Ah, the lot of the character actor. The Hollywood equivalent of the eternal bridesmaid, the character actor never receives the fame and fortune of the leading man or lady. Instead, he musters up a career as "that guy," a familiar face that, although instantly recognizable, rarely seems to have a name attached.
Last week, the film industry lost one of the great character actors, a man whose heavy eyes and pocked cheeks made him an eternal heavy, the living incarnation of every corrupt cop, crime boss and gutter-crawling bureaucrat.
His name: John Vernon.
In true character-actor fashion, the name might mean little to most film fans. What will ring a bell, and quite loudly, are the roles he inhabited. Be it the womanizing warden in the prison classic Chained Heat, or the educator handing down "double secret probation" in Animal House, Mr. Vernon was a familiar film presence, even if his name was oft forgotten. Here's a few favorite films featuring this great unsung actor:
POINT BLANK (1967): This Lee Marvin vehicle is about a betrayed small-time hood's quest for revenge. Mr. Vernon appeared as the crooked crook who left Mr. Marvin, his former partner, for dead. For his betrayal, Mr. Vernon is tossed from a window. Violent? Oh, without a doubt. Cool? Absolutely.
TOPAZ (1969): Working with master craftsman Alfred Hitchcock, Mr. Vernon played a Cuban statesman with ties to the Castro regime in this ultra-realist spy thriller. A favorite of Mr. Hitchcock, he was quoted as believing some scenes shot represented "pure cinema."
DIRTY HARRY (1971): Playing the ineffectual mayor of San Francisco, Mr. Vernon was as responsible for Dirty Harry Callahan's (Clint Eastwood) violent behavior as the killers and crooks he successfully chased - and inevitably gunned - down.
THE Outlaw Josey Wales (1976): Reunited with Mr. Eastwood, Mr. Vernon played a Confederate officer who, at the end of the Civil War, sold his men out to a bloodthirsty Union guerrilla. The result is a predictable Eastwood-style whomping.
ANIMAL HOUSE (1978): Dean Wormer, the role John Vernon will forever be remembered for. Sleazy, stupid and very, very funny, his college administrator gave the anarchists at Delta House something to rail against. Favorite line: "Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son."
Reach Steven Uhles at (706) 823-3626 or steven.uhles@augustachronicle.com.
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