Wicker Man Deaths

Is there wicked handwriting on the wall?

In January 2009, I pondered the original 1973 film, The Wicker Man. 

The time is ripe to revisit this synchrocinematic classic, for 2016 has much to say to The Wicker Man-aware. 

Eddie Lin posted the following four-photograph-montage shortly after The Wicker Man director Robin Hardy died on Friday, July 1, 2016. Hardy only directed three films, The Wicker Man (1973), The Fantasist (1986), and the sequel to The Wicker Man, The Wicker Tree (2011).

Robin St. Clair Rimington Hardy (2 October 1929 – 1 July 2016) died at the age of 86.

Lin tells me he posted the four images because of Hardy's link to The Wicker Man film. But they were not added to his montage for any specific reason.

However, I was interested in their relationship to death.

For example, Christopher Lee died in 2015. Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee CBE (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) died at the age of 93.

Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, and Robin Hardy during the The Wicker Man (1973) filming. Edward Albert Arthur Woodward, OBE (1 June 1930 – 16 November 2009) died at the age of 79.

Cinefantastique devoted a commemorative issue to the film, asserting that the film is "the Citizen Kane of horror movies" – an oft-quoted phrase.

Christopher Lee considered The Wicker Man his best film. Edward Woodward meanwhile once said that The Wicker Man was one of his favorite films and that the character of Howie was the best part he ever played. In addition to Lee's admiration of the final shot of the film (of the collapsing Wicker man), Woodward said that it was the best final shot of any film ever made.

Ingrid Pitt (21 November 1937 – 23 November 2010), who collapsed on the way to her fans' celebration of her birthday, and died a few days later, passed away at the age of 73. After The Wicker Man, in which she had an important but small part, she became Hammer's Queen of Horror or more generally The Queen of Gothic Horror.

Ingrid Pitt

The Wicker Man's 1973 Rowan Morrison was played by Geraldine "Gerry" Cowper (born 23 June 1958).

For such a well-received cult classic, it would not be until 2006 for a followup film, the remade The Wicker Man, starring Nicolas Cage.

In 2006, Rowan was played by Erika-Shaye Gair (born on 12 December 1998, New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada).

Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is related to several people in the movie industry. Through his father, he is a nephew of director Francis Ford Coppola and of actress Talia Shire, and the cousin of directors Roman Coppola and Sofia Coppola, film producer Gian-Carlo Coppola, and actors Robert Carmine and Jason Schwartzman.

According to Cage, he owned the "Most Haunted House in America," a home located in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. Known as "The LaLaurie House" after its former owner Delphine LaLaurie, the house was foreclosed and sold at auction on November 12, 2009, along with another New Orleans property for a total of $5.5 million, in the wake of Cage's financial problems.

Compared to Edward Woodward, Nicolas Cage's part of the policeman investigating the disappearance of Rowan has been roundly criticized. Many movie critiques have noted that Cage overplayed the part versus Woodward's highly praised portrayal.

As noted in my original discussion of the 1973 film The Wicker Man, the movie's red-coated child, Rowan, is linked to several other films' red-clad girls. Again Rowan shows up in red, in the 2006 version of The Wicker Man.

Cage's over-the-top policeman versus Woodward's terrified human sacrifice.

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Finally, in 2011, Hardy's sequel to The Wicker Man was released, The Wicker Tree. In some cases, it was showed as a double-feature with the 1973 original.

Brittania Nicol played the May Queen, Beth Boothby in The Wicker Tree.

The legacy of The Wicker Man lives on, and continues to be a significant moment in Pagan horror films, worthy of wonder among synchromystics. In this special year of deaths appearing to come frequently to important players, why should we not expect The Wicker Man to have it's moment in the sun?

One of the most celebrated and remembered characters in the original Wicker Man film is Willow who attempts to seduce Police Sergeant Neil Howie (Edward Woodward). Willow was played by Britt Ekland (also spelled Britt Eklund, sometimes).

Britt Ekland (born Britt-Marie Eklund; 6 October 1942) is 73 years old, as of July 7, 2016. She has been married to Peter Sellers (m. 1964; div. 1968) and Slim Jim Phantom (m. 1984; div. 1992), and her partners have been Lou Adler and Rod Stewart.

Summerisle in the Hebrides holds its secrets well.

Peter Sellers' and Britt Eland's only child was a daughter, Victoria Sellers. Victoria Sellers may have been a Moon child, for she appears to have been conceived on Sunday, April 26, 1964, a full moon. Victoria was born on January 20, 1965.

Should we be on the lookout for news of some kind from Ekland? Or her daughter?

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Or will something be in the wind from others linked to the Wicker Man movies (1973, 2006, 2011) during 2016?

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Britt Ekland re-posted Willow's Song on her Twitter account in tribute to The Wicker Man's director Robin Hardy.

In many ways, Robin Hardy's role in The Wicker Man/The Wicker Tree movies is as Puck. Puck may also be called "Robin Goodfellow" or "Hobgoblin," in which "Hob" (the Devil) may substitute for "Rob" or may simply refer to the "goblin of the hearth" or hob. The name Robin is Middle English in origin, deriving from Old French Robin, the pet form for the name Robert. It's is a circular name game that ends up back with a very Pagan meaning.

Hardy is an English, Scottish, and French nickname for a "brave or foolhardy man," from Old French, Middle English hardi "bold," "courageous" (of Germanic origin). Irish: in addition to being an importation of the English name, this is also found as an Anglicized form (by partial translation) of Gaelic Mac Giolla Deacair "son of the hard lad."

Thanks to an initial idea from Eddie Lin.

Wicker Man's Woodward Dies

Edward Woodward, 79, the central leading actor in The Wicker Man, died on Monday, November 16, 2009.



The Wicker Man is a 1973 British horror film, combining thriller, existential horror and musical genres, directed by Robin Hardy and written by Anthony Shaffer. The film stars Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Diane Cilento, Ingrid Pitt and Britt Ekland. Paul Giovanni composed the soundtrack. The film is now considered a cult classic.

Based on David Pinner's 1967 novel The Ritual, the story is about a Scottish police officer, Sergeant Neil Howie (played by Woodward), visiting the isolated island of Summerisle to search for a missing girl (named, significantly, "Rowan") whom the locals claim never existed. Police Sergeant Neil Howie is sent an anonymous letter recommending that he investigate the disappearance of a young girl, Rowan Morrison, on the remote Hebridean island of Summerisle (a fictional island apparently inspired by the real-life Summer Isles of the Inner Hebrides).

The inhabitants of Summerisle all celebrate a reconstructed form of Celtic paganism, which upsets the devoutly Christian Sergeant. In the original uncut version of the film, he witnesses couples copulating in the church yard, in addition to finding a naked woman sobbing on a grave. He angrily threatens to involve the authorities after discovering the school mistress (Diane Cilento) is teaching young girls about the phallic importance of the maypole.



The character played by Woodward (an intriguing name, in and of itself) finds himself attracted strongly to Willow (Britt Ekland), the sexually liberated daughter of the landlord. In the restored director's cut of the film, Lord Summerisle refers to Willow as Aphrodite when presenting her with a young male adolescent to seduce. The police sergeant cannot help but overhear their passionate lovemaking. To compound matters, Willow tries to seduce him the following night, dancing naked and beating upon his bedroom wall, but he resists the torment with some obvious physical discomfort.

(The uncensored version is difficult to view online, but the pagan passion of "Willow's Song" is clearly evident even in what is to be discovered on YouTube.)

Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee) clearly is a match for Sergeant Howie. During a May Day festival, Howie attempts to learn more about what is occurring there by dressing at Punch. But that backfires, to say the least and perhaps to state so as a pun.

Lord Summerisle and his followers explain to the good Christian Sergeant that his sacrifice will be effective because Howie came to them of his own free will; as a virgin; with the power of a king (by representing the law); and as a fool ("You are the Fool, Mr. Howie: Punch, one of the great fool-victims in history! For you have accepted the role of King-For-A-Day, and who but a Fool would do that?" asks the school mistress, referring to the way that Howie has conducted his investigations).

Howie in turn admonishes them, claiming that killing him will not restore their fertility and that they all would be guilty of murder. He argues that if the crops fail next year they will have to sacrifice Summerisle. Lord Summerisle asserts that Howie's sacrifice will have the desired results.

The policeman is dragged screaming into the belly of a large hollow wicker statue of a man which is subsequently ignited. In the final scene of the film, the islanders surround the burning wicker man and sing the Middle English folk-song "Sumer Is Icumen In" while the terrified Howie shouts out Psalm 23. The film ends with the Wicker Man engulfed in flames, and collapsing in front of the setting sun.




Woodward, who also starred in Breaker Morant and in the "The Equalizer" on television, died in a hospital in Cornwall after an illness, said Janet Glass of the Eric Glass Ltd. agency in London.

He won an Emmy Award in 1990 for "Remembering World War II" and a Golden Globe in 1987 for "The Equalizer," which ran for 88 episodes from 1985 to 1989 on the U.S. network CBS.

In a career that began in 1946 in a regional production of "A Kiss for Cinderella," Woodward played roles in productions ranging from the popular British soap opera "Eastenders" to productions of Shakespeare, and at least 40 films for theater or television.

His last film appearances were in 2007's Hot Fuzz (an ironic name, considering The Wicker Man role) and Congregation of Ghosts, now in post-production.

"I think I've probably more television than any actor living," Woodward said in a 1987 interview with The Associated Press. "I've done over 2,000, could be 3,000 now, television productions."

"I suppose there is also the feeling that it is the largest medium by far for information, education and above all, entertainment," he added. "And after all, that's what an actor's life is all about. Getting work and entertaining people."

At the time, Woodward was promoting a U.S. television film of Uncle Tom's Cabin, in which played the wicked slave owner, Simon Legree. He found the role strangely refreshing.

"If you are a British actor, you do lots of Shakespeare and lots of classical work. There is always a great actor who has just played your character," he said.

"Lucky for me, Simon Legree has not been done very often," he added.

Woodward is survived by his second wife, actress Michele Dotrice, their daughter, and two sons and a daughter from his first marriage.

Funeral arrangements have not been announced.