Biography: The character actor Sid Haig, who describes himself as "tall, bald and nearly always bearded," was born Sidney Eddie Mosesian on July 14, 1939 in Frenso, California. Haig specialized in playing heavies in low-budget exploitation movies in the 1970s and 80s, occasionally appearing in bit parts in big-budget action films such as "Diamonds Are Forever" (1971), in which he told Sean Connery's James Bo ... show all The character actor Sid Haig, who describes himself as "tall, bald and nearly always bearded," was born Sidney Eddie Mosesian on July 14, 1939 in Frenso, California. Haig specialized in playing heavies in low-budget exploitation movies in the 1970s and 80s, occasionally appearing in bit parts in big-budget action films such as "Diamonds Are Forever" (1971), in which he told Sean Connery's James Bond "I got a brother." (Bond was undercover, transferring a cache of diamonds to Las Vegas inside the corpse of his "brother" and had been picked up by a hearse full of black-suited mobsters -- The Slumber Brothers -- who had hatted up to escort him to the mortuary.)
"Small world," responded Connery/Bond to Haig's revelation. And it IS a small world, as Quentin Tarantino revived Haig's moribund movie career by casting him as the judge in "Jackie Brown" (1998), an in-joke as Haig had co-starred with "Jackie Brown" star Pam Grier in six movies, including such blaxploitation classics as "Coffey" (1973) and "Foxy Brown" (1974). "Jackie Brown" resurrected both their careers, with Haig achieving cult film super-star status as Captain Spaulding in Ron Zombie's "House of 1,000 Corpses" and its sequel, "The Devil's Rejects."
The 6' 4" Haig left the Armenian community of Fresno behind when he moved to southern California to attend the Pasadena Playhouse in the years 1959-61. His roommate at acting school was Stuart Margolin, who would establish himself as a character actor on TV in "The Rockford Files" (1974) and in such films as "Kelly's Heroes (1970), "The Stone Killer" (1973) and Blake Edwards' "S.O.B." (1981). Haig's journey to becoming an actor was serendipitous, as his parents decided that dancing lessons would help their rapidly growing son re-learn some of the coordination he had lost after a growth spurt. By the age of seven, Haig was a professional, dancing on a children's Christmas Show and subsequently acquiring other professional acting gigs.
His parents bought him a drum set when he began displaying a musical inclination, and Haig became a professional in that field too, making money as a paid musician. Signed to recording contract at the age of 19, Haig and his band the T-Birds cut a successful single, "Full House," in 1958. However, he was still infected by the "acting bug," having been encouraged by the head of his high school drama department to pursue an acting career. The teacher's friend, the movie star Dennis Morgan, also encouraged Sid to become an actor and suggested that he attend acting school in southern California. Sid took the advice and enrolled in the Pasadena Playhouse, one of the premier acting schools in the country.
After appearing in a 30-minute student film ("The Host", directed by U.C.L.A. film school student Jack Hill, who later cast Haig in eight more of his movies, including the aforementioned "Coffey and "Foxy Brown," from 1968 through 1974), Haig's professional career began in 1960. He eventually racked up appearances in over 50 films (including the classics "Point Blank" and "T.H.X. 138" as well as such notorious bombs as "Che" and "C.C. and Company") and over 350 television credits, including appearances in such memorable series as "Batman" "Charlie's Angels," "Get Smart," "Gunsmoke," "Here's Lucy," "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.," "Mission: Impossible," "The Rockford Files" (reunited with old roomie Margolin), "Star Trek."
In 1992, Haig's career stalled when he decided to resist his type-casting by Holywood. He said, "I'll never play another stupid `heavy' again, and I don't care if that means that I never work, ever." He went through a five-year acting drought until "Jackie Brown" and finally achieved recognition as an actor 40 years after his career started with "House of 1,000 Corpses." hide |
