By Todd Garbarini
Actor
Victor Lundin, best known to film fans for his portrayal of Friday in Byron
Haskin’s Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964),
passed away on June 29, 2013 at age 83 after an undisclosed
illness. News of his passing first came
to Cinema Retro via Cinema Epoch’s Director of Acquisitions Douglas Dunning,
who was a personal friend of Mr. Lundin’s.
It was also confirmed by John Sempre, Jr.’s Facebook page (Mr. Sempre interviewed
Mr. Lundin and this audio interview can be heard in part one and part two on Vimeo) as well as
Zachary Lundin’s Facebook page (Victor’s son).
In
addition to this film, Mr. Lundin appeared in the 1966 film version of Beau Geste, and appeared on television in
episodes on some of our favorite shows from the 1960’s, including The Time Tunnel, Get Smart, Star Trek, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Mannix, and Batman.
According
to Mr. Sempre, Jr., one of Mr. Lundin’s last screen appearances will be in the
former’s upcoming web miniseries, Creeporia,
wherein he provided a brief cameo voice for an animated character (an evil
wizard) in the first episode. Creeporia will be released via streaming
video in October 2013. For more
information, click on Creeporia’s
website
and Creeporia’s Facebook page.