Donald Leifert

Donald L. Leifert Jr. (February 27, 1951 – October 23, 2010) was an American sci fi/horror film actor, writer, teacher, and film historian.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] His parents are Dolores J. and Donald L. Leifert, Sr., his daughter is Elizabeth Leifert and sister is Cheryl J. Young.[15][2]

Leifert, a professionally trained actor, worked with Baltimore filmmaker Don Dohler, a former journalist, on science fiction/horror films including The Galaxy Invader, Nightbeast, and The Alien Factor.[16][17][18][19] Leifert, called a "Baltimore horror maven" by Michael Sragow, appeared in several films for Dohler, did the costumes for "Galaxy Invader," was quoted as saying "if you watch the films [I was in] carefully, they're really saved in the editing room. He would sit and chain-smoke cigarettes and work at that editing machine for months and months and months--no one would see or hear from him."[16][20] Not wanting to resume his acting career, he launched a "literate film appreciation magazine" named Movie Club with Dohler in 1993, where he managed the editorial side and Dohler the business side, commenting the following year that "it's fun to write about these films, because they're fun films."[20][16]

Leifert was also an English and theater arts teacher at Towson High School in Baltimore, Maryland, and authored the autobiography Riggie: A Journey from 5th Street.[16][21][22][23][15][19] Leifert also had a law degree and taught at the George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology, also called the Carver School for the Arts, before coming to Towson High School in 2000.[15][2] He was also a veteran of the Vietnam War.[24] His memorial service was at Timonium's Grace Fellowship Church and a memorial scholarship fund was set up in his name.[15][2]