R.I.P., David Warner

R.I.P. to David Warner: glorious Shakespeare actor, genre movie standby, and, for a VHS enthusiast, one of the most recognizable faces of all time. Best known to children of the '80s as the villain in TRON and TIME BANDITS, and best known to '70s horror fans from THE OMEN and TIME AFTER TIME. Maybe he'll be remembered by a new generation from his appearance in 2018's MARY POPPINS RETURNS.

At Junta Juleil, we've seen him suffer through the courtroom clichés of MR. NORTH and the peasant blouse nonsense of Cannon Films' HANSEL AND GRETEL.

In TITANIC, he was Billy Zane's henchman, and in his finest moment shot a disapproving look after catching Leo and Kate doing some unauthorized folk-dancing hanky-pankery.

He stopped by as a drama professor in SCREAM 2, a human in STAR TREK V, a Klingon in STAR TREK VI, and a dad in THE COMPANY OF WOLVES.

On TV, he effortlessly jumped between fare like TALES FROM THE CRYPT, THE LARRY SANDERS SHOW, and CAPTAIN PLANET. He improved some of the roughest patches of TWIN PEAKS Season 2 by his mere presence, and delivered a lot of pathos in the TWIN PEAKS-adjacent WILD PALMS.

He had fun as Van Helsing in MY BEST FRIEND IS A VAMPIRE and hammed it up as an evil wax museum impresario in WAXWORK.

He collaborated twice with John Carpenter, playing members of the medical profession in BODY BAGS and  IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS. He collaborated thrice with Sam Peckinpah, playing a reverend, a rapist, and a Nazi, respectively, in THE BALLAD OF CABLE HOGUE, STRAW DOGS, and CROSS OF IRON.

He rocked out––so hard––to the music of Vanilla Ice in TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES II: THE SECRET OF THE OOZE, and made us believe it. He exuded dignity no matter where he ended up.

R.I.P.