Puppeteering is probably one of the most underrated jobs in horror film, and in all honesty a lot of the features we saw in the 80s and 90s wouldn’t have been as spectacular without extraordinary puppeteers like N. Brock Winkless. That’s why his death is so tragic.

Reports are saying that N. Brock Winkless died on Saturday, July 18 in Los Angeles due to a neurological condition that had been plaguing him for over 15 years. He was just 56 years old.

As a special effects technician, Winkless worked on a variety of titles before finding his niche in puppeteering. His special effects credits include Meet the Applegates (1990), Honey I Blew Up the Kid (1992), Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991), And You Thought Your Parents Were Weird (1991), Alien 3 (1992), Children of the Corn 3: Urban Harvest (1995) and The X Files (1998).

As a world class puppeteer, Winkless helped to bring two iconic characters to life: evil doll Chucky and horror host The Crypt Keeper. Winkless maneuvered the parts of Chucky in Child’s Play (1988), Child’s Play 2 (1990), Child’s Play 3 (1991) and Bride of Chucky (1998); as well as The Crypt Keeper in six episodes of “Tales from the Crypt” from 1989 – 1995 and stand alones Casper (1995) and Bordello of Blood (1996).

He also puppeteered for Man’s Best Friend in 1993.

All of us here at HorrorSociety.com send our condolences to his family, friends and fans!