Earl Holliman, Star Of ‘Forbidden Planet’, Passes Away As The Sci-Fi Classic Gears Up For A Remake Written By Brian K. Vaughan
Forbidden Planet is getting a remake for the 21st century, but one of its cast members won’t get to see it. Earl Holliman, who played the cook of starship C-57D who loved his liquor, has died.
According to Variety, he passed away on November 25th in Studio City, California, at the age of 96. Holliman attained a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1977 for his numerous appearances in films and TV shows since the 50s.
His most familiar credits are the 1956 movie The Rainmaker, the 1970s cop drama Police Woman, and the isolated lead in the first-ever episode of The Twilight Zone, “Where Is Everybody?” His performance set a standard for the series and earned the admiration of Rod Serling.
Holliman also played the father of Johnny Domino (Matt McColm), Frank Dominus, on Night Man – perhaps the only superhero show to feature a cameo by someone who’s both a former and future President.
However, Holliman’s most noteworthy credit at the moment has to be Forbidden Planet since it’s also in the news. As Deadline first reported, Warner Bros. is lining up an adaptation being penned by comic writer Brian K. Vaughan.
Vaughan is known best for his work with Marvel and the acclaimed stories Saga, Ex Machina, and Y: The Last Man. However, he’s also worked as a writer and producer on Lost with Damon Lindelof and the series Under The Dome, based on the Stephen King book.
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Released in 1956, Forbidden Planet was loosely based on Shakespeare’s play The Tempest and starred Leslie Nielsen, Anne Francis, and Walter Pidgeon as scientist Dr. Edward Morbius. The latter has a dark secret but does not turn out to be a vampire.
The film also introduced popular culture to Robby the Robot, an android that helped Holliman provide some much-needed comic relief that Nielsen interestingly abstained from back then. He was a serious actor initially.
The remake is being produced by Emma Watts, a former head of film at Fox and Paramount, which produced sci-fi pictures such as I, Robot, Alita: Battle Angel, The Martian, Maze Runner, and Avatar. An updated version of the iconic picture was as forbidden as the planet in the title for years due to rights issues. That was until Watts and Warner sorted them out.
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