Clu Gulager, star of “Return of the Living Dead”, has died at the age of 95

The actor Clu Gulager, who starred in the classic series “The Man from Virginia” and in the cult terrir “The Return of the Living Dead”, died on Friday (5/8) at his home in Los Angeles, of natural causes. age of 93. years.

William Martin Gulager was born on November 16, 1928 in Holdenville, a green town about 120 kilometers from Oklahoma City, and was of Indian descent from the Cherokee nation. His father, John, was a Broadway actor turned county judge, and his second cousin was none other than cowboy Will Rogers singing.

The stage name was an affectionate nickname for his father, mimicking the chirping of the birds that nested around the family home. After high school and service in the United States Marine Corps, Gulager received a scholarship to study in Paris with the famous actor and mime Jean Louis Barrault. Upon his return, he began work on the televisions that were broadcast live from New York, before moving to Los Angeles in 1959.

He caught the beginning of the western television craze, working on landmark attractions such as “Wanted Alive or Dead”, “Paladin of the West”, “Caravan” and “Laramie” until he was hired for his first permanent role, moving to play the famous gunslinger Billy the Kid in “The Tall Man”.

“I was an Oklahoma cowboy. I climbed over the fences [ao redor do gado] in winter and summer I would go to the countryside looking for rattlesnakes, “Gulager said in a 2019 interview.” One day I thought I could play a cowboy, and I saw that it was easy for me to ride a horse and wear a hat.”

“The Tall Man” ran for two very long seasons – 75 episodes – airing between 1960 and 1962. And it was canceled only because the United States Congress opposed the way outlaw Billy the Kid is. was “mistakenly” portrayed as a hero to the show’s youthful viewers. But the cancellation proved to be the best providence of fate for Gulager’s life.

“I was broke when I entered [naquela série]”he said in 2014. Then, when the job was done, he turned to the attraction’s producer, Frank Price (future president of Universal and Columbia Pictures), to ask for a new job.” He fired an actor in the middle of it. of the set and hired me, “he said.

Gulager was inducted into an episode of the first season of “The Virginian” in 1963, and then returned in another second-year chapter as a different character.

Meanwhile, he made other series and made his film debut, attracting attention as a rabid gangster in Don Siegel’s neo-noir classic “The Assassins” (1964). Driven by the film, he received an invitation to return to “The Man from Virginia” in season three, now as a cast member, in the role of gunslinger Emmett Ryker, who, in a twist, becomes a lawman in the small town of Medicine Bow. He appeared in over 100 episodes until 1968.

One of the most popular series of the 1960s, “The Man from Virginia” made Gulager very popular. And he took the opportunity to throw himself into the cinema, helping in “500 Miles” (1969), in the role of the mechanic of the pilot played by Paul Newman, and in “The Last Film Session” (1971), in the skin of the foreman who gets involved with Ellen Burstyn and seduces teen Cybill Shepherd in a pool hall.

He also starred opposite John Wayne in John Sturges’ “McQ” (1974) and collaborated with Chuck Norris in “Destroying Force” (1979). But his manly career took a turn after he was murdered in the slasher “Initiation” (1984).

Suddenly, Gulager turned to horror and found a new audience with some classics of the genre, most notably “Return of the Living Dead” (1985), the first zombie comedy, where the owner of the warehouse where the “real” lived lived. dead man Walking. “have been preserved from the original contamination of the 1960s – that recorded in the film” Night of the Living Dead “(1968), which was supposed to be a documentary and not a fiction. With anthological scenes of punk in a cemetery, Dan’s film O’Bannon (creator of the “Alien” franchise) marked an era, got sequels and popularized the terrir subgenre.

“I didn’t particularly want to do that movie,” he recalled in 2017. “I thought I was a little above that. And it turns out that if I’m remembered, if I’m remembered at all … it will be for this film!”

Subsequently, he became an easy figure in fantastic productions. Among other productions of the genre, he appeared in “A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge” (1985), opposite Vincent Price in “From Whisper to Scream” (1987) and entered another cult, playing a law enforcement officer in sci-fi “The Hidden” (1987), by Jack Sholder.

He stood out again in 2005 in “Banquet do Inferno”, a special work in his filmography because it marked the debut of his son, John Gulager, as a director. Produced by Wes Craven (director of “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Scream”) and starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, the film was another cult film that got sequels (released directly to video). In the two sequels, he also starred alongside his other son, the younger Tom Gulager.

The director’s son once again commanded his father in 2012’s “Piranha 2”, the same year the veteran launched his only foray into feature film director, “Memories,” shown only at festivals.

Clu Galager also garnered praise for her performance in Sean Baker’s debut film “Tangerine” (2015) (“The Florida Project”), before leaving screens in 2019, with a small stint in “C ‘ it was once in … Hollywood “. “by Quentin Tarantino.

Source: Terra

Camila

Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.