"Dr. Tongue", as he was nicknamed by designer Tom Savini is a minor character featured in Day of the Dead. He has the distinction of being the first zombie to fully appear on-screen in the film. Dr. Tongue was not portrayed by an single actor but was instead an elaborate puppet operated by several puppeteers.
Biography[]
"Dr. Tongue" was a doctor at some point in his life, prior to the zombie outbreak. Sometime during the undead plague, he died and was subsequently reanimated into a zombie. It is shown that the majority of his face (including half of his jaw) is missing, possibly a gunshot wound from a poor marksman, rendering him still functioning but unable to consume anyone that he might kill. He is seen in the opening moments of Day of the Dead, where emerges from a desolate Ft. Myers, Florida, beckoned by the desperate cries of Miguel Salazar.