The Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award , often called the Rondo Award , is an annual award founded in 2002 that honors journalism, scholarship and film preservation in the horror genre , particularly of classic horror film and their modern-day counterparts.
30-564: Named in honor of actor Rondo Hatton , it originated at the Classic Horror Film Board and subsequently moved to a dedicated website. Nominees are chosen by a committee that takes suggestions on the website, with the awards selected via an open vote by generally thousands of participants. The Rondo Award was created by journalist David Colton and artist/illustrator Kerry Gammill , and since its inception has been coordinated by Colton, who serves as their presenter annually at
60-739: A German mustard gas attack during service in World War I. Hatton served in combat and served on the Pancho Villa Expedition along the Mexican border and in France during World War I with the United States Army , from which he was discharged due to his illness. Director Henry King noticed Hatton when he was working as a reporter with The Tampa Tribune covering the filming of Hell Harbor (1930) and hired him for
90-583: A cult icon. Hatton was born in the Kee Mar College girls' infirmary in Hagerstown, Maryland . The family moved several times during Hatton's youth before settling in Tampa, Florida . He starred in track and football at Hillsborough High School and was voted Handsomest Boy in his class his senior year. In Tampa, Hatton worked as a sportswriter for The Tampa Tribune . He continued working as
120-401: A film actor from the 1930s, who suffered from acromegaly and got work playing monsters and psychopaths". In the 1991 movie The Rocketeer , actor Tiny Ron Taylor , playing Nazi henchman Lothar, is made up with prosthetics to look like Hatton. The episode of Doctor Who entitled " The Wedding of River Song " features Mark Gatiss as a character whose appearance (achieved through prosthetics)
150-464: A journalist until after World War I , when the symptoms of acromegaly developed. Acromegaly distorted the shape of Hatton's head, face, and extremities in a gradual but consistent process. He eventually became severely disfigured by the disease. Because the symptoms developed in adulthood (as is common with the disorder), the disfigurement was incorrectly attributed later by film studio publicity departments to elephantiasis resulting from exposure to
180-566: A member of the lynch mob in the 1943 film of The Ox-Bow Incident . Universal Studios used Hatton's unusual features to promote him as a horror star after he played the part of The Hoxton Creeper (aka The Hoxton Horror) in the studio's ninth Sherlock Holmes film, The Pearl of Death (1944). He made two films playing "the Creeper", House of Horrors and The Brute Man , which were both filmed in 1945 but not released until after his death in 1946. Around Christmas 1945, Hatton suffered
210-607: A series of heart attacks , a direct result of his acromegalic condition. On February 2, 1946, he suffered a fatal heart attack at his home on South Tower Drive in Los Angeles . His body was transported to Florida and interred at the American Legion Cemetery in Tampa. Hatton's name – and face – have become recurring humorous motifs in popular culture. In season 6, episode 4 of
240-448: A small role. After some hesitation, Hatton moved to Hollywood in 1936 to pursue a career playing similar, often uncredited, bit and extra roles. His most notable of these was as a contestant-extra in the "ugly man competition" (which he loses to a heavily made up Charles Laughton ) in the RKO production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame . He had another supporting-character role as Gabe Hart,
270-869: A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Monster Kid of the Year: The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra writer, director, and star Larry Blamire Monster Kid of the Year: Monster Kid Home Movies producer Joe Busam Monster Kid of the Year: Toy collector Ray Castile Monster Kid of the Year: Sony Pictures executive Michael Schlesinger Monster Kid of the Year: Producer and Forrest J Ackerman friend, adviser, and caregiver Joe Moe Monster Kid of
300-525: Is a representation of Hatton's face, based on the bust of "The Creeper", whom Hatton portrayed in the 1946 Universal Pictures film House of Horrors . Marc Scott Zicree Marc Scott Zicree (born 1955) is an American science fiction author, television writer and screenwriter . Zicree has written for major studios and networks including Paramount, Universal, Disney, Sony/Columbia Tri-Star, MGM, New Line, CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, WB, UPN, Showtime, PBS, Turner, USA Networks, Syfy, Discovery, Nickelodeon,
330-465: Is based on Hatton's, credited under the pseudonym Rondo Haxton for his performance. A documentary being produced in 2017, Rondo and Bob , and released in 2020, looks at the lives of Hatton and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre art director Robert A. Burns , a self-described expert on Hatton. The Dark Horse comic The Creep focuses on Oxel Karnhus, a private detective with acromegaly, who
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#1732790957629360-448: Is played by actor Tiny Ron in prosthetic make-up. The Scooby Doo cartoon series character The Creeper, who vaguely resembles Frankenstein's Monster, is likely based on Universal Studios' own "Creeper" from the 1946 film The House of Horrors, who was portrayed by Rondo Hatton, with Scooby Doo's Creeper seemingly being a caricature of Rondo in terms of hand size and facial features. The 2000 AD comic book character Judge Dredd , who
390-424: Is rarely seen without his helmet, used "face-changing technology" to make himself look like Hatton in issue 52 (February 18, 1978) – the first time the character's face was shown unobscured. The name "Rondo Hatton" was also in a list of suspects obtained by Dredd during the case. As the artist Brian Bolland revealed in an interview with David Bishop : "The picture of Dredd's face – that
420-529: Is the author of The Twilight Zone Companion , a detailed history of Rod Serling 's TV series The Twilight Zone . Several of his interviews with The Twilight Zone actors, directors and producers are available as special features on the Twilight Zone: The Complete Definitive Collection DVD box set , and are accessible as alternative audio tracks for the associated episodes. He has also contributed to
450-547: The Carry On films. Rankin's references to Hatton routinely occur in the form of "he had a Rondo Hatton" (hat on). Another namecheck occurs in Rafi Zabor's PEN/Faulkner-award-winning 1998 novel The Bear Comes Home , where the name is used as a nickname for good-natured but unrefined minor character Tommy Talmo. In the 2004 Stephen King novel, The Dark Tower VII , a character is described as looking "like Rondo Hatton,
480-561: The Magic Time novel trilogy, a collaborative effort between Zicree and three other science fiction writers. With writer Michael Reaves and director Neil Johnson , and using crowd funding for financing, Zicree is working on a series of films under the umbrella title Space Command . A Kickstarter project page, launched by Zicree in May 2012, raised funds of $ 75,000 (its initial goal) in three days, and went on to raise over $ 220,000 during
510-576: The 1970s television series The Rockford Files ("Only Rock-n-Roll Will Never Die, part 1"), Jim Rockford, exasperated at a friend who dismisses himself as unattractive, exclaims "You're no Rondo Hatton!" Hatton's physical likeness inspired the Lothar character in Dave Stevens 's 1980s Rocketeer Adventure Magazine stories, and in Disney 's 1991 film version, The Rocketeer , in which the character
540-622: The BBC, Marvel and NPR. His credits include Star Trek: The Next Generation , Deep Space Nine , The Twilight Zone , Babylon 5 , Beauty and the Beast , Forever Knight , Sliders , Friday the 13th: The Series , Liberty's Kids , Super Friends , He-Man and the Masters of the Universe , Real Ghostbusters , The Smurfs and many others, as well as pilots for CBS , NBC , ABC and Showtime . He
570-681: The Rondo Classic Horror Film Awards created the Monster Kid Hall of Fame, with four to nine, but generally six, living or dead inductees. Also created was another honorary award, Monster Kid of the Year, given to individuals with some important achievement in the field that year. Monster Kid of the Year: Arnold Kunert, who successfully campaigned for special effects artist Ray Harryhausen to have
600-913: The Year: Cohen Media Group executive Tim Lanza Monster Kid of the Year: Writer, film critic, TV host and actor John Irving Bloom a.k.a. Joe Bob Briggs Monster Kid of the Year: Filmmaker Jordan Peele Monster Kid of the Year: UCLA film archivist Scott MacQueen Monster Kid of the Year: Monster Channel horror host Evan Davis a.k.a. Halloween Jack Monster Kid of the Year: Documentarian Antonia Carlotta Monster Kid of
630-708: The Year: Monsterpalooza convention organizer Eliot Brodsky Monster Kids of the Year: Historian and writer Gary Gerani; screenwriter, author, and The Twilight Zone archivist Marc Scott Zicree Monster Kid of the Year: Vincentennial fan festival organizer Tom Stockman Monster Kid of the Year: Simon Rowson, for discovering lost footage cut from original release of Hammer Studios ' Dracula (1958) Monster Kid of
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#1732790957629660-470: The Year: Online influencer Bobby Zier Rondo Hatton Rondo Hatton (April 22, 1894 – February 2, 1946) was an American journalist and actor. After writing for The Tampa Tribune , Hatton found a career in film due to his unique facial features, which were the result of acromegaly . He headlined horror films with Universal Studios near the end of his life, earning him a reputation as
690-712: The Year: Paul Larson, for discovering lost Vincent Price PBS footage Monster Kid of the Year: Frank J. Dello Stritto, author of memoir I Saw What I Saw When I Saw It Monster Kid of the Year: Victoria Price , daughter of actor Vincent Price , "for her tireless work preserving her late father's legacy in film." Monster Kids of the Year: Married couple Don and Vicki Smeraldi, new publishers of Scary Monsters Magazine Monster Kid of
720-415: The awards annually at the fantasy/horror convention WonderFest. As Colton describes, "We don't have Best Actor, we don't have Best Actress, we don't even have Best Director. It's more about the magazines and the books and the independent films and the documentaries.... It's a little highbrow in that way." Entertainment Weekly likened The Rondo Award to a "horror Oscar". The Award is a "coveted" prize in
750-442: The fantasy/horror convention WonderFest . The Rondo Awards began in 2002, after members of the online Classic Horror Film Board, moderated by journalist David Colton, became aware of a growing body of under-recognized journalism covering the horror genre. The awards took their name from the character actor Rondo Hatton , a cult-classic figure in low-budget horror films. Noted comic book artist and illustrator Kerry Gammill designed
780-617: The horror community. One PBS station wrote, Every year, as the Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and Tony Award spotlights shine on the brightest in their respective fields, the Rondo Awards honor achievements in the darker corners of entertainment, the world of classic horror movies. People working for monster magazines, spooky DVD releases and scary movie soundtracks are the types who win the internationally-known Rondo Award. Horror magazines and websites, including Dread Central , regularly report on
810-591: The nominations and awards lists. The awards have been mentioned in such outlets as The Hollywood Reporter , The Austin Chronicle , Famous Monsters of Filmland , Movieweb , MeTV , the UK's Horror Channel , and the Tampa Bay Times , as well as scholarly journals including Psychology and Education , and textbooks including Recovering 1940s Horror Cinema: Traces of a Lost Decade . In their second year,
840-455: The sculpt for the award, a bust of Hatton's character from the movie House of Horrors (1946). Comic book artist and illustrator Kerry Gammill designed the sculpt for the award, a bust of Hatton's character from the movie House of Horrors (1946). The initial year attracted 168 voters. The following year brought 600, and the third year 2,000. As of 2018, the number of voters is generally between 3,000 and 3,700. Co-founder Colton presents
870-485: Was a 1940s actor called Rondo Hatton. I've only seen him in one film." Additionally, the character The Creep in the Dark Horse Presents comic-book series strongly resembled Hatton. Hatton is regularly name-checked in the novels of Robert Rankin , often referred to as "the now-legendary Rondo Hatton" and credited as appearing in films that are either fictional, or in which he clearly had no part, such as
900-611: Was modelled after Hatton and his "Creeper" character. The full story of Hatton's life is told in the Scott Gallinghouse book Rondo Hatton: Beauty Within the Brute (BearManor Media, 2019), which also includes exhaustive production histories of his Universal horror films. Since 2002, the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards have paid tribute to Hatton in name and likeness. The physical award
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