Andrew Porter reports that actor Robert Quarry died 20 February 2009; he’d been suffering from heart trouble for some time. Born 3 November 1925 in Santa Rosa, California, he was best known for his vampire roles in the early 1970s: he made his name in the title role of Count Yorga, Vampire (1970), and its sequel, The Return of Count Yorga (1971).
He first worked as an actor on radio before joining the Army Combat Engineers at the age of 18. After the war, he went into stage acting, and then moved into film and television. His first film role was an uncredited part in Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt (1943), but his next film role didn’t come until the mid-1950s (he debuted on television in 1951).
Quarry’s other genre roles include: The Tell-Tale Heart (2009), Fugitive Mind (1999), Jungle Boy (1998), Dear Santa (1998), Hybrid (1997), Droid Gunner (1995), Teenage Exorcist (1991), Haunting Fear (1991), Spirits (1990), Evil Spirits (1990), Alienator (1990), Beverly Hills Vamp (1989), The Phantom Empire (1989), Sexbomb (1989), Warlords (1988), Moon in Scorpio (1987), Cyclone (1987), Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979), The Lost Saucer (1975), Madhouse (1974), Sugar Hill (1974), Deathmaster (1972), Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972), Agent for H.A.R.M. (1966), and Young Couples Only (1965).
Fangoria has a long obituary of him by Kevin G. Shinnick.