The Big Picture
- M. Emmet Walsh, a legendary character actor, passed away at 88. His legacy will live on through his iconic roles in over 100 movies.
- Notable for his distinctive presence, Walsh played memorable characters in classics like
Blade Runner,
Blood Simple
, and
The Jerk
. - Walsh’s impact was celebrated by Roger Ebert’s “Stanton-Walsh Rule”.
M. Emmet Walsh, the character actor who graced over 100 movies with his distinctive presence, has died. Walsh died of cardiac arrest in St. Albans, Vermont; he was 88. Michael Emmet Walsh was born on March 22, 1935, in Ogdensburg, New York, and grew up in Swanton, Vermont. He attended Clarkson University and emerged with a marketing degree, but he soon turned his hand to acting.
Walsh made his TV debut on an episode of The Doctors, and made his first movie appearance as an uncredited bus passenger in the crushing final scene of Midnight Cowboy. Typically playing some manner of wily, off-kilter oddball, his roles got bigger from there; Walsh played a number of indelible roles through the 1970s and 80s, including a sniper attacking Steve Martin in The Jerk, sportswriter Dickie Dunn in Slap Shot, and Bryant, the police captain who brings Rick Deckard out of retirement in Blade Runner.
What Was M. Emmet Walsh Known For?
His biggest role came in the 1984 neo-noir Blood Simple, which was the directorial debut of Joel and Ethan Coen. In it, he plays Loren Visser, a diabolical private eye who is hired to investigate an unfaithful wife (Frances McDormand), but instead sets off a chain reaction of murder and mayhem. The low-budget movie launched the Coens into indie-film stardom, and made Walsh a sought-after character actor. He appeared in their next film, Raising Arizona, and went on to ply his trade in dozens of movies, including Harry and the Hendersons, My Best Friend’s Wedding, A Time to Kill, Wild Wild West, and The Iron Giant. He was a regular presence on TV, as well, playing Tim Taylor’s father-in-law on Home Improvement, retired agent Arthur Dales on a memorable episode of The X-Files, and voicing the Cosmic Owl on Adventure Time. In recent years, Walsh appeared in Knives Out, playing a crusty groundskeeper, and on HBO’s The Righteous Gemstones, where he played John Goodman‘s elderly father. He will appear in Mario Van Peebles‘ western Outlaw Posse later this year, marking his final screen role.
Although Walsh never won an Oscar or an Emmy, he did merit an enormous honor from late movie critic Roger Ebert. One of Ebert’s rules for movie-watching was what he called the “Stanton-Walsh Rule,” which stated that “no movie featuring either Harry Dean Stanton or M. Emmet Walsh in a supporting role can be altogether bad”. Knives Out director Rian Johnson paid tribute to Walsh on X, sharing a memory of working with him on the set of the murder mystery:
Walsh is survived by two nephews, and by the unforgettable performances he left for us.
