Sid Haig

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title: "Sid Haig" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1939-births", "2019-deaths", "20th-century-american-male-actors", "21st-century-american-male-actors", "accidental-deaths-in-california", "accidental-deaths-from-falls-in-the-united-states", "american-male-film-actors", "american-male-television-actors", "american-people-of-armenian-descent", "male-actors-from-fresno,-california"] description: "(Armenian Roots)American actor (1939–2019)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sid_Haig" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary (Armenian Roots)American actor (1939–2019) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Sid Haig
image	File:Sid Haig 2016 (cropped).png
caption	Haig in 2016
birth_name	Sidney Eddie Mosesian
birth_date
birth_place	Fresno, California, U.S.
death_date
death_place	Thousand Oaks, California, U.S.
occupation	Actor
yearsactive	1960–2019
education	Pasadena Playhouse
spouse
::

| name = Sid Haig | image = File:Sid Haig 2016 (cropped).png | caption = Haig in 2016 | birth_name = Sidney Eddie Mosesian | birth_date = | birth_place = Fresno, California, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Thousand Oaks, California, U.S. | occupation = Actor | yearsactive = 1960–2019 | education = Pasadena Playhouse | website = | spouse = Sidney Eddie Mosesian (July 14, 1939 – September 21, 2019), known professionally as Sid Haig, was an American actor. He was known for his appearances in horror films, most notably his role as Captain Spaulding in the Rob Zombie films House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil's Rejects, and 3 from Hell. Haig's Captain Spaulding, and Haig himself, have been called icons of horror cinema. Haig had a leading role on the television series Jason of Star Command as the villain Dragos. He appeared in many television programs, including The Untouchables; Batman; Gunsmoke; Mission: Impossible; Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman; Star Trek; Get Smart; Mannix; The Rockford Files; Charlie's Angels; Fantasy Island; Buck Rogers in the 25th Century; The Dukes of Hazzard; The A-Team; MacGyver; and Emergency!. Haig also had roles in several of Jack Hill's blaxploitation films from the 1970s.

Early life

Haig was born in Fresno, California to Armenian parents Roxy (Mooradian) and Haig Mosesian, an electrician. As a young man, his rapid growth interfered with his motor coordination, prompting him to take dancing lessons. At seven years old, he worked as a paid dancer in a children's Christmas show and later joined a vaudeville revival show.

Haig was also a musician, playing a wide range of music styles on the drums, including swing, country, jazz, blues and rock and roll. Haig began to earn money from music, and signed a recording contract one year out of high school. Still a teenager, Haig went on to record the single "Full House" with the T-Birds in 1958, which reached No. 4 in the charts.

The Pasadena Playhouse

While Haig was in high school, the head of the drama department was Alice Merrill, who encouraged him to pursue an acting career. Merrill had been a Broadway actress who had maintained her contacts in the business. During his senior year, a play was produced in which Merrill double cast the show, to have one of her Hollywood friends assess the actors in order to select the final cast.

Dennis Morgan, a musical comedy personality from the 1940s, saw Haig perform, and chose him for a prominent role in the play. Two weeks later, he returned to see the show and advised Haig to continue his education in the San Fernando Valley and to consider acting as a career. Two years later, Haig enrolled in the Pasadena Playhouse, the school that trained such noted actors as Robert Preston, Gene Hackman, and Dustin Hoffman. He later moved to Hollywood with longtime friend and Pasadena Playhouse roommate Stuart Margolin.

Career

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. 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 U.N.C.L.E., Gunsmoke, Mission: Impossible, Star Trek, Get Smart, The Flying Nun, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Emergency!, Charlie's Angels, Jason of Star Command, Fantasy Island, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Dukes of Hazzard, The A-Team, MacGyver, and Just the Ten of Us. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Haig,Sid(2007).jpg" caption="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. 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.

Haig reunited with Rob Zombie for the director's 2007 Halloween remake, with Haig playing the role of cemetery caretaker Chester Chesterfield. He again reprised his role as Captain Spaulding for Zombie's 2009 animated film The Haunted World of El Superbeasto, and 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 posthumously appeared in the 2020 slasher film Hanukkah, as well as the 2023 film Abruptio.

Personal life

On November 2, 2007, Haig married Susan L. Oberg. Despite his prominence in horror films and portrayal of villainous characters, Haig was a devout Roman Catholic who was described by his peers as being a gentle soul.

Death

In early September 2019, Haig was hospitalised after falling at his home in Thousand Oaks, California. While recovering, he contracted Aspergillus pneumonia after aspirating vomit in his sleep.

Selected filmography

Film

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Role	Director	Notes	Ref(s)
1960	The Host	The Fugitive	Jack Hill	Short film
1962	The Firebrand	Diego	Maury Dexter
1965	Beach Ball	Drummer for Righteous Brothers	Lennie Weinrib	Uncredited
1966	Blood Bath	Abdul the Arab	Jack Hill and Stephanie Rothman
1967	It's a Bikini World	Daddy	Stephanie Rothman
Point Blank	First Penthouse Lobby Guard	John Boorman		url=https://www.metro.us/entertainment/sig-haig-on-bone-tomahawk-rob-zombie-and-drinking-with-lee-marvin/zsJojw---yCbFs8TJXKnYM	title=Sig Haig on 'Bone Tomahawk,' Rob Zombie and drinking with Lee Marvin
1968	Spider Baby	Ralph	Jack Hill
The Hell with Heroes	Crespin	Joseph Sargent
1969	Pit Stop	Hawk Sidney	Jack Hill
Che!	Antonio	Richard Fleischer
1970	C.C. and Company	Crow	Seymour Robbie
1971	THX 1138	NCH	George Lucas		Maxford
The Big Doll House	Harry	Jack Hill		url=https://www.app.com/story/entertainment/movies/2019/09/23/sid-haig-house-1000-corpses-and-devils-rejects-horror-legend-dies/2418074001/	title=Sid Haig of Rob Zombie's 'House of 1000 Corpses,' 'Devils Rejects' has died
Diamonds Are Forever	Slumber Inc. Attendant	Guy Hamilton
1972	The Big Bird Cage	Django	Jack Hill
The Woman Hunt	Silas	Eddie Romero
Beware! The Blob	Deputy Ted Sims	Larry Hagman
1973	Black Mama, White Mama	Ruben	Jack Hill
The No Mercy Man	Pill Box	Daniel Vance
Emperor of the North Pole	Grease Tail	Robert Aldrich
Coffy	Omar	Jack Hill
Beyond Atlantis	East Eddie	Eddie Romero		Young	2000
The Don Is Dead	The Arab	Richard Fleischer
1974	Busting	Rizzo's Bouncer	Peter Hyams
Foxy Brown	Hays	Jack Hill
Savage Sisters	Malavael	Eddie Romero
1976	Swashbuckler	Bald Pirate	James Goldstone
1978	Loose Shoes	Lone Stranger	Ira Miller
1981	Underground Aces	Faoud	Robert Butler
Chu Chu and the Philly Flash	Vince	David Lowell Rich
Galaxy of Terror	Quuhod	Bruce D. Clark
1982	The Aftermath	Cutter	Steve Barkett
Forty Days of Musa Dagh	Turkish General	Sarky Mouradian
1987	Commando Squad	Iggy	Fred Olen Ray
1988	Warlords	The Warlord
1989	Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II	Donar	Charles B. Griffith
1990	The Forbidden Dance	Joa	Greydon Clark
Genuine Risk	Curly	Kurt Voss
1997	Jackie Brown	Judge	Quentin Tarantino
2003	House of 1000 Corpses	Captain Spaulding	Rob Zombie
2004	Kill Bill: Volume 2	Jay	Quentin Tarantino
2005	The Devil's Rejects	Captain Spaulding / "Cutter"	Rob Zombie
House of the Dead 2	Professor Roy Curien	Michael Hurst		Dendel	2012
2006	Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair	Jay	Quentin Tarantino
Little Big Top	Seymour	Ward Roberts
Vampira: The Movie	Himself	Kevin Sean Michaels	Documentary film
Night of the Living Dead 3D	Gerald Tovar Jr.	Jeff Broadstreet
2007	Dead Man's Hand	Roy 'The Word' Donahue	Charles Band
Halloween	Chester Chesterfield	Rob Zombie		url=https://popculture.com/celebrity/2019/09/23/rob-zombie-posted-sid-haig-captain-spaulding-photo-house-of-1000-corpses-before-death/	title=Rob Zombie Posted Sid Haig, Captain Spaulding Photo for 'House of 1,000 Corpses' Just Before Actor's Death
Brotherhood of Blood	Pashek	Michael Roesch and Peter Scheerer
2009
The Haunted World of El Superbeasto	Captain Spaulding	Rob Zombie	Voice role	url=https://metro.co.uk/2019/09/23/old-captain-spaulding-actor-sid-haig-cause-death-many-rob-zombie-movies-10793274/	title=How old was Captain Spaulding actor Sid Haig, what was his cause of death and how many Rob Zombie movies was he in?
Dark Moon Rising	Crazy Louis	Dana Mennie
2010	The Black Box	Radio Evangelist	Jonathan Lewis and David Sherbrook	Voice role
2011	Creature	Chopper	Fred M. Andrews
2012	The Lords of Salem	Dean Magnus	Rob Zombie
2013	Hatchet III	Abbott McMullen	BJ McDonnell
Devil in My Ride	Iggy	Gary Michael Schultz
The Penny Dreadful Picture Show	Shopkeeper	Eliza Swenson
Zombex	The Commander	Jesse Dayton		url=https://screenrant.com/sid-haig-death-obituary-devils-rejects-3-from-hell/	title=Actor Sid Haig Passes Away At 80
2015	Bone Tomahawk	Buddy	S. Craig Zahler
2017	Death House	Icicle Killer	B. Harrison Smith
To Hell and Back: The Kane Hodder Story	Himself	Derek Dennis Herbert	Documentary film
2018	Suicide for Beginners	Barry	Craig Thieman
Cynthia	Detective Edwards	Devon Downs and Kenny Gage
2019	High on the Hog	Big Daddy	Tony Wash
3 from Hell	Captain Spaulding	Rob Zombie
2020	Hanukkah	Judah Lazarus	Eben McGarr	Posthumous release
2022	Suicide for Beginners	Barry	Craig Thieman	Posthumous release
2023	Abruptio	Sal	Evan Marlowe	Posthumous release; Final film role
::

Television

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref(s)
1962	The Untouchables	Augie the Hood	Episode: "The Case Against Eliot Ness"
1965	The Lucy Show	The Mummy	Episode: "Lucy and the Monsters"
1966	Batman	Royal Apothecary	2 episodes	Paul
1966–1969	Gunsmoke	Eli Crawford / Buffalo Hunter / Cawkins / Wade Hansen	4 episodes	Paul
1966–1970	Mission: Impossible	Various roles	9 episodes	Paul
1967	Star Trek	First Lawgiver	Episode: "The Return of the Archons"	Paul
1967–1970	Get Smart	Guard / Bruce / Turk	3 episodes	Paul
1968	The Flying Nun	Señor Quesada	Episode: "The Return of Father Lundigan"	Paul
1974	The Rockford Files	B.J.	Episode: Caledonia, it's worth a fortune!
1975	Who Is the Black Dahlia?	Tattoo Artist	Television film
1975	Emergency!	Spike	1 episode
1976	The Return of the World's Greatest Detective	Vince Cooley	Television film
1976	ElectraWoman and DynaGirl	The Genie	Season One
1976–1977	Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman	Texas	55 episodes
1978	Charlie's Angels	Reza	Episode: "Diamond in the Rough"	Paul
Evening in Byzantium	Asied	Television miniseries
1978–1979	Jason of Star Command	Dragos	28 episodes
1978–1983	Fantasy Island	Otto / Harlen / Hakeem	3 episodes
1979	Death Car on the Freeway	Maurie	Television film
1980	Hart to Hart	Gunther Mattox	Episode: "Murder, Murder On The Wall"
1980–1981	Buck Rogers in the 25th Century	Pratt / Spirot	2 episodes
1981–1985	The Fall Guy	Yusef / Arnie / Mr. Fick / Biker	4 episodes
1982	T.J. Hooker	Mountain	Episode: "Hooker's War"
1982	The Dukes of Hazzard	Slocum	Episode: "Miz Tisdale on the Lam"
1983	The A-Team	Sonny Jenko	Episode: "Black Day at Bad Rock"	Paul
Automan	1st Gang Member	Episode: "Pilot"
1985	Amazing Stories	Thug	Episode: "Remote Control Man"
1985–1986	MacGyver	Khalil / Khan	2 episodes
1988	Goddess of Love	Hephaestus	Television film
1989–1990	Just the Ten of Us	Bob	3 episodes
1992	Boris and Natasha: The Movie	Colonel Gorda	Television film
2018	Tigtone	Lord Festus	Voice
Episode: "Tigtone and the Pilot"
::

References

References

1. According to the State of California. ''California Birth Index, 1905-1995''. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. At Ancestry.com
2. Flint, Hanna. (September 23, 2019). "'Jackie Brown' and 'House of 1000 Corpses' star Sid Haig has died".
3. Miska, Brad. (September 23, 2019). "[R.I.P.] Legendary Actor Sid Haig Has Passed Away".
4. Murray, Jodi. (May 4, 2004). "Fresno: Local devil was inspired by zoo's Angel Fresno's Sid Haig". Armenian Diaspora.
5. (August 1, 1969). "Former Fresnan Plays The Heavy Bee". [[The Fresno Bee]].
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12. Nichols, Mackenzie. (September 23, 2019). "Sid Haig, Horror Actor in Rob Zombie Trilogy, Dies at 80". [[Variety (magazine).
13. Evans, Greg. (September 23, 2019). "Sid Haig Dies: 'House Of 1000 Corpses' Horror Icon Was 80". [[Deadline Hollywood.
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