Jonathan Haze, a versatile and beloved actor, passed away on Saturday at his Los Angeles home, leaving behind a legacy of over two dozen films made with B-movie legend Roger Corman. He was 95.
Born Jack Aaron Schachter on April 1, 1929, in Pittsburgh, Haze began his acting career on stage, working with renowned entertainer Josephine Baker and drummer Buddy Rich, his cousin.
After a chance meeting with Wyott Ordung, Haze was introduced to Corman, marking the start of a prolific partnership.
Corman recalled their first meeting, saying, “There’s a part for you, a Mexican… But you’ll have to grow a mustache. You’ll also have to bring your own costumes, do your own stunts, and you won’t be paid overtime. You still want it?” Haze, billed as Jack Hayes initially, later adopted the stage name Jonathan Haze.
Haze’s most iconic role was as Seymour Krelborn in the original The Little Shop of Horrors (1960), where he played a clumsy flower shop assistant who discovers a plant requiring blood and human flesh to survive.
In a memorable scene, he extracts teeth from undertaker Wilbur Force, played by Jack Nicholson.
“All the interior scenes in the movie were done in two days, they were like 20-hour days, and then we went out on the streets and did three nights with a second unit, with a totally different crew. It was insane,” Haze recalled in 2001.
“We were shooting actually on Skid Row, using real bums as extras. We would pay them 10 cents a walk-through.”
Haze’s versatility and enthusiasm earned him a reputation as a chameleon actor. A 2011 Tumblr post described him as “a small, slight man with boyish good looks… He maintained an overwhelming enthusiasm for whatever project he was working on, and… was willing to go for the gusto when it came to changing his posture and voice to create a new persona onscreen.”
Throughout his career, Haze appeared in numerous Corman films, including The Fast and the Furious (1954), Day the World Ended (1955), Stakeout on Dope Street (1958), and X: The Man With the X-Ray Eyes (1963).
He also wrote the screenplay for Invasion of the Star Creatures (1962) and worked as a production manager and producer on various projects.
Haze is survived by his daughters, Rebecca and Deedee; grandchildren, Andre, Rocco, and Ruby; and great-grandson, Sonny.
