The “Blood Simple” and “Blade Runner” actor was 88 years old

M. Emmett Walsh, the scheming character actor who became an audience favorite for his deliciously sordid performances in films like Blood is simple, Blade Runner, Brubaker And This bastard, He died. He was 88 years old.

Walsh died Tuesday in St. Albans, Vermont, said Sandy Joseph, his longtime manager Hollywood Reporter. The cause was cardiac arrest.

With his characteristic lumbering form and engaging delivery, Walsh was an ideal supporting player. A master at delivering off-kilter comedy and extreme audacity, he excelled in roles that lived in the dark corners of humanity. No matter who he played, he had a colorful impact.

“An old pro in the second banana trade, Walsh has left his mark on 109 films and counting, with the smile of that big bastard standing between you and something else — and he knows it,” Nicholas Rabold wrote on his profile in 2011. For actor l Los Angeles Weekly.

In the same essay, Walsh—who ended up scoring more than 230 IMDb credits—summed up his philosophy toward acting: “I don’t want you to see Mr. Emmett Walsh. I want you to see a garbage collector or the president of Princeton or something. …I do “Everyone. I also play hard.”

Thanks to his imposing stature, Walsh was often viewed as a person of authority. He played the role of an army recruiting sergeant Alice Restaurant (1969) Prison guard in Little big man (1970) Doctor in Airport ’77 (1977), Dustin Hoffman’s aggressive parole office caught him with his pants down once in a row (1978), a corrupt timber merchant in Brubaker (1980) Police Chief Creatures (1986) Governor in Milagro Penfield War (1988) and a warden in Bitter harvest (1993).

Walsh is also fondly remembered for his winning performance as unassuming sportswriter Dickie Dunne Slap shot (1977), in which the relentlessly crazy sniper decides to take a shot at Steve Martin This bastard (1979) and as Michael Keaton’s patron in Clean and sober (1988).

Perhaps no character embodies Walsh’s talents better than Loren Visser, the unscrupulous private investigator in… Blood is simple (1984), the Coen brothers’ first feature film. Hired to catch a cheating husband and her lover red-handed, Visser ends up double-crossing and killing his client, emptying his safe and framing the wife for murder.

In a story with no loyal participants, Visser is the most underrated of all, and in reviewing the film’s 2000 revival, Roger Ebert referred to Walsh as a “poet of depravity.”

“Every time, (you have to) try to figure out something individual that fits the character,” Walsh said. Watchman In 2017. “If you’re playing a villain, you’re not playing a villain. …Visser doesn’t consider himself particularly bad or evil. He’s on the edge of what’s legal, but he’s having a lot of fun with it all. He’s a simple guy trying to make extra money and goes a little further than he usually goes with his business ventures.

Walsh was honored with a Spirit Award for Best Male Actor for his film Blood is simple. The Coens then brought the actor back for another cameo role, as a machine shop worker Raise Arizona (1987).

If not Visser, Walsh is best remembered for playing Bryant in Ridley Scott’s film. Blade Runner (1982). As is typical of Walsh’s character, Bryant is a stubborn police captain who forces Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) to come out of retirement to resume his position as a specialist hunting down bio-engineered replicants who are on the loose. “I need you deck.” “This is bad, and worse,” he says through clenched teeth. “I need the old blade runner. I need your magic.”

In a 2017 interview with Hollywood ReporterWalsh said he was asked about it Blade Runner More than any other movie he’s ever made. “We dropped the plane at Union Station (in Los Angeles),” he recalls. “They put everything in a little office in the corner, and we had to be out by five in the morning because passengers were coming for the train. I don’t know if I really understood what the hell it was all about.

After watching the finished film for the first time, Walsh realized he wasn’t the only one with this opinion. “We all just sat there and that was it. “And nothing,” he said, laughing hysterically. “We didn’t know what to say or think or do! We didn’t know what the hell we were doing! The only person who seems to get it is Ridley.

Michael Emmett Walsh was born on March 22, 1935 in Ogdensburg, New York. His father was a customs employee.

Walsh grew up in Swanton, Vermont, and attended Tilton School in New Hampshire before attending Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York, where he resided with Future. Landing knot Star William Devane. (In 1998, Clarkson honored Walsh with the prestigious Golden Knight Award.)

Walsh graduated with a bachelor’s degree in marketing in 1958 and moved to New York City. Three years later, he joined the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and began practicing his craft in summer theater and regional theater throughout the Northeast.

Walsh appeared in an episode of the series the doctors in 1968 and made his Broadway debut a year later in the drama Does the tiger wear a tie? In a cast that included Al Pacino and Hal Holbrook. In 1973, he replaced Charles Durning in the role of George Sekowski in the original production of Jason Miller’s film. This championship season.

Having made his film debut as an uncredited extra Midnight Cowboy (1969), Walsh appeared in notable features such as Serpico (1973), gambler (1975), Bound for glory (1976), Ordinary people (1980), Reds (1981), Canning grade (1982) and Silkwood (1983).

Blood is simple It represents a turning point.

Walsh was shooting a movie in Texas when he heard about an independent project two brothers in Austin were trying to work together. He was fascinated by the private eye character, imagining the role as a Sidney Greenstreet type in a suit and Panama hat. After watching a trailer filmed to entice investors, he signed on.

With Joel Coen and Ethan Coen making heavy use of storyboards and light on giving directions to their actors, Walsh wasn’t sure what to do with the budding filmmakers. Didn’t expect Blood is simple To have a huge impact on his career.

“I didn’t hear from them for months after that. They didn’t have enough money to fly me to New York for the movie’s opening,” Walsh said. “I saw it three or four days later when it opened in Los Angeles, and I thought, ‘Wow!’ Suddenly my price increased five times. “I was the man everyone wanted.”

Walsh had a flair for comedy, as seen in Cold Türkiye (1971), They may be giants (1971), Get to know your rabbit (1972), What’s the matter, doctor? (1972), In the long last love (1975), Second Avenue Prisoner (1975), The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh (1979), Fletch (1985), Back to school (1986), Wild cats (1986), Camp anywhere (1994), My dear friend’s wedding (1997) and Christmas with the Kranks (2004). He appeared in A stingy plays a role Take out the knives (2019).

He also kept busy as a voice-over actor (the 1990 Ken Burns documentary series). Civil war1999 Iron giant(and as a guest star on television)Everyone in the family, Ironside, Bonanza, The Bob Newhart Show, Rockford Files, Little house on the meadow, Home improvement, The X-Files, NYPD blue, Freezer, empire And Good gemstones).

Walsh never married. As he said in a 2015 interview: “If you marry another actor, there’s always competition. And if you marry a ‘civilian,’ they won’t understand what you’re doing and why you have to travel to Nova Scotia, for example, for months. Moreover, I’ve never met Never a woman stupid enough to think I’m a great catch!

Survivors include two nephews.