Good or Bad he could really make you believe his character.
Admittedly though he could be one scary bad guy.
Agreed. He was one of my favourite actors. Perpetually being typecast as the villain but a lovely, soft-spoken gentleman behind the scenes... so I've heard. Tarantino should have given him a featured role before too late.
shareI liked him in The Seven Ups with Roy Scheider, He looked genuinely terrified during the car chase, no wonder.
shareI didn't know his name for the longest time even though he guest starred on pretty much all of the tv shows that I watched as a kid. I always just referred to him as "The Guy Good at Being Evil"
shareIn the late-70s and 80s, he was everywhere. I remember him particularly from that 'futuristic' series Galactica 1980.
shareHe was always a very reliable and enjoyable antagonist. He, and casting directors, knew what his strengths were. You’ve got NOTHING absent a GREAT antagonist, cf, Othello, Goldfinger, Dante’s Divine Comedy. I’m watching him in the double-cheesy Deathsport on tubi right now, produced by cheesemeister Roger Corman, and he and Claudia Jennings MAKE this movie.
shareHe is one of those actors that is so horribly typecast that he or she will only be known for about one type of role. Sort of like how James Woods is so good at slimy, this guy is so good at creepy or scary.
Wonder what he was like in real life...
Did you ever see Scarecrow (1973)? It's probably Lynch's slimiest role, as he plays a homosexual prison rapist. We first see him when the main characters, Gene Hackman and Al Pacino, have been admitted to prison and are unpacking in the dorm. Lynch notices them and comes over to introduce himself. In a great touch of characterization, we see that Lynch's own sleeping area, unlike any of the others in the dorm, is decorated with dozens of porno magazine nude women centerfolds in a huge cardboard collage. It's immediately obvious from this blatant display that the character is hiding something. I wonder if that was Lynch's idea or the director's?
shareYes, I've seen that movie.
I wonder if he was like so many other typecast evil characters that are actually very nice in life.
For example, I've read numerous times that William Smith is a very kind and nice man. It seems like so many character actor baddies also tend to be gracious off screen.