Jonathan Haze, a B-movie legend who originated the character of Seymour in the cult horror classic The Little Shop of Horrors (1960), has died at the age of 91. His daughter, Rebecca Haze, shared the news with Deadline on Monday, November 4. According to that release, he “died peacefully” on Saturday (November 2) at his home in Los Angeles, California. She did not provide a cause of death.
Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1929, Haze was working in a gas station when he caught the attention of director and horror legend Roger Corman. They collaborated on nearly 20 films, including The Fast and the Furious (1955) and the western Five Guns West.
Their other collaborations included Apache Woman and Day the World Ended; Gunslinger, The Oklahoma Woman, It Conquered the World, Swamp Women, Naked Paradise, Not of This Earth, Rock All Night, Carnival Rock and The Viking Women and the Sea Serpent aka The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent.
Haze went on to star in TV shows Dragnet, 77 Sunset Strip, Overland Trail, The Californians, and Cimarron City before getting his big break alongside the director who launched him onto the screen.
Most memorably, in Little Shop of Horrors, Haze starred as the one-and-only Seymour, the neurotic skid row flower shop assistant who secretly begins nurturing a carnivorous plant with a taste for human flesh, unbeknownst to his coworker crush Audrey (Jackie Joseph), or an up-and-coming Jack Nicholson.
The film was adapted for the 1982 Off-Broadway musical Little Shop of Horrors, which later went to London’s West End, and to Broadway where it found massive success. It inspired the 1986 musical movie, starring Rick Moranis as Seymour, of the same name.
RIP Jonathan Haze at age 95. Actor well known for his role as Seymour Krelborn in @rogercorman Roger Corman’s film ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ pic.twitter.com/6AO4Mu3l4L— Marie (@GraffitiCats) November 4, 2024
Absolutely heartbroken to hear the news about dear dear Jonathan. I know Dick Miller is waiting for youRIP #JonathanHazehttps://t.co/Z1UvX4Etup pic.twitter.com/P4c2xxbZG9— laura behr (@lalabehr) November 4, 2024
Jonathan Haze, 95 years old, American actor (The Little Shop of Horrors, The Terror, It Conquered the World). Godspeed…#thelittleshopofhorrors #theterror #itconqueredtheworld #jonathanhaze pic.twitter.com/R6UjoX0h5i— RIP VIP: Virtual Cemetery (@R_I_P_VIP) November 4, 2024
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