The famous and talented M. Emmett Walsh, who worked on over 200 films and TV shows for half a century, passed away on Tuesday at 88.
He has been famous for playing the familiar character actor in Blade Runner and other roles such as corrupt cop, deadly scoundrel, and zany comedy since the 1970s.
Longtime manager Sandy Joseph confirmed the news that he died on Tuesday in St. Albans, Vermont.
He told THR that the cause of death was cardiac arrest.
His recent roles include Knives Out, The Righteous Gemstones, and Sneaky Pete.
Knives Out director Rian Johnson took to social media to remember the legend. “Emmet came to set with 2 things:
A copy of his credits, a small-type single-spaced double-column list of modern classics that filled a whole page, & two-dollar bills which he passed out to the entire crew. ‘Don’t spend it, and you’ll never be broke.’ Absolute legend.”
M. Emmett Walsh was born in Ogdensburg, NY, on March 22, 1935; Walsh grew up in rural Vermont.
He began his career with guest appearances on TV series in the late 1960s, followed by appearances on Bonanza, All in the Family, Ironside, The Bob Newhart Show, McMillan & Wife, The Rockford Files, The Waltons, Starsky and Hutch, James Many.
A writer and editor based in New York City, Nicholas Rapold wrote for L.A. Weekly: “A consummate old pro of the second-banana business, Walsh has left his mark on 109 movies and counting, with the grin of that big bastard who stands between you and something else — and knows it,”
I don’t want you to see an M. Emmet Walsh. I want you to see a garbage collector or a president of Princeton or whatever. … I do everyman. And also, I play hard.”
Walsh told The Guardian in 2017, “Every time, you [have to] try to figure out something that works for the character.
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If you’re playing a villain, you don’t play the villain. … Visser doesn’t think of himself as evil.”
He continued, He’s on the edge of what’s legal, but he’s having a lot of fun with all that. He’s a simple fella trying to make an extra buck and going further than usual in his business enterprises.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he stated, “We shot down in [Los Angeles’] Union Station,
They set it all up in a bit of office over in a corner, and we had to be out by five in the morning because commuters were coming in for the train. I don’t know if I understood what it was all about.”