Post by Flyboy on Jul 27, 2009 8:58:53 GMT -5
Obituary: Clayton Hill / Played a lead zombie in 'Dawn of the Dead'
Mr. Hill played the Escalator Zombie & was married to the Nurse Zombie, Sharon Ceccatti. RIP Clayton Hill.
May 7, 1931 - July 26, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
By Moriah Balingit, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Actor Clayton Hill played almost as many roles in life as he did on the silver screen.
While in the Air Force, he once served as a security officer for the king and queen of Thailand. He was an accident scene investigator, a disaster preparedness officer and the chief of the fire department at the Greater Pittsburgh Airport.
Behind the camera, he was a location scout, a casting director and a weapons director, handling the weapons in horror films.
On screen, he was a basketball announcer next to Marv Albert, a priest, a detective, a bum in a bar and, most famously, "sweater zombie," a ghoul-faced, googly-eyed monster who donned a white sweater to match his frightening complexion in George Romero's landmark zombie flick, "Dawn of the Dead."
Mr. Hill, of Burgettstown, died early yesterday of complications from pneumonia. He was 78.
He started performing at age 6, when his father put him to work in beer gardens singing for money. As a teenager, he sang on Saturday morning radio shows and performed in talent competitions, where he once lost to Pittsburgher Frank Gorshin, who went on to a career as a comedian and an actor.
But when he graduated high school, he decided to join the Air Force, where he served for four years. He then went to work for the airport fire department and later as a civilian for the Air Force, where he drew up plans for the prevention of biological, chemical and nuclear warfare.
The stress of the job got to him, his wife, actress Sharon A. Ceccatti-Hill, said, and in the early 1970s he started taking classes at the Pittsburgh Playhouse. He retired permanently from the Air Force in 1975.
Mr. Hill and his wife were performing in operettas at the playhouse when a friend told them about a director named George Romero who was looking for actors for his horror movie. Ms. Ceccatti-Hill admitted she didn't even know what a zombie was before she met with Mr. Romero, but both fell into their parts seamlessly, and both were recruited from the extras to play "lead zombies" -- zombies with the most exposure in the film and appear in much of the promotional material.
Tom Savini, who did Mr. Hill's makeup for "Dawn of the Dead," said Mr. Hill was one of the most convincing zombies of the bunch.
"The secondary zombies were always a problem because they all wanted to drop one leg. Clayton was stiff as a board and his eyes were rolled back," he said, recalling that in one scene, Mr. Hill accidentally ambled the wrong way down an escalator because he was so in character. "George Romero wanted to see more of Clayton because of how good he was."
Because of his military background, Mr. Hill also served as the weapons director for the film, unloading and loading the guns for the actors.
The two later went on to start Sharclay Casting, serving as casting directors and recruiters for extras and small speaking roles for movies that were filmed in Pittsburgh. Mr. Hill and his wife often managed to get small roles in the films themselves.
Later, he and his wife went to work for the Starlake Amphitheatre in Burgettstown, where Mr. Hill was the director of security and his wife was the assistant director of operations.
The pair later left their positions and served as location scouts, traveling as far as Morocco and Spain to check out potential shooting locations.
Recently, the two had been going to horror film conventions where their fame as lead zombies endured. And both had gotten back into acting, playing small roles in "End Game," which recently finished filming in Pittsburgh.
The pair was due to start filming "River of Darkness" in the fall, another horror film starring wrestler Kurt Angle, another Pittsburgh native. It was going to be Mr. Hill's first lead part in a film.
In addition to his wife, Mr. Hill is survived by two children, Kimi Hill Wiseman and Todd Hill, both of Burgettstown, and five grandchildren.
Visitation will be from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday and 11 a.m. Friday at Lee and Martin Funeral Home in Burgettstown. The funeral service will be at 1 p.m. at Eldersville United Methodist Church.
Monday, July 27, 2009
By Moriah Balingit, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Actor Clayton Hill played almost as many roles in life as he did on the silver screen.
While in the Air Force, he once served as a security officer for the king and queen of Thailand. He was an accident scene investigator, a disaster preparedness officer and the chief of the fire department at the Greater Pittsburgh Airport.
Behind the camera, he was a location scout, a casting director and a weapons director, handling the weapons in horror films.
On screen, he was a basketball announcer next to Marv Albert, a priest, a detective, a bum in a bar and, most famously, "sweater zombie," a ghoul-faced, googly-eyed monster who donned a white sweater to match his frightening complexion in George Romero's landmark zombie flick, "Dawn of the Dead."
Mr. Hill, of Burgettstown, died early yesterday of complications from pneumonia. He was 78.
He started performing at age 6, when his father put him to work in beer gardens singing for money. As a teenager, he sang on Saturday morning radio shows and performed in talent competitions, where he once lost to Pittsburgher Frank Gorshin, who went on to a career as a comedian and an actor.
But when he graduated high school, he decided to join the Air Force, where he served for four years. He then went to work for the airport fire department and later as a civilian for the Air Force, where he drew up plans for the prevention of biological, chemical and nuclear warfare.
The stress of the job got to him, his wife, actress Sharon A. Ceccatti-Hill, said, and in the early 1970s he started taking classes at the Pittsburgh Playhouse. He retired permanently from the Air Force in 1975.
Mr. Hill and his wife were performing in operettas at the playhouse when a friend told them about a director named George Romero who was looking for actors for his horror movie. Ms. Ceccatti-Hill admitted she didn't even know what a zombie was before she met with Mr. Romero, but both fell into their parts seamlessly, and both were recruited from the extras to play "lead zombies" -- zombies with the most exposure in the film and appear in much of the promotional material.
Tom Savini, who did Mr. Hill's makeup for "Dawn of the Dead," said Mr. Hill was one of the most convincing zombies of the bunch.
"The secondary zombies were always a problem because they all wanted to drop one leg. Clayton was stiff as a board and his eyes were rolled back," he said, recalling that in one scene, Mr. Hill accidentally ambled the wrong way down an escalator because he was so in character. "George Romero wanted to see more of Clayton because of how good he was."
Because of his military background, Mr. Hill also served as the weapons director for the film, unloading and loading the guns for the actors.
The two later went on to start Sharclay Casting, serving as casting directors and recruiters for extras and small speaking roles for movies that were filmed in Pittsburgh. Mr. Hill and his wife often managed to get small roles in the films themselves.
Later, he and his wife went to work for the Starlake Amphitheatre in Burgettstown, where Mr. Hill was the director of security and his wife was the assistant director of operations.
The pair later left their positions and served as location scouts, traveling as far as Morocco and Spain to check out potential shooting locations.
Recently, the two had been going to horror film conventions where their fame as lead zombies endured. And both had gotten back into acting, playing small roles in "End Game," which recently finished filming in Pittsburgh.
The pair was due to start filming "River of Darkness" in the fall, another horror film starring wrestler Kurt Angle, another Pittsburgh native. It was going to be Mr. Hill's first lead part in a film.
In addition to his wife, Mr. Hill is survived by two children, Kimi Hill Wiseman and Todd Hill, both of Burgettstown, and five grandchildren.
Visitation will be from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday and 11 a.m. Friday at Lee and Martin Funeral Home in Burgettstown. The funeral service will be at 1 p.m. at Eldersville United Methodist Church.
Mr. Hill played the Escalator Zombie & was married to the Nurse Zombie, Sharon Ceccatti. RIP Clayton Hill.
To bad Mr. Hill was one of the zombies from 'Dawn' I would have loved to have met. He really stood out with me on first viewing.
