Longtime actor Sid Haig has passed away at the age of 80 as confirmed today by his wife Suzie. The news was shared on Sid’d own Instagram page. In a touching message Suzie had this to say:

Sid had recently been in hospital following an accident and a recent post from his wife indicated that his condition had been improving, unfortunately just a week after this positive update Sid has passed on.

A post shared by Remembering Sid Haig (@remembering.sid.haig)

Having been acting since 1960 Sid has taken part in countless productions, though he is most well known as the creepy clown, Captain Spaulding from Rob Zombies’ House of 1000 corpses, as well as its sequels. Zombie himself had this message to say:

An ever-present at movie conventions Sid was adored by fans and was said to be one of the nicest and most genuine actors anyone could meet. His loss will be felt heavily by those fans, however, at this time it’s important to respect his families privacy and allow them to mourn. Our thoughts go out to them all.

Sid and I had a long talk on the day that he told me of his condition and he knew 3 From Hell would most likely be his last appearance on screen. Sadly it was. I knew it was very important to Sid that Captain Spaulding make one more round and he did. Sid’s time the film is brief. He was in rough shape that day, but he gave it his all and made his scene very memorable.

I was a fan of his as a kid watching Jason Of Star Command all the way through our twenty years of working together. I can still clearly remember the first time we met. It was at the Edith Head Costume building at Universal. Sid came out of the dressing room wearing a clown suit which was a few sizes too small. We said hello then we both started laughing at how ridiculous he looked in his ill-fitting suit. We would find him a much better suit.

As we were making House Of 1000 Corpses neither of us knew he was creating a character that would live on and grow in popularity every year. Sid told me many times how thankful he was for the Captain and how that character changed his life. He had completely given up on acting and now suddenly had found a whole new audience at the age of 60. I know he was thrilled and blown away by that fact.

The Captain is gone… but he will never be forgotten.

Rest in Peace Sid”