‘Little Shop of Horrors’ actor Jonathan Haze dead at 95

nypost.com:

Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter that Jonathan died “peacefully of natural causes” on Saturday at his Los Angeles home. Haze’s performance as Seymour in “The Little Shop of Horrors” would inspire countless others in the following decades, as the movie was adapted into an off-Broadway musical in 1982, which was made into a 1986 movie starring Rick Moranis as Seymour.Speaking at a fan event in 2001, Haze shared that the filming of “The Little Shop of Horrors” was particularly grueling. “All the interior scenes in the movie were done in two days, they were like 20-hour days, and then we went out on the streets and did three nights with a second unit, with a totally different crew.

It was insane,” Haze said. “We were shooting actually on Skid Row, using real bums as extras. We would pay them 10 cents a walk-through.”The actor added that he was paid only $400 for his work on the film. “I don’t think any of us would have been as successful if he hadn’t been on top of what he was doing,” actress Jackie Joseph, who played Audrey, told author Tom Weaver for his 1998 book, “Science Fiction and Fantasy Film Flashbacks.” Haze “had practically all the pressure on him,” Joseph added.“It’s funny to think of ‘professionalism’ when you think of something as dopey as ‘Little Shop,’ but there definitely were professionals on that stage.”Born Jack Aaron Schachter, Jonathan Haze began his career working the stage for his cousin, drummer Buddy Rich, before spending two years as the stage manager as the stage manager for legendary dancer and singer Josephine Baker.