# M. Emmet Walsh

Michael Emmet Walsh (March 22, 1935 – March 19, 2024) was an American actor who appeared in over 200 films and television series, including supporting roles as Earl Frank in Straight Time (1978), the Madman in The Jerk (1979), Captain Bryant in Blade Runner (1982), Harv in Critters (1986), and Walt Scheel in Christmas with the Kranks (2004). He starred as private detective Loren Visser in Blood Simple (1984), the Coen brothers' first film, for which he won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead.
Walsh's other numerous film appearances include Midnight Cowboy (1969), Little Big Man (1970), What's Up, Doc? (1972), Serpico (1973), The Gambler (1974), Bound for Glory (1976), Slap Shot (1977), Airport '77 (1977), Brubaker (1980), Ordinary People (1980), Reds (1981), Silkwood (1983), Missing in Action (1984), Fletch (1985), Back to School (1986), Raising Arizona (1987), Romeo + Juliet (1996), My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), The Iron Giant (1999), Calvary (2014), and Knives Out (2019). Over five decades as a character actor, he credited roles in more than 220 films and television shows.

## Early life

Michael Emmet Walsh was born on March 22, 1935, in Ogdensburg, New York, the son of Agnes Katharine (née Sullivan) and Harry Maurice Walsh Sr., who was a customs agent, as were his grandfather and brother. He was of Irish descent, and was raised in rural Swanton, Vermont, where he underwent a mastoid operation at age 3, which left Walsh deaf in his left ear.
He graduated from Clarkson University in 1958 (B.A., Business Administration), and in 1998, the Clarkson Alumni Association presented Walsh with the Golden Knight Award. At Clarkson, Walsh had also dabbled in stage productions, and soon after being encouraged by a faculty advisor, he moved to New York City to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He went on to perform in regional theater for the next decade before making his Broadway debut in 1969, with Al Pacino, in Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?.

## Career

According to his manager, Sandy Joseph, "Walsh's tremendous body of work includes 119 feature films and more than 250 television productions." Being partially deaf in one ear and with an accent harkening from Vermont made it clear to Walsh: "I wasn't going to do Shaw and Shakespeare and Molière — my speech was simply too bad." His persona was a "mesmerising everyman and an indelible gargoyle" who featured "poached-egg eyes."
Walsh specialized in playing villains who were blissfully oblivious to their villainy. He brought a "delightfully menacing presence" to his characters. He was a no-nonsense worker bee in the film industry. Walsh characterized himself as approaching "each job thinking it might be my last, so it better be the best work possible. I want to be remembered as a working actor. I'm being paid for what I'd do for nothing."
Walsh spent years honing his craft in movie bit parts and on stage. After appearances in the films Midnight Cowboy (1969), Alice's Restaurant (1969), Little Big Man (1970), Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971), They Might Be Giants (1971), What's Up, Doc? (1972), Serpico (1973), The Gambler (1974), Bound for Glory (1976), and Airport '77 (1977), Walsh came to prominence in the iconic 1977 hockey comedy film Slap Shot, in which he played the cynical small town sportswriter Dickie Dunn, and the 1978 crime film Straight Time, in which he played a vicious parole officer opposite Dustin Hoffman. USA Today film critic Mike Clark wrote that the film character who was "a cesspool in a flowered shirt" was typically Walsh. He also had a small but memorable role as a crazed sniper in the Steve Martin comedy The Jerk (1979), followed by roles in the drama films Brubaker (1980), Ordinary People (1980), and Reds (1981).

### Bigger roles

One of his best-known roles was Captain Harry Bryant in Ridley Scott's cult film Blade Runner (1982). He characterized Blade Runner as being especially difficult and tiresome to make, given director Ridley Scott's insistence on perfection. As a hard-bitten police commander, Walsh's character brings Deckard (Harrison Ford) out of retirement to "retire" cyborgs, telling Deckard, "I need your magic." Walsh allowed that he was completely confused as Blade Runner was filmed, and did not have any idea where it was going.
In 1983, Walsh appeared in Mike Nichols' biographical film Silkwood. In 1984, he was cast as a crooked Texas private eye in the film noir Blood Simple, which was the Coen brothers' first film and resulted in Walsh winning the first Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead. Pauline Kael praised Walsh's performance: "his broad buffoonery helps to ground the picture, to keep it jaundiced and low-down." He then reteamed with the Coen brothers for Raising Arizona as a memorable "yakking machine shop worker".
Other prominent film roles include a prostate examining doctor in the Chevy Chase film Fletch (1985), a college diving coach in the Rodney Dangerfield film Back to School (1986), a police chief in the horror film Critters (1986), John Lithgow’s father in the Bigfoot comedy Harry and the Hendersons (1987), the apothecary in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (1996), father of the groom in the romantic comedy My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), the voice of Earl Stutz in animated film The Iron Giant (1999), the adventure film Snow Dogs (2002), and the Christmas comedy film Christmas with the Kranks (2004), where he played one of the Kranks' neighbors. In 1992, he appeared as a powerful U.S. Senator in David Winning's Canadian film Killer Image. He later appeared as a writer in the Irish comedy-drama film Calvary (2014), and a security guard in the mystery film Knives Out (2019).

### Television and stage

On television, in September 1971, Walsh appeared in Season 2, Episode 1 of "All in the Family," and also appeared as Alex Lembeck, a motorcycle cop who appointed himself as Sandy Stockton's chaperone and protector on The Sandy Duncan Show in 1972. He appeared in an episode of the NBC drama series Gibbsville in 1976 and Little House on the Prairie in 1981. Walsh also made occasional guest appearances on Home Improvement as Tim Taylor's father-in-law in 1994. Other appearances included Early Edition, The X-Files, Ed, and Frasier. He also appeared as Dr. Joseph Krofft, a medical examiner with a grudge against Andy Sipowicz, on an episode of NYPD Blue. Later appearances included the series Sneaky Pete, and The Righteous Gemstones.
On stage, in 2004, Walsh appeared in the London production of Sam Shepard's Buried Child.

## Legacy and accolades

Critic Nicolas Rapold called Walsh "a consummate old pro of the second-banana business", while Roger Ebert hailed him as "the poet of sleaze". Ebert also fabricated his "Stanton-Walsh Rule": "No movie featuring either Harry Dean Stanton or M. Emmet Walsh in a supporting role can be altogether bad." Walsh was "ham-faced, heavyset" and "often played good old boys with bad intentions".
In 2018, Walsh was inducted into the Character Actor Hall of Fame by his Blade Runner co-star Harrison Ford. Later in the same ceremony he received the Chairman's Lifetime Achievement award.
Walsh had a reputation for generosity and wry wit. He habitually distributed two-dollar bills to the set's crew, with some advice: "Don't spend it, and you'll never be broke."

## Death

Walsh died of cardiac arrest at Northwestern Medical Center in St. Albans, Vermont, on March 19, 2024, three days before his 90th birthday.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1969 | Alice's Restaurant | Group W Sergeant | |
| 1969 | Midnight Cowboy | Bus Passenger | Uncredited |
| 1969 | Stiletto | Unknown | Uncredited |
| 1970 | End of the Road | Crab Man / Tutu Man | |
| 1970 | The Traveling Executioner | Warden Brodski | |
| 1970 | Little Big Man | Shotgun Guard | |
| 1971 | Cold Turkey | Art | |
| 1971 | Escape from the Planet of the Apes | Aide to General Winthrop | |
| 1971 | They Might Be Giants | 1st Sanitation Man | |
| 1972 | What's Up, Doc? | Arresting Officer | |
| 1972 | Get to Know Your Rabbit | Mr. Wendel | |
| 1973 | Kid Blue | Barber | |
| 1973 | Serpico | Chief Gallagher | |
| 1974 | The Gambler | Las Vegas Gambler | |
| 1975 | At Long Last Love | Harold | |
| 1975 | Crime Club | Lieutenant Jack Doyle | |
| 1975 | The Prisoner of Second Avenue | Joe | |
| 1976 | Bound for Glory | Husband | |
| 1976 | Nickelodeon | Father Logan | |
| 1976 | The Invasion of Johnson County | Irvine | |
| 1976 | Mikey and Nicky | Bus Driver | |
| 1977 | Slap Shot | Dickie Dunn | |
| 1977 | Airport '77 | Dr. Williams | |
| 1978 | Straight Time | Earl Frank | |
| 1979 | The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh | Wally Cantrell | |
| 1979 | The Jerk | Madman | |
| 1980 | Brubaker | C.P. "Woody" Woodward | |
| 1980 | Raise the Titanic | Master Chief Walker | |
| 1980 | Ordinary People | Coach Salan | |
| 1981 | Back Roads | Arthur | |
| 1981 | Reds | Speaker At Liberal Club | |
| 1982 | Cannery Row | Mack | |
| 1982 | The Escape Artist | Fritz | |
| 1982 | Blade Runner | Captain Bryant | |
| 1982 | Fast-Walking | Sergeant Sanger | |
| 1983 | Silkwood | Walt Yarborough | |
| 1984 | Raw Courage | Colonel Crouse | |
| 1984 | Missing in Action | Jack "Tuck" Tucker | |
| 1984 | Grandview, U.S.A. | Mr. Clark | |
| 1984 | Blood Simple | Loren Visser, PI | |
| 1984 | The Pope of Greenwich Village | Burns | |
| 1984 | Scandalous | Simon Reynolds | |
| 1985 | Fletch | Dr. Joseph Dolan | |
| 1986 | Wildcats | Walt Coes | |
| 1986 | Critters | Harvey "Harv" | |
| 1986 | The Best of Times | Charlie | |
| 1986 | Back to School | Coach Turnbull | |
| 1987 | Harry and the Hendersons | George Henderson Sr. | |
| 1987 | No Man's Land | Captain Haun | |
| 1987 | Raising Arizona | Machine Shop Ear-Bender | |
| 1988 | The Milagro Beanfield War | Governor | |
| 1988 | Clean and Sober | Richard Dirk | |
| 1988 | Sunset | Chief Marvin Dibner | |
| 1988 | War Party | Colin Ditwelier | |
| 1988 | Red Scorpion | Dewey Ferguson | |
| 1989 | The Mighty Quinn | CIA Agent Fred Miller | |
| 1989 | Catch Me If You Can | Johnny Phatmun | |
| 1989 | Chattahoochee | Morris | |
| 1989 | Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat | Mort | |
| 1989 | Thunderground | Wedge | |
| 1990 | Narrow Margin | Sergeant Dominick Benti | |
| 1992 | The Naked Truth | Garcia/Gesundheim | |
| 1992 | Killer Image | John Kane | |
| 1992 | White Sands | Bert Gibson | |
| 1992 | Equinox | Pete Petosa | |
| 1992 | Four Eyes and Six Guns | Mayor Thornbush | |
| 1993 | Bitter Harvest | Sheriff Bob | |
| 1993 | The Music of Chance | Calvin Murks | |
| 1993 | Wilder Napalm | Fire Chief | |
| 1994 | Dead Badge | Sergeant Miller Hoskins | |
| 1994 | Relative Fear | Earl Ladelle | |
| 1994 | Camp Nowhere | T.R. Polk | |
| 1994 | The Glass Shield | Hal | |
| 1994 | Cops & Robbersons | Unknown | Uncredited |
| 1995 | Criminal Hearts | Martin | |
| 1995 | Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home | Wilcox | |
| 1995 | Panther | Dorsett | |
| 1996 | Portraits of a Killer | Raymond Garrison | |
| 1996 | Albino Alligator | Dino | |
| 1996 | A Time to Kill | Dr. Willard Tyrell Bass | Uncredited |
| 1996 | William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet | Apothecary | |
| 1997 | The Killing Jar | Sheriff Foley | |
| 1997 | Retroactive | Sam | |
| 1997 | My Best Friend's Wedding | Joe O'Neal | |
| 1998 | Chairman of the Board | Freemont | |
| 1998 | Twilight | Lester Ivar | |
| 1998 | Erasable You | Ralph Worth | |
| 1998 | Nightmare in Big Sky Country | US Marshal Phillips | |
| 1999 | Wild Wild West | Train Engineer Coleman | |
| 1999 | The Iron Giant | Earl Stutz | Voice |
| 1999 | Random Hearts | Billy | Uncredited |
| 1999 | Me and Will | Dean | |
| 1999 | Jack of Hearts | Commissioner Menlo Boyce | |
| 2000 | Poor White Trash | Judge Pike | |
| 2001 | Eyeball Eddie | Coach Cook | Short film |
| 2001 | Christmas in the Clouds | Stu O'Malley | |
| 2002 | Snow Dogs | George | |
| 2003 | Baggage | Sandy Westphall | |
| 2004 | Christmas with the Kranks | Walt Scheel | |
| 2005 | Greener Mountain | Muggs | |
| 2005 | Racing Stripes | Woodzie | |
| 2007 | Man in the Chair | Mickey Hopkins | |
| 2007 | Big Stan | Lew Popper | |
| 2008 | Sherman's Way | Hoyt | |
| 2008 | Your Name Here | Kroger | |
| 2008 | Haunted Echoes | Neil | |
| 2009 | Don McKay | Samuel | |
| 2009 | Sam Steele and the Jr. Detective Agency | Chief Van Owen | |
| 2009 | Youth in Revolt | Mr. Saunders | |
| 2010 | Chasing 3000 | Chuck Ireland | |
| 2012 | The Odd Life of Timothy Green | Uncle Bub | |
| 2012 | Arthur Newman | Zazek | |
| 2012 | Love Sick Love | Ed | |
| 2014 | Calvary | Old Man | |
| 2015 | Boiling Pot | Dean Marison | |
| 2015 | The Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power | Gorak | |
| 2018 | Shifting Gears | Hank | |
| 2018 | Change in the Air | Walter Lemke | |
| 2019 | Raising Buchanan | Larry Kiesling | |
| 2019 | Faith, Hope & Love | Mr. John | |
| 2019 | Knives Out | Mr. Proofroc | |
| 2019 | South of Bix | Grandpa | Short film |
| 2020 | The Mimic | The Director | |
| 2022 | A Little White Lie | Professor Arthur Baldwin | |
| 2022 | Dotty & Soul | Harold Eichelbaum | |
| 2022 | The Immaculate Room | Harry Frith | |
| 2024 | Outlaw Posse | Catfish | |
| 2024 | Brothers | Judge Farful | Posthumous release |
| 2025 | Green and Gold | Scotty | Posthumous release |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1968 | The Doctors | Jason Randall | Soap opera |
| 1969 | N.Y.P.D. | Freibisch | Episode: "Who's Got the Bundle?" |
| 1970 | Arnie | Cliff | Episode: "To Buy or Not to Buy?" |
| 1971 | Julia | Gus Anderson | 2 episodes |
| 1971 | All in the Family | Billy Hartfield | Episode: "The Saga of Cousin Oscar" |
| 1971 | The Jimmy Stewart Show | Lionel Atkins | Episode: "Another Day, Another Scholar" |
| 1971 | Ironside | Telegraph Clerk | Episode: "Dear Fran..." |
| 1971 | Bonanza | Mattheson | Episode: "Warbonnet" |
| 1971–1972 | Nichols | Gabe McCutcheon | 5 episodes |
| 1972 | The Don Rickles Show | Arthur Kingston | Episode #1.4 |
| 1972 | The Bob Newhart Show | Jack Hoover | Episode: "P-I-L-O-T" |
| 1972 | The Sandy Duncan Show | Alex Lembeck | 11 episodes |
| 1974 | McMillan & Wife | Officer Ames | Episode: "Buried Alive" |
| 1974 | Amy Prentiss | Tom | Episode: "Baptism of Fire" |
| 1975 | The Rockford Files | Edgar Burch | Episode: "Counter Gambit" |
| 1975 | Sarah T. – Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic | Mr. Peterson | Television film |
| 1975 | The Waltons | David Fletcher | Episode: "The Venture" |
| 1976 | Gibbsville | Yostie | Episode: "Afternoon Waltz" |
| 1976–1978 | Starsky and Hutch | Freddie / Lloyd Herman Eckworth | 2 episodes |
| 1977 | Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman | Officer Malloy | 2 episodes |
| 1977 | Red Alert | Sheriff Sweeney | Television film |
| 1978 | Superdome | Whitley | Television film |
| 1978 | James at 15 | Coach Federson | Episode: "Queen of the Silver Dollar" |
| 1979 | Dear Detective | Captain Gorcey | Episode: "Pilot" |
| 1979 | No Other Love | DeFranco | Television film |
| 1979 | The Gift | Commander | Television film |
| 1980 | City in Fear | Sheldon Lewis | Television film |
| 1980 | Skag | Moran | Episode: "Pilot" |
| 1980 | High Noon, Part II: The Return of Will Kane | Harold Patton | Television film |
| 1981 | East of Eden | Sheriff Horace Quinn | 3 episodes |
| 1981 | Little House on the Prairie | Callahan | Episode: "Chicago" |
| 1983 | ABC Afterschool Special | Joe Lempke | Episode: "The Woman Who Willed a Miracle" |
| 1983 | Night Partners | Joe Kirby | Television film |
| 1984 | The Outlaws | Warden MacDonald | Television film |
| 1985 | ABC Weekend Special | Rocco | Episode: "The Adventures of Con Sawyer and Hucklemary Finn" |
| 1985 | The Twilight Zone | Peter | Episode: "Dealer's Choice" |
| 1986 | The Hitchhiker | Detective Underhill | Episode: "Ghostwriter" |
| 1986 | The Right of the People | Mayor | Television film |
| 1986 | Resting Place | Sergeant | Television film |
| 1986 | The Disney Sunday Movie | General Presser | Episode: "Hero in the Family" |
| 1986 | The Deliberate Stranger | Detective Sam Davies | Television film |
| 1986 | Amazing Stories | Grandpa | Episode: "Magic Saturday" |
| 1987 | Broken Vows | Detective Mulligan | Television film |
| 1987 | The Abduction of Kari Swenson | Don Nichols | Television film |
| 1987 | Murder Ordained | Vern Humphrey | Miniseries |
| 1989 | Brotherhood of the Rose | Hardy | 2 episodes |
| 1989 | Unsub | Ned Platt | 8 episodes |
| 1989 | Tales from the Crypt | Jonas | Episode: "Collection Completed" |
| 1990 | True Betrayal | Clyde Wilson | Television film |
| 1990 | The Civil War | Various roles | Voice, 9 episodes |
| 1990 | The Flash | Henry Allen | 2 episodes |
| 1991 | Deadly Identity | Harry | Television film |
| 1991 | Silverfox | Charles Blankenship | Television film |
| 1992 | Wild Card | Mose | Television film |
| 1993 | The Jackie Thomas Show | Arlen Thomas | Episode: "Aloha, Io-wahu" |
| 1994 | Home Improvement | Colonel Fred Patterson | 2 episodes |
| 1994 | Probable Cause | Sadler | Television film |
| 1995 | From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler | Morris | Television film |
| 1996 | The Outer Limits | Sanford Vallé | Episode: "The Refuge" |
| 1996 | Early Edition | Santa Claus | Episode: "Christmas" |
| 1998 | Tracey Takes On... | Jimmy Duff | Episode: "Sports" |
| 1998 | Men in White | Stanley Snyder | Television film |
| 1999 | The X-Files | Arthur Dales | Episode: "The Unnatural" |
| 1999 | The Wild Thornberrys | Gemsbok #1 | Voice, episode: "Rain Dance" |
| 1999 | Monster! | Lloyd | Television film |
| 1999–2001 | Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot | Mack | Voice, 26 episodes |
| 2000 | NYPD Blue | Joe Kroft | Episode: "Roll Out the Barrel" |
| 2000 | Gideon's Crossing | Dr. George Matthews | Episode: "A Routine Case" |
| 2001 | Night Visions | Gus | Episode: "Reunion" |
| 2001 | The Mind of the Married Man | Randall Evans | 5 episodes |
| 2001 | Frasier | Rich Koechner | Episode: "Bully for Martin" |
| 2002 | What's New, Scooby-Doo? | Jeb | Voice, episode: "Scooby-Doo Christmas" |
| 2003 | Charlie Lawrence | Cubby | Episode: "New Kid in School" |
| 2003 | Tracey Ullman in the Trailer Tales | Wally Westland | Television special |
| 2003 | The Guardian | Ezra Pence | Episode: "Big Coal" |
| 2006 | The X's | Stanley (voice) | Episode: "In-Law Enforcement" |
| 2010 | 'Til Death | Uncle Rudolph | Episode: "Let's Go" |
| 2010–2013 | Pound Puppies | Olaf | Voice, 46 episodes |
| 2012 | Army Wives | Bernie Wallacheck | Episode: "Battle Scars" |
| 2012 | Damages | Lyle Hewes | 3 episodes |
| 2012–2015 | Adventure Time | Cosmic Owl | Voice, 4 episodes |
| 2014 | Tim and Eric's Bedtime Stories | Detective | Episode: "Toes" |
| 2019 | Sneaky Pete | "Tex" Hopkins | 7 episodes |
| 2019–2022 | The Righteous Gemstones | Grandaddy Roy Gemstone | 2 episodes |
| 2022 | American Gigolo | Coleman | Episode: "Sunday Girl" |