Ed Lauter (1938 - 2013)
Ed Lauter, one of the most indelible and indispensable "That Guy" character actors of the late 20th Century, died Wednesday, October 16 of mesothelioma.
With a resume of over 204 movies over 42 years in the entertainment industry, a prematurely receding hairline, and a long vulture-like face that screamed "VILLAIN!", Lauter established himself to multiple generations of moviegoers as the very embodiment of corruption, malice, and hard-assed authority. Much like Clancy Brown after him, his presence in a movie could almost guarantee to the viewer the unquestionable identity of the bad guy. He practically taught every child in the 1980s how to hate.
Just LOOKIT the asshole smirk on the asshole-ly face of that asshole....JEEZ, what an asshole.
He got his start on the stage in 1968 alongside James Earl Jones in the Broadway production of "The Great White Hope." From there he went on to his bedrock work in films such as The Longest Yard (1974), Family Plot (1976), King Kong (1976), using his life experience observing the varying scoundrels of Long Beach, NY as the basis for many of his despicable characters. He used that firmament as a springboard to films like Cujo (1983), Death Wish 3 (1986), Revenge of the Nerds 2 (1987), and even mocking the summary of his career as The Coach in Not Another Teen Movie (2000). In the last ten years his career swung into more varied characters and productions that tended to ignore his lengthy association: he worked on shows like "The Office", he played the butler in The Artist (2011) and had a supporting role in Clint Eastwood's The Trouble With the Curve (2013).
He was also on Star Trek: The Next Generation so...maybe only KINDA asshole.
Boasting a filmography that would rival most porn stars, Lauter's physiognomic endowments meant he was never in want of work. And he continued to do so even after being diagnosed in May 2013 with the terminal illness. He continued to act up until the last few months and there are currently almost a dozen projects of his still in post-production.
While time and age rob me of the vestigial remnants of my youth with the tact and delicacy of slow, deliberate papercuts, I can usually be assuaged of my existential malaise with the presence of certain intractable elements from those olden days that remain in force, and character actors like Lauter and SFX artists like Harryhausen are among them. As bad as it is to be robbed of my physical youth, time has become increasingly cruel in robbing not just me, but the future generations of pop culture geeks of their formerly permanent icons. And increasingly, it seems, each day or week finds another icon of awesome to pluck from the slate. I'm amazed I can even write this, as I'm just as pissed off about this as I was with James Gandolfini and Dennis Farina.
Rest in peace, Mr. Lauter. I never thought I'd be grateful to someone who pissed me off as much as you did.
Ed Lauter, one of the most indelible and indispensable "That Guy" character actors of the late 20th Century, died Wednesday, October 16 of mesothelioma.
With a resume of over 204 movies over 42 years in the entertainment industry, a prematurely receding hairline, and a long vulture-like face that screamed "VILLAIN!", Lauter established himself to multiple generations of moviegoers as the very embodiment of corruption, malice, and hard-assed authority. Much like Clancy Brown after him, his presence in a movie could almost guarantee to the viewer the unquestionable identity of the bad guy. He practically taught every child in the 1980s how to hate.
Just LOOKIT the asshole smirk on the asshole-ly face of that asshole....JEEZ, what an asshole.
He got his start on the stage in 1968 alongside James Earl Jones in the Broadway production of "The Great White Hope." From there he went on to his bedrock work in films such as The Longest Yard (1974), Family Plot (1976), King Kong (1976), using his life experience observing the varying scoundrels of Long Beach, NY as the basis for many of his despicable characters. He used that firmament as a springboard to films like Cujo (1983), Death Wish 3 (1986), Revenge of the Nerds 2 (1987), and even mocking the summary of his career as The Coach in Not Another Teen Movie (2000). In the last ten years his career swung into more varied characters and productions that tended to ignore his lengthy association: he worked on shows like "The Office", he played the butler in The Artist (2011) and had a supporting role in Clint Eastwood's The Trouble With the Curve (2013).
He was also on Star Trek: The Next Generation so...maybe only KINDA asshole.
Boasting a filmography that would rival most porn stars, Lauter's physiognomic endowments meant he was never in want of work. And he continued to do so even after being diagnosed in May 2013 with the terminal illness. He continued to act up until the last few months and there are currently almost a dozen projects of his still in post-production.
While time and age rob me of the vestigial remnants of my youth with the tact and delicacy of slow, deliberate papercuts, I can usually be assuaged of my existential malaise with the presence of certain intractable elements from those olden days that remain in force, and character actors like Lauter and SFX artists like Harryhausen are among them. As bad as it is to be robbed of my physical youth, time has become increasingly cruel in robbing not just me, but the future generations of pop culture geeks of their formerly permanent icons. And increasingly, it seems, each day or week finds another icon of awesome to pluck from the slate. I'm amazed I can even write this, as I'm just as pissed off about this as I was with James Gandolfini and Dennis Farina.
Rest in peace, Mr. Lauter. I never thought I'd be grateful to someone who pissed me off as much as you did.
