Kevin McCarthy, Star of Original Invasion of Body Snatchers, Dies

Veteran sci-fi actor was 96; also appeared in 1978 remake

By Joal Ryan Sep 13, 2010 3:15 AMTags
Kevin McCarthy, Invasion of the Body SnatchersWalter Wanger Productions

"Can't you see, everyone?! They're here already! You're next!"

Kevin McCarthy, who issued that frantic warning in the 1950s sci-fi classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers, died Saturday.. He was 96. 

McCarthy was nominated for a 1951 Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Death of a Salesman, and employed in enough TV shows and movies to leave behind one of IMDb.com's lengthier pages.

But no single screen credit of McCarthy's left a greater legacy than Body Snatchers.  

The low-budget, low-tech, black-and-white flick, in which McCarthy reaches the unbelievable conclusion that his small-town friends and neighbors have been coopted by space aliens and turned into unfeeling pod people, was named by the American Film Institute as one of Hollywood's all-time best sci-fi films

Viewed as a product of its era's McCarthyism, but tapping into a timeless paranoia, Body Snatchers has been remade three times, most recently in 2007, via Nicole Kidman's The Invasion. McCarthy, a working actor to the end, cameoed in the 1978 version, also titled Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

________

Remember the others we've said goodbye to in 2010 in our Fallen Stars gallery.