Tuesday, September 14, 2010

R.I.P. Kevin McCarthy

By NIKKI FINKE Monday September 13, 2010 @ 3:34am PDT

The stage, screen and television mainstay was one of Hollywood's best known character actors as well as the star of the 1956 cult classic Invasion Of The Body Snatchers. He died on Saturday at a Cape Cod hospital in Massachusetts. He was 96. The chisel-jawed actor appeared in almost 100 films over seven decades (he was nominated for an Oscar as "Biff" in 1951's Death Of A Salesman) and was omnipresent in primetime. He was the brother of writer/critic Mary McCarthy.


Kevin's IMDB page.



COMMENTS:

Another favorite of Joe Dante’s gone…
  • -RnsW

    Comment by Robert Not So Wise — Monday September 13, 2010 @ 3:53am PDT REPLY TO THIS POST
  • While he could play the mastiest of Villians, he was the nicest man you could ever know. I met him at a couple of horror conventions and he couldn’t be sweeter. One of my cherish posessions is a photo we had taken together. The first time I met him I told him that no one can play villians as well as him, to which he replied, “but I’m a very nice guy”. The second time I met him I called him an excellent actor, to that he replied, “let’s do lunch”. He was such a sweet man, and who could forget his perfomnaces in “Invasion of The Body Snatchers, Innerspace, and UHF where his villian recieved the ultimate humiliation. He was such a perfect actor.

    Comment by Allen Blank — Monday September 13, 2010 @ 5:09am PDT REPLY TO THIS POST
  • A great portrait of the younger actor is in Patricia Bosworth’s biography of Montgomery Clift. In the early New York method days he was one of Clift’s closest friends.

    Comment by Bentley Gregg — Monday September 13, 2010 @ 7:26am PDT REPLY TO THIS POST
  • I will always remember him as the evil R.J. Fletcher, villainous head of Channel 8 in Weird Al’s masterpiece “UHF.” In retrospect, I’m impressed they were able to get the star of Body Snatchers and Death of a Salesman in their silly, but enjoyable, movie.

    Comment by Mike — Monday September 13, 2010 @ 8:43am PDT REPLY TO THIS POST
  • Loved “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and loved him in it. Bummer, he was a great actor, but he lived a good long life. Rest easy!

    Comment by Thomas — Monday September 13, 2010 @ 9:20am PDT REPLY TO THIS POST
  • Kevin came in for a few days work on THE ROSE AND THE JACKYL, a TNT movie I produced years ago….He regaled us with stories of “old Hollywood” and his friendships with the greats, and at the same time, was entirely relevant and charming. My Condolences to Lillah and her entire family.

    Comment by Wendy Dytman — Monday September 13, 2010 @ 9:51am PDT REPLY TO THIS POST
  • It’s likly he’ll be remembered for just one film…. but it’s a classic :)

    Comment by Alex — Monday September 13, 2010 @ 2:38pm PDT REPLY TO THIS POST
  • I met Kevin a couple of times at autograph shows and he was just the nicest man. He was stunned when I picked out a photo of him from the 1978 remake of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. “And you got that from just looking at that?” he asked with such surprise.

    “Of course, that’s you!”

    He told me that they never paid him a dime for that cameo. He ran out and jumped on the hood of Donald Sutherland’s car, crying out the same lines from the end of the original. “They didn’t even give me $150 for that,” he said.

    I thanked him for doing it because it was a wonderful scene that connected the original classic to the remake.

    RIP, Kevin.

    Comment by The JuRK — Monday September 13, 2010 @ 7:21pm PDT REPLY TO THIS POST
  • We just finished celebrating “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” in our summer movie marathon Mad Invasion.

    Kevin’s work in that film is monumental. The look on his face after he kisses Becky and realizes true horror and fear is one of the great unforgettable moments in cinema.

    Thank you for everything.
    Rest in Peace, Kevin.

    Comment by cinemated man — Monday September 13, 2010 @ 11:54pm PDT REPLY TO THIS POST