Legendary character actor M. Emmet Walsh, he appeared in movies from Blade Runner (1982) to Blood Simple (1984) to Knives Out (2019), died on March 19 2024 at the age of 88. The cause was cardiac arrest.
M. Emmet Walsh was born on Mach 22 1935 in Ogdensburg, New York. He grew up in Swanton, Vermont. He earned a degree in business administration from Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York. At the college he appeared in various stage productions there. He decided to pursue acting as a career after being encouraged by a faculty advisor. Mr. Walsh then moved to New York City to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Art. He began his professional acting career in regional theatre.
M. Emmet Walsh made his television debut in 1968 in a guest appearance on the daytime soap opera The Doctors. He made his film debut the following year in an uncredited role in Midnight Cowboy (1969). He made his debut on Broadway in Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?. In the late Sixties he guest starred on television on N.Y.P.D. and Arnie. He appeared in the films Stiletto (1969), Alice's Restaurant (1969), End of the Road (1970), The Traveling Executioner (1970), and Little Big Man (1970).
In the Seventies M. Emmet Walsh had a recurring role on the Western TV series Nichols and a regular role on The Sandy Duncan Role. He appeared in the mini-series The French Atlantic Affair. He guest starred on the shows Julia; All in the Family; The Jimmy Stewart Show; Ironside, Bonanza; The Don Rickles Show; The Bob Newhart Show; McMillan & Wife; Amy Prentiss; The Rockford Files; The Waltons; Kate McShane, Baretta; Gibbsville; Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman; Starsky and Hutch; James at 15; Dear Detective; and Skag. He appeared in the movies Cold Turkey (1971), Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971), They Might Be Giants (1971), What's Up, Doc? (1972), Get to Know Your Rabbit (1972), Kid Blue (1973), Serpico (1973), The Gambler (1974), At Long Last Love (1975), The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975), Bound for Glory (1976), Nickelodeon (1976), Mikey and Nicky (1976), Slap Shot (1977), Airport '77 (1977), Straight Time (1978), The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh (1979); The Jerk (1979); Brubaker (1980); Raise the Titanic (1980), and Ordinary People (1980). He appeared on Broadway in The Championship Season.
In the Eighties M. Emmet Walsh appeared in the movies Back Roads (1981), Reds (1981), Cannery Row (1982), The Escape Artist (1982), Fast-Walking (1982), Blade Runner (1982), Silkwood (1983), Scandalous (1984), Blood Simple (1984), The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984), Grandview, U.S.A. (1984), Missing in Action (1984), Courage (1984), Fletch (1985), The Best of Times (1986), Wildcats (1986), Critters (1986), Back to School (1986), Raising Arizona (1987), Harry and the Hendersons (1987), No Man's Land (1987), The Milagro Beanfield War (1988), Sunset (1988), Clean and Sober (1988), War Party (1988), Red Scorpion (1988), The Mighty Quinn (1989), Thunderground (1989), Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat (1989), Catch Me if You Can (1989), Chattahoochee (1989), and Narrow Margin (1990). On television he appeared in the mini-series East of Eden, The Deliberate Stranger, and Brotherhood of the Rose. He guest starred on the shows Little House on the Prairie, ABC Afterschool Specials, After MASH, You Are the Jury, ABC Weekend Specials, The Twilight Zone, The Hitchhiker, The Wonderful World of Disney, Amazing Stories, Tales from the Crypt, and The Flash. He was a regular on the short-lived show Unsub.
In the Nineties Mr. Walsh appeared in the movies Killer Image (1992), White Sands (1992), Equinox (1992), The Naked Truth (1992), The Music of Chance (1993), Wilder Napalm (1993), Bitter Harvest (1993), Cops and Robbersons (1994), Camp Nowhere (1994), The Glass Shield (1994), Relative Fear (1994), Dead Badge (1995), Panther (1995), Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home (1995), A Time to Kill (1996), Albino Alligator (1996), Romeo + Juliet (1996), Retroactive (1997), The Killing Jar (1997), My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), Chairman of the Board (1997), Twilight (1998), Erasable You (1998), Wild Wild West (1999), Random Hearts (1999), Me and Will (1999), Jack of Hearts (1999), and Poor White Trash (1999). He was the voice of Earl Stutz in the animated classic The Iron Giant (1999). He guest starred on the TV shows The Jackie Thomas Show, Home Improvement, The Outer Limits, Early Edition, Tracey Takes On..., The X-Files, NYPD Blue, Gideon's Crossing, and Ed. He was a guest voice on the animated series The Wild Thornberrys. He was a regular voice on the animated show Big Guy and Rusty the Robot.
In the Naughts M. Emmet Walsh had a regular role on the short-lived television series The Mind of a Married Man. He guest starred on the shows Night Visions, Frasier, Charlie Lawrence, The Guardian, and 'Til Death. He was a guest voice on What's New, Scooby doo?. He appeared in the movies Snow Dogs (2002), Baggage (2003), Christmas with the Kranks (2004), Racing Stripes (2005), Greener Mountains (2005), Man in the Chair (2007), Big Stan (2007), Sherman's Way (2008), Your Name Here (2008), Don McKay (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), Sam Steele and the Junior Detective Agency (2009), Chasing 3000 (2009), and The Assignment (2010).
In the Teens Mr. Walsh had recurring roles on the TV shows Damages and Sneaky Pete.. He was a regular voice on the animated shows Pound Puppies and Adventure Time. He guest starred on the shows Army Wives, 5-Second Films, Empire, Tim and Eric's Bedtime Stories, and The Righteous Gemstones. He appeared in the movies The Odd Life of Timothy Green (2012), Arthur Green (2012), Love Sick Love (2012), Calvary (2014), Boiling Pot (2015), Shifting Gears (2018), Change in the Air (2018), Faith, Hope & Love (2019), Raising Buchanan (2019), Knives Out (2019), and The Mimic (2020).
In the 2020s he appeared in the movies The Immaculate Room (2022), Dotty & Soul (2022), A Little White Lie (2023), and Outlaw Posse (2024). He is set to appear in God Loves the Green Bay Packers. He guest starred on the television shows The Righteous Gemstones and American Gigolo.
M. Emmet Walsh was extremely prolific. What is more, he never retired. The reason that he was able to work so much and work so long is quite simply that he was enormously talented, so talented that he was never typecast. Throughout the years he played a wide variety of roles, from authority figures to lovable eccentrics to outright criminals. In Slap Shot he was the modest sportswriter Dickie Dunn, who in writing about sports always "tried to capture the spirit of the thing." One of his most famous roles, if not his most famous, was that of corrupt and absolutely amoral private detective Loren Visser. In The Iron Giant he voiced a character about as far from Loren Viser as one could get, local fisherman and town eccentric Earl Stutz. He was an Army sergeant in Alice's Restaurant (1969), Deckard's boss Bryant in Blade Runner, and the local sheriff in the movie Critters. He played a wide variety of characters on television as well, everything from Sandy's neighbour, motorcycle cop Alex Lembeck, on The Sandy Duncan Show to an insurance agent who hires Jim Rockford in the Rockford Files episode "Counter Gambit" to a former police officer who had an encounter with aliens in 1947 in the X-Files episode "The Unnatural." Even with his somewhat imposing size, M. Everet Walsh could play a wide variety of roles, many unlike any other he had played. He was not simply a great character actor. He was a great actor, period.
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