Sad news for geek movie fans: Bill Hootkins - recognizable character actor from a number of genre films in the 70s and 80s - has passed away from pancreatic cancer. He was 57.
Among his roles:
Star Wars - Red Six (Jek Porkins)
Porkins: "I got a problem here..."
Biggs: "Eject!"
Porkins: "I can hold it."
Biggs: "Pull up!"
Porkins: "No, I'm all right, I'm all...yarrgghh!" [explodes]
Flash Gordon - Munson
"Dr. Zarkov! There's no sun! It's 8:24 in the morning, and there's no sun!"
He would later flee Dr. Zarkov's attempts to get him to board the rocket.
Raiders of the Lost Ark - Major Eaton
Major Eaton: "We have top men working on it."
Indy: "Who?"
Major Eaton: "Top. Men."
we'll leave aside Superman IV: The Quest for Peace for now
Batman - Lt. Eckhardt
Knox: "You know what they say? They say he can't be killed. They say he drinks blood. They say..."
Eckhardt: "And I say you're full of shit, Knox. Oh, uh, you can quote me on that."
Two other things...
I once won an argument with someone (who shall remain nameless) who claimed that Hootkins played Jim the computer nerd in WarGames. This was, in fact, Maury Chaykin.
Mark Bell of Film Threat DVD tells a great story about how he got access to lots of shit at Star Wars Celebration in Indianapolis this year by telling people he was Hootkins' son. If that sounds implausible, well, you'd have to meet Mark.
When I was a kid we used to scream “Mr. Potatohead! Mr. Potatohead!” at each other in tribute of his small but memorable role in WarGames.
Maury Chaykin is one of the finest and most underappreciated and underused actors out there. He gets minute roles but does so much with them even in the crapfests he’s usually cast in.
Chaykin was brilliant as Nero Wolfe in the series he did with Timothy Hutton. But I don't know if he'll ever surpass his scenes with Eddie Deezen.
"BACK DOORS are NOT secrets!"
Huh. I'd never realized Eckhardt was Porkins. Never made that connection.
Learned something new today.
and since I learned something new, that means I don't have to learn anything else today...and I can sit on my butt and watch football....
The Fattest Rebel! Nooooo!