Released by Universal in 1981, this
British comic horror film is now
considered an influential cult classic.
First drafted in 1969 by John Landis
(born 1950), the successful comedy
director eventually secured a $10
million budget for his script in 1980.
Shot mainly in the UK, the atmos-
pheric opening location scenes
(set on the Yorkshire moors) were
filmed in the Welsh borders, and
many other impressive set pieces
were recorded in famous London
locales. The real star of the prod-
uction however, has to be Rick
Baker's transformation effects,
which earned him the inaugural
Best Make-up Oscar. The metamorphosis sequence has inspired the
whole genre since - from the Thriller music video, feature films
Dog Soldiers and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, to
television dramas Being Human and Doctor Who.
An American Werewolf in London (voted the 107th greatest movie of
all time by Empire in 2008) starred David Naughton and Griffin Dunne
as American backpackers David Kessler and Jack Goodman. Shown on
the Sony Classics channel last night, the film also featured thirty-seven
Doctor Who cast and crew connections:
- Jenny [Ann] Agutter (Alex) voiced Sekhmet for Big Finish's The Bride of Peladon (2008)
- John Woodvine (Dr. Hirsch) was the Marshall of Atrios in The Armageddon Factor, and voiced Galileo Galilei for Doom Coalition 1 (2015)
- David Schofield (Darts Player) was Odin in The Girl Who Died, and voiced Billy for Death in Blackpool (2009), Nostradamus for The Doomsday Quatrain (2011), Parval for The Sorcerer of Albion (2020), and Gostak for The End of the Beginning (2021)
- Paddy Ryan [born Frank Ryan McCree Singletary] (Werewolf) and John Timberlake [born Murphy] were Kaled Scientists in Genesis of the Daleks - the latter was also a Shelterer in The Enemy of the World
- Brian Glover (Chess Player [named George Hackett in the BBC radio adaptation of 1997]) was Griffiths in Attack of the Cybermen
- Don McKillop (DI Villiers) and John Owens (Policeman) both appeared in The Daemons, as Bert and Thorpe respectively
- Albert Moses (Porter) was an Indian Sailor in Carnival of Monsters
- Gordon [Gerhard Paul] Sterne (Kessler) was Professor Heldorf in The Ambassadors of Death (according to IMDB, he was booked as Cyberman in The Moonbase but was replaced by Peter Greene)
- Michael Carter (Bringsley) was Prisoner and UNIT Soldier in The Mind of Evil
- Keith Hodiak (Policeman) was the Raston Warrior Robot in The Five Doctors
- John Cannon (Policeman) was a Miner in The Monster of Peladon, Elgin in The Hand of Fear, Extra in The Talons of Weng-Chiang and Time Flight, Trog in Underworld, Technician in The Pirate Planet, Guard in The Armageddon Factor and The Creature from the Pit, the Helmsman in Enlightenment, and Servant in The King's Demons
- Lewis Alexander [born Herbert Alexander Lewis] and Aileen [Mary Halsey] Lewis (Passersby) were an Army Officer in (episode 3 of) The War Machines, and an Extra in The Silurians (6)
- Alan Austen (Officer) was Kara's Guard in Revelation of the Daleks
- Harry Fielder (Man) was Guard (in serials PP, ZZZ, 4L, 4P, 5A, 5F, 5Z), Crewman (SS, 4T), Vogan (4D), Assassin (4Q), Tigellan (5Q), and Krarg in Shada with James Muir (Constable)
- Laurie [Philip] Goode (Porter) was a Mutt in The Mutants, Time Lord in The Invasion of Time, Bandit in The Creature from the Pit, Tigellan in Meglos, Sailor in Enlightenment, and UNIT Trooper in Battlefield
- Ralph Morse (Punk) was a Foster in The Keeper of Traken
- Terry [Anthony] Walsh (Taxi Driver) was a stunt/fight arranger, stunt double and uncredited extra on a total of seventy instalments of the original run (from The Smugglers to The Creature from the Pit)
- stunt performers Marc Boyle, Tracey Eddon, Valentino Musetti, Ken Barker, Gareth Milne,Sue Crosland, Peter Diamond, Terry Forrestal, Fred Haggerty, Nick Hobbs, Billy Horrigan, Arthur Howell, Alf Joint, Greg Powell, Rocky Taylor and Nick Wilkinson all worked on the classic series
