Horror icon Sid Haig of ‘House Of 1000 Corpses’ dies at age 80

Sid Haig, who is best known as Captain Spaulding in the Rob Zombie Firefly Family trilogy, passed away Saturday. His wife Susan “Suzy” Oberg confirmed the news Monday morning.

Oberg took to Haig’s Instagram page where she had been giving updates on the actor’s condition since he was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit earlier this month. See the full statement below.

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“On Saturday, September 21, 2019, my light, my heart, my true love, my King, the other half of my soul, Sidney, passed from this realm on to the next. He has returned to the Universe, a shining star in her heavens. He was my angel, my husband, my best friend and always will be. He adored his family, his friends and his fans. This came as a shock to all of us. We, as a family, are asking that our privacy and time to mourn be respected.

Sidney Eddie Mosesian
7/14/39 – 9/21/19
Husband, Father, Grandfather, Friend.
Goodnight, my love. We will find each other again, next time. I love you.”

A cause of death has not been revealed. However, as mentioned, Haig had a serious accident at the beginning of this month. At the time, his wife shared the news with fans without much information.

The following week, Oberg offered an update stating Haig was recovering.

Read more: ‘3 From Hell’ actor Sid Haig admitted to ICU after serious accident

“Sid took a nasty spill early last week and went to the ER to make sure everything was ok. It was, but they kept him for a bit for observation. Late last Thursday night he vomited in his sleep. Because he was asleep, the vomit went into his lungs (aspiration). Fortunately, since they were monitoring him, the alarm went off and they were able to get the vomit out and an air tube with suction in,” the post read.

“They suctioned his lungs for a couple days and everything came out so they were able to remove the air tube/suction. He’s been breathing well for several days now but they still have to monitor for infection to be safe, since the bacteria in the human gut can set up an infection in the lungs when this happens, and are giving him IV antibiotics to protect him. His colour is great (nice and pink), and his vitals are excellent, so while he’s not allowed to eat or drink fully just yet, they’ve started letting him have a tiny bit of juice and water.”

Read more: ‘3 From Hell’ actor Sid Haig’s wife says he “bounced back” after accident

Haig is best known as the beloved and menacing Captain Spaulding. He first took to our screens in 2003 in House Of 1000 Corpses. He reprised the role again in 2005 for The Devil’s Rejects and just this month for 3 From Hell. Additionally, Haig appeared in Kill Bill: Vol 2 and TV series such as Jason of Star Command, Star Trek, MacGyver and The Dukes of Hazzard.

Zombie recently opened up to AltPress on the lengths he went to make sure Haig could be in the end of the saga.

“As we approached shooting, about three weeks out, I got a call from Sid saying he’d been in the hospital,” he says. “He had an operation, and he was now recovering from it. I went to visit him, and he had drastically changed. It just became obvious at that time that he was too ill to make a movie. It just wasn’t possible. He’s 80 years old to begin with, so making a movie at that age under any circumstances is incredibly difficult. But if you’re 80 and having health problems, it’s impossible.”

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Zombie knew he had to find a way to include Haig’s character in the film given his importance in the previous two movies. However, there were difficulties with getting the actor cleared to be on set. Older actors often have to go through physical tests to get approval from insurance companies. Haig didn’t pass, but Zombie found a good way to wrap up the character’s storyline.

“I discussed with Sid a lot that it was very important for his character to be in the movie, and I knew he wanted to be in the movie, and I knew he had to be, somehow,” Zombie says. “Lionsgate was nice enough to let us sort of secretly bring him in one morning to shoot so I could get enough footage of him to complete his storyline. I know a lot of fans right now are like, ‘Why isn’t he in the movie?’ thinking they don’t get to see much of him, but eventually they’ll just be happy for what they got because it was a miracle even that happened.”

Zombie shared his condolences on Instagram, writing “Horray [sic] for Captain Spaulding. Gone but not forgotten.”

 

Our thoughts are with Haig’s family and friends at this time.