Monday, August 31, 2009

Horan the Unbelievable

Your humble blog-meister meets SFX film star Kathy Horan for the first time. (Photo was originally published in G-FAN #84.)

In July 2007, I was able to meet Kathy Horan, who appeared in several Japanese science fiction films in the 1960s (Goke Body Snatcher from Hell, War of the Insects, The Green Slime, etc.). I interviewed her over the telephone in 2006 about her various genre roles, but we didn't discuss meeting until I learned something very interesting...

Several months after the interview, I learned that Ms. Horan was friends with my stepmother. They'd known each other since the '70s and '80s when they were both flight attendants for Braniff Airlines. All these years, my stepmother knew a star of tokusatsu films, and I was totally unaware!

When I visited family in Colorado in '07, I was able to meet Ms. Horan. I gave her a copy of Weekly World News (then edited by Jeff Rovin) in which her name appears in an ad promoting G-FAN. Suffice it to say, she was very friendly, and she had more stories for me about her time in Japan.

All in all, a very cool experience. I guess this is a small world after all.

3 comments:

  1. Just curious...I have seen and enjoyed both War of the Insects and Goke. Did Ms Horan ever pursue acting in North America, or did she simply move onto other things?

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    1. She briefly tried pursuing it, but quickly moved on to a more normal life and hasn't looked back since.

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  2. WOW! I'm so glad I found your blog! I've been wondering about Kathy Horan ever since I saw genocide a couple of years ago. Thanks so much, I will be following your blog from here on.. cheers! gretta

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