‘Leprechaun’ and ‘Rumpelstiltskin’ Horror Movie Legend Dead at 72: RIP to Mark Jones

Writer/director Mark Jones has died. He was 72.

Jones, best known for horror comedies like Leprechaun and Rumpelstiltskin, died at West Hills Hospital in Los Angeles after a brief, short illness on January 16 just a few hours before his 73rd birthday. His death was confirmed to Variety by his friend George Saadi.

His most enduring work, the 1993 cult classic Leprechaun, starred Jennifer Aniston and Warwick Davis. It stars Davis as a killer leprechaun who thinks a family stole his pot of gold, and hunts them down one by one as the family frantically searches for where the pot of gold could possibly be.

The film was so successful that the series has somehow spawned seven sequels, with the most recent (titled Leprechaun Returns) releasing in 2018.

Other notable credits from Jones include the 1995 fantasy flick Rumpelstiltskin, based on the classic fairy tale, and various writing or directing credits for all sorts of well-known TV shows. Scooby-Doo, The Fall Guy, Mister T, The A-Team, Knight Rider, A.L.F., The Highwayman, and Police Academy all have had Jones working behind-the-scenes in some capacity.

His last major credit was on the Discovery Channel series Nature, a wildlife documentary series that he directed and produced in 2016.