professor Curien in “House of the Dead 2,” a sequel to Brightlight Pictures' “House of the Dead” (2003). Helmed by Michael Hurst, the film premiered at the Sitges Film Festival in Spain on October 14, 2005, and in the United States on the SciFi Channel on February 11, 2006. He then starred in Jeff Broadstreet's horror movie “Night of the Living Dead 3D” (2006), as Seymour in Ward Roberts' “Little Big Top” (2006) and as George in the direct to video “A Dead Calling” (2006). He next portrayed Roy in the 2007 horror film “Dead Man's Hand” (directed by Charles Band), was reunited with Rod Zombie for the commercially successful slasher movie “Halloween” (2007), whose cast included Malcolm McDowell, Sheri Moon Zombie, Tyler Mane, Scout Taylor-Compton, Brad Dourif, Danielle Harris and William Forsythe, and costarred with Victoria Pratta and Ken Foree in “Brotherhood of Blood” (2007), a horror movie written and directed by Michael Roesch and Peter Scheerer. In 2009, he portrayed Crazy Louis in the film “Dark Moon Rising.” Recently, in 2010, Haig costarred with C. Thomas Howell in James P. Lay's “Razor,” played Radio Evang in the horror film “The Black Box,” opposite Lindsay Shelton, Tiffany Shepis and Joseph Pilato, and appeared in the science fiction TV series “Chadam.” He will star in “Blood Is Blood” (2010, directed by Fred Andrews), Douglas Schulze's “Mimesis” (2011) and Edward G. Norris' “Go Straight to Hell” (2011) and is rumored to be portraying Pa Jericho in Chris Gabriel's upcoming “First Platoon” (2011).
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