Bill Hinzman – “The Number 1 Zombie” Dies

Bill Hinzman – a beloved actor in horror movies has died at the age of 75. First appearing as a zombie in George A. Romero’s 1968 low-budget feature, Night of the Living Dead (1986), he went on to become a respected horror movie actor and was once called the “number 1 zombie” by fans.
Hinzman’s daughter Heidi informed Reuters that he had died on Sunday 5th February in his home after battling cancer. Heidi says that Hinzman will be cremated because, “He always joked with me that if he got buried he would come back!”
Hinzman’s movie career holds a special place in the hearts of fans because he was the assistant cameraman on the set of the Night of the Living Dead when Romero himself cast him to appear in the famous opening scene of the movie where he gets to attack a brother and sister. The scene is iconic among horror movie lovers because Hinzman, as a zombie, bashes the guy’s head into a tombstone and then scares the woman so that she runs off into the house. It’s considered by many to be a famous scene and marks the start of Hinzman’s horror movie career.
Producer Russ Streiner has told Reuters, “We’d like to tell the story that it was a hard audition session, but Bill was there and old enough and thin enough and he had an old suit.”
Hinzman was loved by fans – often because of the way that he always had time for the fans and would often appear in costume at horror movie conventions.
After his debut in Night of the Living dead, Hinzman then went to continue his work with George A. Romero and appeared in There’s Always Vanilla (1971), Hungry Wives (1972) and The Crazies (1973).
Hizman also dabbled in directing and gave the world two movies in the late 1980′s – FleshEater (1988) and The Majorettes (1987).
Hinzman will be missed by the horror community.
Bill Hinzman: October 24, 1936 – February 5, 2012