Enter the dragon Actor John Saxon died at the age of 83 according to Hollywood reporter. The star who shared screen time with Bruce Lee was a Hollywood fixture for years, earning a 1966 Golden Globe nomination for The Appaloosa in front of Marlon Brando and appearing in numerous television series such as Dynasty and Falcon crest like Lorenzo Lamas’s father.
He is best known for Enter the dragon and his role in cult movies like Black christmas and the Nightmare on Elm Street series with director Wes Craven. He appears as the police officer father of Nancy Thompson in the first and third installments of the series, and then returns as himself in New nightmare in 1994.
Saxon was born Carmine Orrico in 1936, the oldest of three children in Brooklyn, and was later discovered after leaving a theater at the age of 17. Hollywood agent Henry Wilson signed it and quickly brought him into the Universal family. He attended studio workshops, building on his theater studies at Carenegie Hall.
His first movie was from 1955. Running wild, followed by Rock, Pretty Baby, Summer Love and The reluctant debutante with Sandra Dee. Saxon also became known for his tough-guy roles, including a role opposite Sydney Pollack and Robert Redford in the 1962s. War hunt. They would re-film together for The electric rider over a decade later Joe Don Baker also appeared in the vehicle. Mitchellfamous ridiculed in Mystery Science Theater 3000and Joe Kidd alongside Clint Eastwood, based on one of Elmore Leonard’s many westerns.
But most of the public knows him for his horror roles and his co-starring role with Bruce Lee in Enter the dragon. For that movie, he didn’t have the fighting ability that Lee or Jim Kelly demonstrated. However, Saxon remained steadfast and became a memorable part of Lee’s only dominant American film in 1973. However, the actor had nothing but praise for Lee, and felt no judgment for his combat flaws.
“[Lee] he took me seriously I would say I would rather do it this way, and he would say, ‘OK, try it that way,’ Saxon told the LA Times in a 2012 interview. He also spoke highly of Marlon Brando, whom he knew as a teenager. Hollywood reporter as you look back at your award-winning role in The Appaloosa.
“He was a friend,” said Saxon. “I took him out to dinner one night. He said, ‘I’m going back to New York, do you have a coat?’ I said, ‘Sure, I have a coat.’ He never returned my coat. ” You would also notice that Brando seemed bored with the movie stemming from financial problems with his father, so the experience was not the dream you would expect.
Younger fans probably know that their horror resumes a bit clearer. Saxon worked with Roger Corman, played a cop in Canadian holiday horror Black christmas alongside Margot Kidder and 2001: a space odyssey star Keir Dullea, and helped start the Nightmare franchise like absent-minded but loving police father Donald Thompson. He can’t make it through the entire movie series, but Wes Craven brought him back for the metahorror jumble. New nightmare Like the same. He is definitely “that guy” in many movies and his career went a long way. Rest in peace.
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