Why was Lance Henrikson not a bigger action movie star?
https://www.quora.com/Why-was-Lance-Henrikson-not-a-bigger-action-movie-star
Why?share
He was born in 1940 - That meant that he was already 46 when his “break out role” (The android Bishop in the 1986 film Aliens) became a hit. He exceeded the age limit for beginning as an action hero by nearly a decade and so he was unlikely to have been cast in such a role.
He didn’t hit on his own - Henriksen, while a journeyman actor, has never been a box office draw. Had any of his solo projects been bigger hits, he could have easily become a minor action film star. However, none of them did, and he was “relegated” to the lucrative role of working character actor and occasional television series lead.
Near Dark didn’t hit - The 1987 vampire flick featured Henriksen as the primary antagonist. For reasons that aren’t exactly clear, the film wasn’t a financial success, even though it’s since become a cult classic. Had this film been a success, Henriksen’s prominent role would have earned him greater levels of exposure.
Millennium didn’t hit - The 1990s X-Files spinoff was another cult classic that wasn’t able to attract financial success. Henriksen was exceptional as the series’ protagonist, however the program was cancelled after three seasons and there was never a follow up film to close out the narrative (NOTE: Yes, I know that there was an X-Files episode which was supposed to have done that, however it was not the same as a film derived from the core story). If Millennium had hit, Henriksen would have been a bigger star in action and science fiction films.
His choice of films since 1995 has been…rather atrocious - Henriksen either wasn’t offered good roles, or he simply decided to take the money and run. Basically the majority of his film roles following his surprisingly good turn in the 1995 film Powder have been in projects which had few redeeming features. The majority of them were terrible and they likely did little to make Henriksen appealing to future directors and producers.
Henriksen is now 80 years old as of 2020. If he was ever going to be a bigger action star it would have begun in the mid-1970s and perhaps ended in the 1980s or early 1990s. Unfortunately for him, that never occurred for him, although he’s still managed to carve out a successful career as a sought-after character actor and voiceover performer.