(DailyDig.com) – M. Emmet Walsh, a character actor, died on March 19 from a heart attack in St. Albans, Vermont, according to the announcement from Sandy Joseph, Walsh’s manager. He was 88 years old.
His acting style is perfect as a supporting actor; he once said that he wants the moviegoer to see his character and not him as an actor. According to the IMDB website, he began his acting career in 1968 and was involved in more than 230 films.
With Walsh’s droll delivery of his lines and his imposing form, he could pull off the unbalanced comedic delivery with an edge. Whatever role he played, whether the dark side of humans or the authority figure, he always created a colorful character.
Nicolas Rapold, a writer, profiled Walsh in the L.A. Weekly in 2011. He wrote that he was a professional character actor suited to being a subordinate to the star. He plays the character who is the big man, grinning as he places himself between another character and what they want.
In a 2017 interview, Walsh talked about how he developed the reason or motivation behind the characters he plays by finding one thing that the character is all about. If he is evil, his character may not see himself that way, but he is just on the border of legality. The character has fun pushing the envelope of what is permissible without going too far, at least in his mind.
Walsh is known for his performances in fan-favored movies such as “Blood Simple,” “Blade Runner,” “Alice’s Restaurant,” “Slap Shot,” “The Jerk,” “Brubaker,” and ”The Milagro Beanfield War.”
Walsh was also seen on television in “NYPD Blue,” “The X-Files,” “Frasier,” and “The Bob Newhart Show.”
Walsh was never married. He stated in an interview in 2015 that marrying another actor would create competition. Yet, marrying a non-actor would mean they wouldn’t understand the months away from home while on location. He finished the interview by stating that no woman he met was foolish enough to think he would be a good husband.
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