Posted on 02/03/2005 11:39:38 AM PST by Borges
Toronto He was the smarmy Dean Wormer in the sophomoric cult movie Animal House.
He was a bad guy who got tossed out a window to his death by the even badder Lee Marvin in Point Blank.
But Canadians may best remember actor John Vernon as a crusading coroner in the groundbreaking 1960s CBC crime series Wojeck.
Mr. Vernon, 72, died peacefully at his Los Angeles home on Tuesday, his family said.
With his pockmarked face and heavy-lidded eyes, Mr. Vernon made an ideal villain in dozens of the 85 motion pictures he made over a four-decade career. But he started out as the hero in Wojeck in which his character was based on real-life coroner and politician Dr. Morton Shulman and formed the template for future crime series formats, from Quincy to Da Vinci's Inquest to CSI.
He was seen most recently on the double secret probation DVD edition of Animal House, in a feature that offered a tongue-in-cheek look at the characters of the 1978 film as they would be today. Mr. Vernon's Dean Wormer was a crotchety, snowy-haired senior citizen in a wheelchair.
His other notable film roles included The Outlaw Josey Wales, Dirty Harry, Airplane II, Topaz, Brannigan, Charley Varrick, Nobody Waved Goodbye and Tell Them Willie Boy Was Here. He also starred in a 1990 CBC movie that reprised his Wojeck character.
Born in Zehner, Sask., and stage trained, the 6-foot-2 Mr. Vernon, whose birth name was Adolphus Raymondus Vernon Agopsowicz, attended London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and in London joined several repertory companies. His Broadway debut came in Royal Hunt of the Sun. From there, he moved to Hollywood for a prolific career playing mostly heartless villains.
He leaves his former wife, Nancy; his children, Chris, Kate, Nan and Jim West and Grant West, and a granddaughter.
There will be a private service in Los Angeles and a gathering of friends to remember him in Toronto at a later date, the family said.
I didn't recognize his name, but I know that face, thanks for posting it.
RIP John Vernon. Condolences to his family and friends.
Dean Vernon Wormer: Cut the horseshit, son. I've got their disciplinary files right here. Who dropped a whole truckload of fizzies into the swim meet? Who delivered the medical school cadavers to the alumni dinner? Every Halloween, the trees are filled with underwear. Every spring, the toilets explode.
Greg Marmalard: You're talking about Delta, sir.
Dean Vernon Wormer: Of course I'm talking about Delta, you TWERP!
Godsepeed, Dean Wormer!
Another exchange...
"Greg, what is the worst fraternity on this campus?
Well that would be hard to say, sir. They're each
outstanding in their own way.
Cut the horsesh*t, son. I've got their disciplinary files right here. Who dropped a whole truckload of fizzies into the swim meet? Who delivered the medical school cadavers to the alumni dinner? Every Halloween, the trees are filled with underwear. Every spring, the toilets explode.
You're talking about Delta, sir.
Of course I'm talking about Delta, you TWERP!"
Blutowski........"zero point zero"......Which didn't exactly hurt his career prospects, now did it?
-Eric
Hmmm...we apparently were on the same wavelength
Just damn.
If you want on the list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...
The best advice any college student ever got:
Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son.
RIP
Blutarsky ... dead.
Mayor: I don't want to have any more trouble like you had last year in the Filmore District, understand? That's my policy.
Harry: Yeah, well when an adult male is chasing a female with intent to commit rape, I shoot the bastard that's my policy.
M: Intent? How did you establish that?
H:When a naked man is chasing a woman through an alley with a butcher knife and a hard-on, I figure he isn't out collecting for the Red Cross.
I think of that line anytime I see Teddy (Holy Sinking Oldsmobiles) Kennedy.
He was shot by his own troops in Vietnam.
BTW, he was also the sickening mayor of San Francisco in the original "Dirty Harry."
I also loved that scene where is in his office talking with someone and some worker in the background is trying to find out how to remove the dead, legs straight up, horse that Delta put there...finally, the worker comes in with a chain saw to take care of business.
Coolest. Square. Ever.
Rest in peace, Dean Wormer.
"You mention extortion again, and I'll have your legs broken."
RIP, Dean Wormer.
Teddy was the inspiration for that character.
So sad.
RIP John Vernon.
RIP John. You were one of the greats.
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