Bill Hinzman passed away on Sunday from cancer at the age of 75. His name alone won’t ring many bells but his face surely will, forever etched into our collective consciousness as contorted, pale, and now timeless. Bill Hinzman portrayed the “Cemetery Zombie” in George Romero’s 1968 horror classic Night of the Living Dead. He is the first ghoul as it were to appear in the film staggering about the graveyard as Barbra’s brother Johnny famously quipped “They’re coming to get you Barbra.” For me as I’m sure it is for many other fans of horror, his face is as recognizable a symbol of the zombie sub-genre as any other. It probably goes without saying that Night of the Living Dead is one my absolute favorite films and although I cannot definitively say that it was the first zombie flick I ever watched I believe that it was which likely makes Hinzman’s shambling zombie the first portrayal of such I ever witnessed, and that to me my friends is pretty awesome.
R.I.P
It’s untold but he was pedophile before he was a zombie.
I try to pay tribute to a man who played an important role in the genre we love and you post that? Really, B. Mo? I see that your grammar hasn’t improved.