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M. Emmet Walsh in March 2014: He was 88 years old
Photo: John Shearer/dpa
He starred in more than a hundred films, including classics such as “Blade Runner” and “Blood Simple”: American character actor M. Emmet Walsh has now died at the age of 88.
He suffered a cardiac arrest on Tuesday in a hospital in the US state of Vermont, his management announced on Wednesday.
Walsh made his feature film debut in 1969 in the musical film "Alice's Restaurant."
He made the western "Little Big Man" (1970) with Dustin Hoffman, the comedy "Is What, Doc?" (1972) with Ryan O'Neal and Barbra Streisand, and "There's No Shame in Wealth" (1979) with Steve Martin. and the prison drama “Brubaker” (1980) with Robert Redford.
In 1982, director Ridley Scott brought him in front of the camera alongside Harrison Ford in the role of a hardened police officer for the sci-fi thriller “Blade Runner”.
Walsh later told how he arrived at the largest train station in Los Angeles at 6 p.m. for the filming of “Blade Runner” - and Scott kept pushing back the start.
Ridley Scott spent the time “setting up the lights, the props and all the other stuff,” said Walsh.
»When Ridley was finally finished, it was just before six in the morning, time to clear the station before the commuters arrived.
We had exactly ten minutes left to record a perfect take.
It’s always been like that.”
Walsh also appeared in Ethan and Joel Coen's directorial debut.
In “Blood Simple” (1984) he shone as an unscrupulous private detective.
The role earned him a Spirit Award trophy for Best Actor.
In the 1990s, he played, among other things, the father of the groom in the romance "My Best Friend's Wedding" with Julia Roberts.
And most recently a guard in the crime film “Knives Out – Murder is a Family Matter” (2019).
vet/dpa