Horror star Reggie Bannister dead at 80

Reggie Bannister, who starred in the cult horror film series Phantasm, has died at the age of 80.

The star of Don Coscarelli's movie franchise played his character, also named Reggie, across five films and five decades, beginning with the original Phantasm in 1979.

The last film, Phantasm: Ravager, was released in 2016.

The character of Reggie was written specifically for Bannister, and based heavily on the actor and his friendship with the director.

Horror fans turned him into something of an icon of the genre, and he appeared in more than 50 film and TV projects following Phantasm, including the role of Herb Tooklander in the adaptation of One for the Road, a short film sequel to Stephen King's Salem's Lot.

Coscarelli took to X to express his grief over the passing of his friend.

"I lost my hero yesterday," he wrote of a friendship that began with a chance meeting when Coscarelli was a teenager. "Little did I know that night would lead to literally a lifetime of working together."

In 2016, Bannister was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia and Parkinson's disease. In February last year, it was announced that his health was deteriorating and that he was receiving hospice care at his home in Crestline, California.

He was married three times and is survived by his third wife, Gigi Fast Elk Porter, whom he married in 2001.