Editors note: Those of you who have been following my Twitter feed know that I have been trying nail this one down practically since the night it happened, with no luck. Seems his close friends found out, and told other close friends, and news of his death leaked out and appeared on a few movie blogs. But there was nothing official. Nothing in the L.A. Times. No death notice that I can find. We have standards at Satellite News, especially when it comes to reporting that somebody is dead, and though the sources I had who were telling me he had died were completely reliable, we don’t go with an obit unless we have an “official” source.
But today, the IMDB added a death date to his page, and that’s good enough for us.
LOS ANGELES — Ross Hagen, actor, voice actor and producer died of cancer at a hospital here May 7. He was 72.
MSTies will of course remember him as Rommel in the movie in episode 202- THE SIDEHACKERS and Sgt. Monte Chapman in the movie in episode 209- THE HELLCATS.
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Saw Ross in some terrible Corman Carnosaur movie a few years ago….like many of these actors, just a guy trying to make a living, not really responsible for the poor quality of what goes on around them. I’d also like to say thanks for posting the interview link. It’s always nice to get a glimpse of how the stars of our beloved MST’d movies see themselves and their work.
Sorry, Laura. Sidehackers, of course.
It made it into the Variety obits –
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118037353?categoryid=13&cs=1&cmpid=RSS|People|Obituaries
“Actor Ross Hagen dies at 72
‘Daktari’ regular also directed films
By Variety Staff
Ross Hagen, a regular on the 1960s TV adventure series “Daktari” who went on to write, direct and produce some low-budget pics, died of prostate cancer May 7 in Brentwood, Calif. He was 72.
The actor guested on TV Westerns such as “The Big Valley” and “The Virginian” during the mid-’60s while also appearing on the bigscreen in the Elvis Presley film “Speedway” and low-budget biker pics such as “The Mini-Skirt Mob” and “The Hellcats.”
He joined the cast of CBS’ “Daktari,” starring Marshall Thompson as an American running an animal study center in Africa, in 1968. He appeared in 12 episodes as Bart Jason, a hunter who had become a photographic safari guide.
Hagen’s credits as a writer and director include “Time Wars” and “The Media Madman.” He produced films including “Five the Hard Way,” “Pushing Up Daisies,” “Wonder Women” and “Bad Charleston Charlie.”
In 2005 he wrote, helmed and appeared in the mystery film “Murder on the Yellow Brick Road,” and he most recently did voicework for the 2010 videogame “Red Dead Redemption.”
He is survived by his partner, Lee Srednick, a son and a daughter.”
Anyone know anything about this “Red Dead Redemption”?
I’ve heard of Red Dead Redemption but I haven’t really been keeping up with the video game scene for years.
R.I.P. Mr. Hagen. :-(
Ok, I have to ask. MSTgator earlier made a reference to the “Daktari tv show”. I am 46, I just barely remember really liking that show as a little kid, but my memory is that it was Doc Taray and he was a wild animal vet in Africa. Saw the invention exchange where TV’s Frank throws the stool (!) over as an invention, thought I got the joke, then read the old SciFi web page episode guide and saw it spelled Daktari. So I’ve spent years thinking I didn’t get the joke. Does this mean I got the joke originally, or not, should I laugh now or…