Brad Dourif

**Bradford Claude Dourif** is an American actor. He was nominated for an Oscar, and won Golden Globe and BAFTA Awards for his supporting role as Billy Bibbit in the film *One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest* (1975). He is also known for his roles as the voice of Chucky in the *Child's Play* franchise (1988–2017), and Gríma Wormtongue in *The Lord of the Rings* series (2002–2003).

Dourif's other film roles include *Wise Blood* (1979), *Dune* (1984), *Blue Velvet* (1986), *Mississippi Burning* (1988), *The Exorcist III* (1990) and *Alien Resurrection* (1997). He also appeared in many television series, notably *Deadwood* (2004–2006, 2019), for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.

## Early life

Dourif was born in Huntington, West Virginia, on March 18, 1950, to Joan Mavis Felton (née Bradford), an actress, and Jean Henri Dourif, an art collector who owned and operated a dye factory. His stepfather was golfer William C. Campbell.

His paternal grandparents emigrated from France, and his paternal grandfather co-founded the Standard Ultramarine and Color Company in Huntington. After Aiken, he attended Fountain Valley School in Colorado Springs, Colorado, graduating in 1968. Dourif appeared as an amateur at the Fountain Valley Film Festival in 1969, taking second place in the 8 mm film category with his 10-minute entry "Blind Date." Dourif attended Marshall University for a time, before quitting college and moving to New York City to study acting on the advice of actress Conchata Ferrell.

## Career

### **Stage**

Starting in school productions, Dourif progressed to community theater, joining up with the Huntington Community Players while attending Marshall University. In New York City, he studied with Sanford Meisner, and worked with Marshall Mason and Lanford Wilson at the Circle Repertory Company. During the early 1970's, Dourif appeared in a number of plays, off-Broadway and at Woodstock, New York, including *The Ghost Sonata*, *The Doctor in Spite of Himself*, and *When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?*, in which he was spotted by director Miloš Forman who cast him in *One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest* (1975).

In 2013, after a three-decade absence from the stage, Dourif chose to star alongside Amanda Plummer in the Off-Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams' *The Two-Character Play* that played to critical acclaim at the New World Stages. He explained, in a filmed interview released by the producers, why he broke his 29-year hiatus from acting in live theater: "I hated the stage, did not want to do it. And then somebody said, 'Will you do a play? It's with Amanda Plummer', and I said, 'Oh shit! No. Oh God, I'm gonna have to do this...'". It opened on June 10, 2013 and closed on September 29, 2013. The play was subject to a number of performance cancellations, one relating to Dourif's absence due to a death in the family. Plummer refused to perform without Dourif, notwithstanding the presence of an understudy.

### **Film**

Although *One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest* is frequently cited as Dourif's film debut, his first acting for screen was in a low-budget film called *Split*, which was never released. He followed this with a role in the film *W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings* (1975), but his bit part was omitted from the final cut of the film. His portrayal of the vulnerable Billy Bibbit in *Cuckoo's Nest* ended up being his big break, earning him a Golden Globe Award (Best Actor Debut) and a British Academy Award (Supporting Actor) as well as a nomination for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

In 1981, Vincent Canby listed Dourif as one of twelve actors to watch, calling Dourif "one of the most intense, most interesting young film actors of his generation." Dourif returned to New York, where he continued in theater and taught acting and directing classes at Columbia University until 1988, when he moved to Hollywood.

Dourif has often played eccentric or disturbed characters, starting with *Cuckoo's Nest* and continuing with *Eyes of Laura Mars]]* (1978), John Huston's *Wise Blood* (1979), Forman's *Ragtime* (1981), Marc Didden's *Istanbul* (1985) and David Lynch's *Dune* (1984) and *Blue Velvet* (1986).

Dourif has appeared in a number of horror films, most notably as the voice of Chucky]] in the *Child's Play* franchise. He portrayed the Gemini Killer in *The Exorcist III* (1990) and appeared in *Death Machine* (1994) and *Alien Resurrection* (1997). He later appeared as Sheriff Lee Brackett in Rob Zombie's *Halloween* (2007) and *Halloween II* (2009). In 2013, Dourif reprised his role as Chucky in the sixth installment of the *Child's Play* franchise, *Curse of Chucky*, and then again in the 2017 sequel, *Cult of Chucky*, both of which were straight-to-DVD releases. His daughter, Fiona Dourif, also starred with him in both films.

Other notable film roles include Gríma Wormtongue in the *Lord of the Rings* trilogy and supporting roles in *Fatal Beauty* (1987), *Mississippi Burning* (1988), *Hidden Agenda* (1990), *London Kills Me* (1991) and *Sinner* (2007).

Dourif has worked with director Werner Herzog on many occasions, appearing in *Scream of Stone* (1991), *The Wild Blue Yonder* (2005), *Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans* (2009), and *My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done?* (2009).

### **Television**

In 1984, Dourif played a suspected serial killer in the episode "Number Eight" of *Tales of the Unexpected*. In 1994, he appeared in *The X-Files* episode "Beyond the Sea" as the psychic serial killer Luther Lee Boggs. He also portrayed Lon Suder in a three episode story arc on *Star Trek: Voyager* and guest starred as a troubled monk haunted by visions in *Babylon 5*. Dourif later gained acclaim as Doc Cochran in *Deadwood*, receiving a 2004 Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.

In 2011, he guest starred in the third-season finale of *Fringe* and in 2014 he appeared in the *Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.* episode "The End of the Beginning."

### **Music**

In 2012, Dourif contributed spoken word vocals to three songs on the album *Misery Together* by the Norwegian duo Thinguma\*jigSaw. Dourif also appears in the music videos for "Stranger in Town" (1984) by Toto and "Drinking from the Bottle" (2012) by Calvin Harris.

## Personal life

Dourif has two daughters: Kristina / Christina Dourif, born c. 1976, and actress Fiona Dourif, born c. 1981, with his late wife Jonina Dourif, whose name sometimes appears in media as Janet.

## Trivia

* Has heard his own movie Dune (1984) described as "science fiction's answer to Heaven's Gate (1980)" (which Dourif also starred in), and he agrees totally with this summation.
* He was initially cast as the Scarecrow in Batman Forever (1995) while Tim Burton was attached to the project (Burton had also wanted to cast Dourif as The Joker in Batman (1989), but the studio refused). However, Joel Schumacher eventually took over the project and instead cast Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face and Jim Carrey as the Riddler.
* In 2012, he contributed spoken word vocals to three songs on the album Misery Together by the Norwegian duo Thinguma\*jigSaw.
* Many of his co-stars in the Lord of the Rings trilogy were under the impression that he was actually English because of the British accent he used as Grima Wormtongue throughout filming. As a method actor, he kept the accent even when he was not filming. They were shocked to hear him speak in an American accent after filming was complete. Bernard Hill believed Dourif was speaking in the worst American accent he "had ever heard in his life".
* He was considered for the role of Max Cady in the remake Cape Fear (1991), which went to Robert De Niro.
* Has appeared with Samuel L. Jackson in four films: Ragtime (1981), The Exorcist III (1990), Jungle Fever (1991) and Amos & Andrew (1993).
* Made five trips to New Zealand while the Lord of the Rings trilogy was being filmed. He had to shave off his eyebrows each time for his role as Grima Wormtongue.
* His father, who owned and operated a dye factory, died when Brad was three.
* Has taught acting and directing classes at Columbia University in the City of New York.
* Moved to New York City at age 19 and worked with the Circle Repertory Company, appearing in many off-Broadway and Woodstock, New York productions. Moved to Los Angeles, California (1988).
* His father, Jean Henri Dourif, was born in France, and was of three quarters French and one quarter English-Irish ancestry. His mother, Joan Mavis Felton (Bradford), was born in New York, to parents from Virginia, who also had English ancestry (including deep colonial American roots).
* Has worked with director Werner Herzog in four films: Scream of Stone (1991), The Wild Blue Yonder (2005), Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) and My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (2009).
* Has appeared in two Best Picture Academy Award winners: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).
* Is one of four cast members of David Lynch's Dune (1984) who have appeared on the Star Trek series: Sir Patrick Stewart played Captain Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), Brad Dourif and Virginia Madsen have appeared on Star Trek: Voyager (1995), and Dean Stockwell has appeared on Star Trek: Enterprise (2001).
* Though Dourif had not been on stage in nearly three decades, he chose to star alongside Amanda Plummer in the Off-Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams' The Two-Character Play that played to critical acclaim at the New World Stages. He explained, in a filmed interview released by the producers, why he broke his 29-year hiatus from acting in live theater: "I hated the stage, did not want to do it. And then somebody said, 'Will you do a play? It's with Amanda Plummer', and I said, 'Oh shit! No. Oh God, I'm gonna have to do this...'". It opened on June 10, 2013 and closed on September 29, 2013. The play was subject to a number of performance cancellations, one relating to Dourif's absence, due to a death in the family. Plummer refused to perform without Dourif, notwithstanding the presence of an understudy.
* He played the role of Stephen in a stage production of the play "When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder". Dourif was asked to reprise the role for the film version, but turned said offer down because he didn't want to work with Marjoe Gortner. The role went to Peter Firth.
* He missed out on two roles that went to John Savage. He was Michael Cimino's original choice to play Steven in The Deer Hunter (1978) and Milos Forman originally wanted him for the role of Claude Hooper Bukowski in Hair (1979).
* In 1981, Vincent Canby listed Dourif as one of twelve actors to watch, calling Dourif "one of the most intense, most interesting young film actors of his generation".
* Is the only actor to be in all seven Child's Play films, although he only appeared onscreen in Child's Play (1988) and Curse of Chucky (2013). In all the other films, his performance was voice acting only. Out of all the Child's Play films - Bride of Chucky (1998) is his favorite.
* As of 2017, he has appeared in four films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), Mississippi Burning (1988), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) - though he only appears in the extended version of the last film (and not the one screened to the Academy). Of those, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) are winners in the category.
* His mother's work in the community theater play Give Me Shelter convinced him to give up his dreams of becoming a flower arranger and pursue a career in acting. He worked in several off-Broadway productions before landing his breakout role.
* He became famous for the role as Billy Babbit in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
* His mother, Joan Felton, was an actress. His father, Jean Henri Dourif, was an art collector who manufactured dye. His mother married golfer William Campbell after his father's death in 1953. He married Joni Dourif and together they had two daughters including Fiona Dourif, who became an actress. He was previously married to Janet Dourif.
* He starred in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest with Jack Nicholson.