M. Emmet Walsh

M. Emmet Walsh
at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival
Born	Michael Emmet Walsh March 22, 1935 (1935-03-22) Ogdensburg, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1969–present

Michael Emmet Walsh (born March 22, 1935) is an American actor who has appeared in over 100 film and television productions.

Life and career

Walsh was born in Ogdensburg, New York, the son of Agnes Kathrine (née Sullivan) and Harry Maurice Walsh, Sr., a customs agent. He was raised in a rural area of Vermont, and attended college at Clarkson University.

He came to prominence in the 1978 crime drama, Straight Time, in which he played a sadistic parole officer. He also had a memorable role as a crazed sniper in the Steve Martin comedy The Jerk. One of his most well-known roles was Bryant in Ridley Scott's cult classic Blade Runner. His most acclaimed performance, arguably, was the double-crossing private detective in Blood Simple (1984), for which he won the 1986 Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead. Walsh made occasional guest appearances on Home Improvement as Tim Allen's father-in-law. In 1992 he appeared as a powerful U.S. Senator in David Winning's Killer Image, playing Michael Ironside's brother. In Christmas with the Kranks, he played one of Allen's neighbors. He also appeared as Alex Lembeck, a motorcycle cop who appointed himself as Sandy Stockton's (Sandy Duncan) chaperone/protector on The Sandy Duncan Show in 1972.

According to Roger Ebert's Stanton-Walsh Rule, "no movie featuring either Harry Dean Stanton or M. Emmet Walsh in a supporting role can be altogether bad." Ebert later conceded that this rule was broken by 1999's Wild Wild West and Dream a Little Dream.

Filmography

• Alice's Restaurant (1969) – Group W Sergeant
• Midnight Cowboy (1969) – Bus Passenger
• Little Big Man (1970) – Shotgun Guard
• Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971) – Aide to General Winthrop
• What's Up, Doc? (1972) – Arresting Officer
• Get to Know Your Rabbit (1972) – Mr. Wendel
• Kid Blue (1973) – Jonesy
• Serpico (1973) – Chief Ghallagher
• Doctor Dan (1974) – Mr. Wallace
• At Long Last Love (1975) – Harold
• Crime Club (1975) – Lt. Jack Doyle
• Sarah T. - Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic (1975) (TV film)
• The Invasion of Johnson County (1976) – Irvine
• Mikey and Nicky (1976) – Bus Driver
• Slap Shot (1976) – Dickie Dunn
• Airport '77 (1977) – Dr. Williams
• Red Alert (1977 CBS-TV movie) – Sheriff Sweeney
• Superdome (1978 ABC-TV movie) – Whitley
• A Question of Guilt (1978) – McCarthy
• Straight Time (1978) – Earl Frank
• Dear Detective (1979) – Capt. Gorcey
• The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh (1979) – Wally Cantrell
• The Jerk (1979) – Madman
• Brubaker (1980) – C.P. Woodward
• Raise the Titanic (1980) – Master Chief Walker
• Ordinary People (1980) – Coach Salan
• Black Roads (1981) – Arthur
• Reds (1981) – Speaker at Liberal Club
• Cannery Row (1982) – Mack
• The Escape Artist (1982) – Fritz
• Blade Runner (1982) – Bryant
• Fast-Walking (1983) – Sergeant Sanger
• Silkwood (1983) – Walt Yarborough
• Courage (1984) – Colonel Crouse
• Grandview, U.S.A. (1984) – Mr. Clark
• The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984) – Burns
• Blood Simple (1984) – Loren Visser
• Missing in Action (1984) – Tuck
• Fletch (1985) – Dr. Joseph Dolan
• Wildcats (1986) – Walt Coes
• Critters (1986) – Harv
• The Best of Times (1986) – Charlie
• Back to School (1986) – Coach Turnbull
• Harry and the Hendersons (1987) – George Henderson Sr
• No Man's Land (1987) – Capt. Haun
• Raising Arizona (1987) – Machine Shop Ear-Bender
• Murder Ordained (1987) - Vern Humphrey
• The Milagro Beanfield War (1988) - Govenor
• Clean and Sober (1988) – Richard Dirk
• War Party (1988) – Colin Ditwelier
• Red Scorpion (1989) – Dewey Furguson
• The Mighty Quinn (1989) - Fred Miller
• Catch Me If You Can (1989) – Johnny Phatmun
• Chattahoochee (1989) – Morris
• Thunderground (1989) - Wedge
• Love and Lies (1990) – Clyde Wilson
• The Flash (1990) – Henry Allen
• Narrow Margin (1990) – Sergeant Dominick Benti
• Fourth Story (1991) – Harry
• Silverfox (1991) – Charles Blankenship
• The Naked Truth (1992) – Garcia
• Killer Image (1992) – Senator John Kane
• White Sands (1992) – Bert Gibson
• Equinox (1992) – Pete Petosa
• Bitter Harvest (1993) – Sheriff Bob
• The Music of Chance (1993) – Caretaker Calvin Murks
• Relative Fear (1994) – Earl Ladelle
• Camp Nowhere (1994) – T.R. Polk
• The Glass Shield (1994) – Hal
• Cops & Robbersons (1994)
• Criminal Hearts (1995) – Martin
• Dead Badge (1995) – Sgt. Miller Hoskins
• Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home (1995) – Bill Wilcox
• Panther (1995) – Dorsett
• The Killing Jar (1996) – Sheriff Foley
• Portraits of a Killer (1996) – Raymond Garrison
• Albino Alligator (1996) – Dino
• A Time to Kill (1996) - Dr. Bass
• William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (1996) – Apothecary
• Retroactive (1997) – Sam
• My Best Friend's Wedding (1997) – Joe O'Neal
• Twilight (1998) – Lester Ivar
• Erasable You (1998) – Ralph Worth
• Nightmare in Big Sky Country (1998) – Marshal Phillips
• "The Unnatural" (episode of The X-Files, 1999) – Arthur Dales
• Wild Wild West (1999) – Coleman
• The Iron Giant (1999) – Earl Stutz (voice)
• Monster! (1999) - Lloyd
• Eyeball Eddie (2000) – Coach Cook
• Poor White Trash (2000) – Judge Pike
• Jack of Hearts (2000) – Menlo Boyce
• Christmas in the Clouds (2001) – Stu O'Malley
• "Bully for Martin" (episode of Frasier, 2001) – Rich Koechner
• Snow Dogs (2002) – George Murphy
• Baggage (2003) – Sandy Westphall
• Greener Mountains (2004) – Muggs
• Christmas with the Kranks (2004) – Walt Scheel
• Racing Stripes (2005) – Woodzie
• Man in the Chair (2007) – Mickey Hopkins
• Big Stan (2007) – Lew Popper
• Sherman's Way (2008) – Hoyt
• Chasing 3000 (2008) – Chuck Ireland
• Your Name Here (2008) – Kroger
• Haunted Echoes (2008) – Neil
• Don McKay (2009) – Samuel
• The Assignment (2010) – Mr. Beudreaux
• Youth in Revolt (2010) – Mr. Saunders
• The Raven (2012) - Geselbracht

References

Notes

External links

• M. Emmet Walsh at the Internet Movie Database