Saddened To Hear About the Passing of Gary Klar

I was very sad to read about the passing of Gary Klar, who played Steel in Romero's Day of the Dead.

Back in 2009, when I was a struggling writer, I attended a Famous Monsters of Filmland convention in Indianapolis. One of the featured events was runnings of all three George Romero movies from the Dead series followed by Q&A sessions with the cast members. Being a zombie geek, I attended all three showings. One of the panelists was Gary Klar. Despite playing a total asshole in the movie, Gary was one of the nicest and funniest celebrities at the event.

After the panel, Gary and talked for a few minutes. He steered the conversation toward me and I told him I was an unpublished writer. Gary jumped right in and encouraged me, telling me as a fellow artist he knew all too well how hard it was to be successful and not to give up.

Three years later, in 2012, I was a published writer with The Vampire Hunters trilogy under my belt and my first zombie novel, Rotter World, having been recently released. I flew down to Fort Meyers, Florida, to sell books at Zombicon. Gary also happened to be there. 

 

I brought an autographed copy of my book to him and said, "You probably don't remember me."

Gary looked me in the eye and replied, "Yeah, you're the guy I met at the other convention who is trying to get published."

I handed him the copy of Rotter World and said, "I finally made it."

Gary was genuinely happy about it and said, "I knew you'd make it."

Gary Klar was a decent, kind-hearted man. My condolences to his family and friends who will surely miss him.

Film Locations in Fort Myers from George Romero's Day of the Dead

While I was in Fort Myers, Florida, last weekend for ZombiCon 2012, one of the volunteers informed me that the festival originated in Fort Myers because that was where George Romero filmed the opening sequences for Day of the Dead (1985).  After I was done kicking myself for not knowing that, I decided the next morning on my way to the convention hall to check out some of the locations.  With the limited time I had available to research, I was only able to find a few of the locations.  Nonetheless, I posted them below along with the accompanying scene from the movie.  Hopefully I'll get a better set next year

The Edison Theater (on the corner of Hendry and Main Streets) as it appeared in Day of the Dead.

As the Edison looks today.

Hordes of the living dead roaming the streets of Fort Myers (at the corner of Hendry and Main Streets; the Edison Theater is hidden from view on the corner to the right.)
 

As it looks today.

The living dead in front of the Federal Building on First Street (now the Sidney and Berne-Davis Art Center).

As it looks today.