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Character actor Charles Napier has died at age seventy-five. Napier's imposing frame and square jaw had him play a bevy of tough guys, military and law enforment men in his long career that spanned decades starting in the late 1960s, including over eighty movies and hundreds of television appearances.
One of his first gigs was as Adam, one of the "space hippies" on an episode on the original Star Trek called "The Way to Eden". But he guested on many TV shows of the 1970s, everything from "The Rockford Files" and "Baretta" to "Starsky & Hutch" and "Kojak" to "Hogan's Heroes" and "Mission: Impossible" to "B.J. and the Bear". Usually playing the heavy. One of his earliest film credits was the infamous Russ Meyer satire Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. 1977's Citizen's Band (aka Handle with Care) was his first collaboration with director Jonathan Demme, who would use Napier eight more times in some of his most high profile films including Melvin & Howard, Married to the Mob, The Silence of the Lambs and Philadelphia.
Through the 1980s Napier continued to show up constantly on television, guesting on the likes of "The Dukes of Hazzard", "The A-Team", "The Incredible Hulk", "CHiPs", "Night Court", "Knight Rider" and he had a multi-episode arc on "Dallas". In movies one of his best remembered roles is still probably Tucker McElroy, driver of the Winnebago and lead singer of The Good Ole Boys in The Blues Brothers who Jake and the boys scam out of their gig at Bob's Country Bunker. Another indellible role was as Murdock, the contact Stallone's ex-soldier doesn't trust much after he sends him back into Vietnam to rescue old P.O.W.s in the ultra-violent maga-hit Rambo: First Blood Part II.
Two of my favorite Napier supporting turns both came in 1990, in Stephen Frears' The Grifters and George Armitage's Miami Blues. Other than the Demme projects and a few fun cameos (as in the first two Austin Powers flicks), the rest of the '90s film work was mostly completely forgettable genre junk, but even in the worst movies the presence of Charles Napier was always a welcome respite, whether he was on screen for two minutes or thirty. His televsion work continued at a steady pace, some highlights being his return to the Star Trek universe on an episode of "Deep Space Nine" and voicing Duke Phillips, the insane owner of the TV station on "The Critic". His voice work continued into the next century, on "The Simpsons", Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, "The Squidibllies", "God, the Devil and Bob", "Men in Black" and his last credit was an episode of FX's "Archer". His last film wound up being the comedy The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard.
That face, that jaw, and that voice are unforgettable, to generations of TV and movie watchers.
R.I.P., Chuck
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One of his first gigs was as Adam, one of the "space hippies" on an episode on the original Star Trek called "The Way to Eden". But he guested on many TV shows of the 1970s, everything from "The Rockford Files" and "Baretta" to "Starsky & Hutch" and "Kojak" to "Hogan's Heroes" and "Mission: Impossible" to "B.J. and the Bear". Usually playing the heavy. One of his earliest film credits was the infamous Russ Meyer satire Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. 1977's Citizen's Band (aka Handle with Care) was his first collaboration with director Jonathan Demme, who would use Napier eight more times in some of his most high profile films including Melvin & Howard, Married to the Mob, The Silence of the Lambs and Philadelphia.
Through the 1980s Napier continued to show up constantly on television, guesting on the likes of "The Dukes of Hazzard", "The A-Team", "The Incredible Hulk", "CHiPs", "Night Court", "Knight Rider" and he had a multi-episode arc on "Dallas". In movies one of his best remembered roles is still probably Tucker McElroy, driver of the Winnebago and lead singer of The Good Ole Boys in The Blues Brothers who Jake and the boys scam out of their gig at Bob's Country Bunker. Another indellible role was as Murdock, the contact Stallone's ex-soldier doesn't trust much after he sends him back into Vietnam to rescue old P.O.W.s in the ultra-violent maga-hit Rambo: First Blood Part II.
Two of my favorite Napier supporting turns both came in 1990, in Stephen Frears' The Grifters and George Armitage's Miami Blues. Other than the Demme projects and a few fun cameos (as in the first two Austin Powers flicks), the rest of the '90s film work was mostly completely forgettable genre junk, but even in the worst movies the presence of Charles Napier was always a welcome respite, whether he was on screen for two minutes or thirty. His televsion work continued at a steady pace, some highlights being his return to the Star Trek universe on an episode of "Deep Space Nine" and voicing Duke Phillips, the insane owner of the TV station on "The Critic". His voice work continued into the next century, on "The Simpsons", Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, "The Squidibllies", "God, the Devil and Bob", "Men in Black" and his last credit was an episode of FX's "Archer". His last film wound up being the comedy The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard.
That face, that jaw, and that voice are unforgettable, to generations of TV and movie watchers.
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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra
"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra
