Generations of metro Detroiters watched a vampire climb out of his coffin every weekend for spooky movies, as Sir Graves Ghastly — created and played by Lawson Deming — ran on TV from 1967 to 1982 on WJBK-TV.
This weekend, the Redford Theatre is remembering the TV icon during two movies screenings.
On Saturday, Oct. 18, the theatre at 17360 Lahser Road in Detroit plans to show a tape of the former WJBK-TV vampire it believes hasn’t been seen in 50 years, according to the theater’s Instagram.
The theater got the tape from Deming’s sons and will play it as a part of screenings of “Mark of the Vampire” at 2 p.m. and “Plan 9 From Outer Space,” a movie many consider the worst of all time, at 8 p.m.
David and Bud Deming, two of the actor’s four sons, will appear at both shows, according to the theater’s Instagram.
Who is Sir Graves?
Sir Graves is a camp, slick-back hair, red-lined black cape-wearing vampire who enchanted Detroit and Cleveland audiences with his TV show as a horror movie host.
He began in 1967 on WJBK-TV in Detroit and ran until 1982. Lawson Deming created and played Sir Graves on TV. Deming died in 2007 at the age of 94.
Lawson Deming was offered to host horror movies in 1967 and created his Sir Graves character. Before becoming Sir Graves, Deming was a puppeteer and voice actor for the 1960s kids’ show “Woodrow the Woodsman,” according to previous Free Press reporting.
“Graves was probably the friendliest vampire you’d ever want to meet,” David Deming told the Free Press in 2014.
Carl Kiehler, a Redford Theatre board member and 36-year volunteer, said he remembers watching Graves host campy horror movies growing up. Sir Graves and the movies he would host could be scary and funny, but not gory in the same way as many modern horror movies are today, Kiehler said.
“He (Sir Graves) is everything you’d expect from someone who was evil but funny,” Kiehler said.
Sir Graves at the Redford Theatre
Tributing Sir Graves is an annual Halloween-time tradition at the Redford Theatre, Kiehler said.
Every year, the nonprofit and entirely volunteer-run Redford Theatre plays spooky movies during October, and who better to help host movies than a famous Detroit vampire?
A few years into the annual tributes, the Demming family contacted the theater. In 2022, David Deming, a renowned sculptor, donated a stone Sir Graves that’s mounted in the lobby of the theater Kiehler said.
Tickets for the Oct. 18 shows are being sold for $10 each. Online tickets have an additional $1 convenience fee.
The box office opens an hour before each show. The theater, known for its movies and pipe organ alike, starts music a half hour before showtime, and a host comes out at showtime.
The evening show will include live music and be hosted by Count Cat, “a young feline-infused horror movie nut and musician,” according to the theater’s website.
For more information, visit redfordtheatre.com.
Contact Natalie Davies at ndavies@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Redford Theatre to keep Detroit TV vampire memory alive in weekend movie screenings
Reporting by Natalie Davies, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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