R.I.P., Robert Fuest

Joblo.com's Arrow in the Head reports that director Robert Fuest has just died at the age of 84. Fuest is perhaps best known as the director of the classic Vincent price vehicles, The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) and Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972). He also directed the original version of the suspense thriller And So the Darkness (1970) and also The Devil's Rain (1975), starring Ernest Borgnine and William Shatner, with Eddie Albert, Tom Skerritt, Ida Lupino, and Keenan Wynn. Rain also included in its cast a then unknown John Travolta, plus a cameo by Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey, who also acted as consultant. Fuest was said to be a friend of LaVey's, and to have based some of his vision of the eccentric, flamboyant, organ playing Phibes character on the eccentric, flamboyant, organ playing LaVey.