Sid Haig: All You Need to Know About Him
Sidney Eddie Mosesian (July 14, 1939 – September 21, 2019), known professionally as Sid Haig, was an American actor, film producer, and musician. He is known for his roles in several of films from the 1970s, as well as for his appearances in most notably, his role as in the Haig’s Captain Spaulding, and Haig himself, have been called icons of horror cinema. Haig had a leading role on the television series as the villain Dragos. He appeared in many television programs as well.
Early Life of Sid Haig
Sid Haig was born in Fresno, California, and was raised in an Armenian community. He was the son of Roxy (Mooradian) and Haig Mosesian, an electrician. Haig’s career began somewhat by accident. As a young man, his rapid growth interfered with his Motor coordination, prompting him to take dancing lessons. At the age of seven years, he was a paid dancer in a children’s Christmas show, and later joined a Vaudeville revival show.
Sid Haig also displayed musical talent particularly for the drums, prompting his parents to buy him a drum set, on which he mastered a wide range of music styles, including swing, country, jazz, blues, and rockand roll.
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He found it easy to earn money with his music, and signed a recording contract one year out of high school. Still a teenager, Sid Haig went on to record the single “Full House” with the T-Birds in 1958, which reached No. 4 on the charts. Acting career
Sid Haig’s first acting role was in a 1960 short student film titled The Host, directed by Jack Hill at UCLA. This launched Haig’s more-than-four-decade acting career in over fifty films and 350 television episodes.
Sid Haig became a staple in Hill’s films, such as Spider Baby, Coffy and Foxy Brown In 1971, Haig appeared in THX 1138, the feature film directorial debut of George Lucas, as well as the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever
Haig’s television debut was a role in a 1962 episode of The untouchables. He also appeared in a number of other television programs, including Batman, The Man From UNCLE, Gun-smoke, Mission Impossible Star Trek Get Smart The Flying Nun, Mary Hartman, Emergency!,Charlie’s Angels, Jason of Star Command, Fantasy Island, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Dukes of Hazard, The A Team, MacGyver and Just the Ten of us.
Sid Haig with his wife, Susan L. Oberg, at the 2007 Scream Awards
Haig temporarily retired from acting in 1992, feeling typecast: “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 work in acting for five years, instead training and becoming a certified hypnotherapist. During this time, he was offered the role of Marsellus Wallace (later to be played by Ving Rhames) in Pulp Fiction, the second feature film directed by Quentin Tarantino.
At the time, Haig was concerned that low-budget television had been detrimental to his career and, at seeing the shooting script and the short number of days dedicated for each locale, he reportedly passed on the project; he is said to have later regretted this decision. Haig later appeared as a judge in Tarantino’s 1997 film Jackie Brown, a part written specifically for Haig by Tarantino.
In 2003, Haig starred in Rob Zombie’s debut film House of 1000 Corpses, as a psychotic clown named Captain Spaulding. The role revived Haig’s acting career, earning him a “Best Supporting Actor” award in the 13th Annual Fangoria Chainsaw Awards, and an induction into Fangoria’s Horror Hall of Fame. Haig reprised his role as Spaulding in the 2005 film The Devil’s Rejects, a continuation of House of 1000 Corpses, in which Spaulding is portrayed as the patriarch of the murderous Firefly family.
Captain Spaulding has since been considered a modern icon of horror cinema, and Haig himself has been called a “horror icon”. For his reprisal of the role in The Devil’s Rejects, he received the award for “Best Actor” in the 15th Annual Fangoria Chainsaw Awards, and shared the award for “Most Vile Villain” at the First Annual Spike TV Scream Awards with Leslie Easterbrook, Sheri Moon, and Bill Moseley as the Firefly family. Haig was also nominated as “Best Butcher” in the Fuse/Fangoria Chainsaw Awards, but lost to Tobin Bell’s Jigsaw from Saw II.
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Haig reunited with Rob Zombie for the director’s Halloween remake, released in 2007, with Haig playing the role of cemetery caretaker Chester Chesterfield.Haig again reprised his role as Captain Spaulding for Zombie’s 2009 animated film The Haunted World of El Superbeasto.Haig also appeared in Zombie’s 2013 film The Lords of Salem, as well as in the films Hatchet III and Devil in My Ride.
In 2019, Haig appeared as Captain Spaulding for the final time in the Rob Zombie film 3 from Hell, a sequel to House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects. He is set to posthumously appear in the 2020 slasher film Hanukkah, as well as in the 2020 film.
Personal Life and Death of Sid Haig
On November 3, 2007, Haig married Susan L. Oberg.
In early September 2019, Haig was hospitalized after falling at his home in Los Angeles. While recovering, he suffered from a lung infection after vomiting in his sleep. He died on September 21, 2019, from complications of COPD, aspergillosis, a small bowel obstruction and cardiopulmonary arrest at the age of 80.
Selected Filmography
| Film Year | Title | Role | Director |
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| 1960 | The Host | The Fugitive | Jack Hill |
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| 1962 | The Firebrand | Diego | Maury Dexter |
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| 1965 | Beach Ball | Drummer for Righteous Brothers | Lennie Weinrib |
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| 1966 | Blood Bath | Abdul the Arab | Jack Hill and Stephanie Rothman |
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| 1967 | It’s a Bikini World | Daddy | Stephanie Rothman |
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| Point Blank | First Penthouse Lobby Guard | John Boorman |
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| 1968 | Spider Baby | Ralph | Jack Hill |
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| The Hell with Heroes | Crespin | Joseph Sargent |
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| 1969 | Pit Stop | Hawk Sidney | Jack Hill |
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| Che! | Antonio | Richard Fleischer |
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| 1970 | C.C. and Company | Crow | Seymour Robbie |
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| 1971 | THX 1138 | NCH | George Lucas |
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| The Big Doll House | Harry | Jack Hill |
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| Diamonds Are Forever | Slumber Inc. Attendant | Guy Hamilton |
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| 1972 | The Big Bird Cage | Django | Jack Hill |
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| The Woman Hunt | Silas | Eddie Romero |
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| 1973 | Black Mama, White Mama | Ruben | Jack Hill |
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| The No Mercy Man | Pill Box | Daniel Vance |
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| Emperor of the North Pole | Grease Tail | Robert Aldrich |
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| Coffy | Omar | Jack Hill |
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| Beyond Atlantis | East Eddie | Eddie Romero |
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| The Don Is Dead | The Arab | Richard Fleischer |
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| 1974 | Busting | Rizzo’s Bouncer | Peter Hyams |
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| Foxy Brown | Hays | Jack Hill |
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| Savage Sisters | Malavael | Eddie Romero |
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| 1976 | Swashbuckler | Bald Pirate | James Goldstone |
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| 1978 | Loose Shoes | Lone Stranger | Ira Miller |
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| 1981 | Underground Aces | Faoud | Robert Butler |
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| Chu Chu and the Philly Flash | Vince | David Lowell Rich |
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| Galaxy of Terror | Quuhod | Bruce D. Clark |
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| 1982 | The Aftermath | Cutter | Steve Barkett |
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| Forty Days of Musa Dagh | Turkish General | Sarky Mouradian |
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| 1987 | Commando Squad | Iggy | Fred Olen Ray |
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| 1988 | Warlords | The Warlord |
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| 1989 | Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II | Donar | Charles B. Griffith |
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| 1990 | The Forbidden Dance | Joa | Greydon Clark |
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| Genuine Risk | Curly | Kurt Voss |
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| 1997 | Jackie Brown | Judge | Quentin Tarantino |
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| 2003 | House of 1000 Corpses | Captain Spaulding | Rob Zombie |
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| 2004 | Kill Bill: Volume 2 | Jay | Quentin Tarantino |
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| 2005 | The Devil’s Rejects | Captain Spaulding / “Cutter” | Rob Zombie |
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| 2006 | Little Big Top | Seymour | Ward Roberts |
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| Vampira: The Movie | Himself | Kevin Sean Michaels |
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| Night of the Living Dead 3D | Gerald Tovar, Jr. | Jeff Broadstreet |
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| 2007 | Dead Man’s Hand | Roy ‘The Word’ Donahue | Charles Band |
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| Halloween | Chester Chesterfield | Rob Zombie |
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| Brotherhood of Blood | Pashek | Michael Roesch and Peter Scheerer |
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| 2009 | The Haunted World of El Superbeasto | Captain Spaulding | Rob Zombie |
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| Dark Moon Rising | Crazy Louis | Dana Mennie |
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| 2010 | The Black Box | Radio Evangelist | Jonathan Lewis and David Sherbrook |
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| 2011 | Creature | Chopper | Fred M. Andrews |
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| 2012 | The Lords of Salem | Dean Magnus | Rob Zombie |
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| 2013 | Hatchet III | Abbott McMullen | BJ McDonnell |
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| Devil in My Ride | Iggy | Gary Michael Schultz |
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| The Penny Dreadful Picture Show | Shopkeeper | Eliza Swenson |
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| Zombex | The Commander | Jesse Dayton |
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| 2015 | Bone Tomahawk | Buddy | S. Craig Zahler |
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| 2017 | Death House | Icicle Killer | B. Harrison Smith |
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| To Hell and Back: The Kane Hodder Story | Himself | Derek Dennis Herbert |
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| 2018 | Suicide for Beginners | Barry | Craig Thieman |
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| Cynthia | Detective Edwards | Devon Downs and Kenny Gage |
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| 2019 | High on the Hog | Big Daddy | Tony Wash |
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| 3 from Hell | Captain Spaulding | Rob Zombie |
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| 2020 | Hanukkah | Judah Lazarus | Eben McGarr |
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| Abruptio | Sal | Evan Marlowe |
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