M. Emmet Walsh

M. Emmet Walsh passed away at the age of 88 a few days ago. It's been more than a decade since I saw the Coen Brothers movies he was in, Blood Simple and Raising Arizona, but the performances he gave, particularly in the former, were certainly memorable.

My strongest memory of him is of course as the police chief in Blade Runner. He excellently plays a canny scumbag in that film, helping to set the film's noir tone and lend an air of credible menace to the regular old fellows populating the underworld of L.A.

He was in host of other well known films, including The Jerk and Harry and the Hendersons and he was still working. His final film role was in a Mario Van Peebles western called Outlaw Posse released earlier this month, a film that reunited Walsh with his Blade Runner co-star, Edward James Olmos. It has less than a 50% rating on Rotten Tomatoes but . . . here's to taking risks.