Kevin McCarthy "Body Snatchers" Star Dies

Kevin McCarthy

Actor Kevin McCarthy, who played the frantic doctor trying to save his friends and neighbors in the science-fiction movie classic "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," has died at age 96. McCarthy was born in Seattle on Feb. 15, 1914.


McCarthy died Saturday, said Cape Cod Hospital spokesman Dave Riley, who wouldn't reveal the cause of death or any other details.

McCarthy's acting career took off in 1938 with his Broadway debut in "Abe Lincoln in Illinois."

Soon after, he became an early member of the Actors Studio and was chosen by Elia Kazan to play Biff, the son of Willy Loman, in the London production of "Death of a Salesman." He repeated the role in the 1951 film starring Fredric March and earned an Oscar nomination as supporting actor.

But while he would consistently win praise for his acting during a long and busy career, his most lasting fame would come for "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." In the 1956 film, he vainly tried to warn residents in his small town of the evil pod people from outer space who were quietly taking over the personalities of everyone on Earth.

McCarthy had appeared in several other films and had a string of TV anthology-series credits behind him when he was cast as Dr. Miles Bennell in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," director Don Siegel's thriller about an unsuspecting California town whose residents were being replaced by emotionless alien clones grown in oversized seed pods.


In the film's most memorable scene, McCarthy's frantic Bennell runs into traffic, screaming to motorists, "Stop and listen to me! …. They're not human! … Can't you see? Everyone! They're here already. You're next!"

"Body Snatchers" flopped at the box office, considered too bleak for audiences of the time. It was elevated to classic status, and its star to iconic status, after such critics as Francois Truffault hailed it and late-night television programmers embraced it.

McCarthy dismissed assertions that "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" was an allegory about the communist infiltration of America or an indictment of McCarthyism.


Sources: Wikipedia, IMBD, LATimes, Yahoo News