This guy was always solid. R.I.P.
Posted on 02/18/2005 7:52:22 AM PST by Borges
MALIBU, Calif. - Daniel O'Herlihy, an Oscar-nominated character actor whose 50-year career extended from the Irish stage to television and Hollywood movies including "Fail-Safe" and "RoboCop," has died. He was 85.
O'Herlihy died Thursday at home surrounded by his family after suffering from an illness for a year, said Michael Druxman, his longtime publicist and friend. Druxman said the family asked that the exact cause not be disclosed.
O'Herlihy was nominated for a best actor Academy Award in 1954 for his starring role in "The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe." Marlon Brando won for "On the Waterfront" that year.
Born in Wexford, Ireland, O'Herlihy earned a degree in architecture from the National University of Ireland before picking up minor roles at Dublin's Abbey Theatre. He was spotted there by British director Carol Reed, who cast him in the 1946 thriller "Odd Man Out."
O'Herlihy went on to appear in more than 70 plays in Dublin and in the United States, including "Measure for Measure" and "Macbeth."
After moving to Hollywood, he played Macduff in Orson Welles' 1948 film version of "Macbeth" and began a career that included roles as Brig. Gen. Warren Black in "Fail-Safe" (1964), President Roosevelt in "MacArthur" (1977), and the mysterious cyborg firm executive in "RoboCop" (1987).
O'Herlihy's television roles included Doc McPheeters in the early 1960s Western series "The Travels of Jamie McPheeters," and six episodes on the early 1990s cult series "Twin Peaks." His most recent role was as Joseph Kennedy in the 1998 TV movie "The Rat Pack."
He is survived by his wife, Elsie, five children, ten grandchildren and a great-grandson. Private services are planned in Malibu and O'Herlihy will be buried in Ireland.
Yeah, who who hasn't been nominated for an Oscar?
"Dick, you're fired."
I love that movie.
Right. A total satire of the Reagan 80s, but still one of my favorites. Starship Troopers, by the same screenplay writer, is pretty good too.
By the same director as well...Paul Verhoeven. Arnold fondly recalls 'Total Recall' with him as well.
"BEHAAAAVE YOURSELVES!" -- Robocop 2
He had a wonderful on-screen presence.
"The Travels of Jamie McPheeters" was one of my favorite TV shows. And the book of the same name, on which the series was based, is great. Very Mark Twainish.
Here's a pic of Dan as Jamies's father in that series. He was perfect for the role:
http://www.lib.umd.edu/cgi-bin/labdetail.cgi?image=43.057
(Jamie was played by a 12-year old Kurt Russell, in his first starring role. Charles Bronson was also a regular!)
"Murphy!"
Lots of good unsung performances, including MacDuff in Welles' Macbeth, Marshall Ney in Waterloo, and FDR in some WWII biopic or other. I saw him onstage as King Lear here in Houston, but it was not one of his better roles.
RE: "Yeah, who who hasn't been nominated for an Oscar?"
Whadda mean? That should have been?
John Barrymore, Marilyn Monroe, Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Lloyd Bridges, Linda Hamilton, Gary Oldman.
Only one unsuccessful career nomination for Lauren Bacall (the Mirror Has Two Faces), Fred Astaire (the Towering Inferno), Dennis Hopper (Hoosiers) and Harrison Ford (Witness), among many others.
He was also Grig in The Last Starfighter.
Hopefully he was not the freeper named Grig. Are you there Grig?
I'm fine. That was just my Beta that died :)
"... I am the matador...."
And I'm a HUGE Kubrick buff, too. Maybe I prefer "Fail-Safe" because I'm a NYer, and the ending literally "hit home" with us Manhattanites. Sanctimonious and serious it is indeed... there's not a note of music in it.
I still remember the first time I saw it, as a teenager, on late night TV one snowy night around '79-80... I had never heard of it, and it just overwhelmed me.
That's an odd little sub-genre of cinema right there: Early 60's B&W Cold War paranoia: "Fail-Safe", 'Dr. Strangelove", "Seven Days In May", "The Manchurian Candidate", "The Bedford Incident"...
The original 'The Manchurian Candidate' is actually a black comedy. Few people realize that it's making of fun of both sides. To your list I would add Peter Watkins' 'The War Game'. Those films seemed to be a reaction to the Cuban Missle Crisis and Barry Goldwater's campaign.
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