Posted on 03/26/2015 9:59:23 AM PDT by massmike
Gregory Walcott, a character actor whose résumé included numerous television westerns, several Clint Eastwood movies and prestige films like Norma Rae but who was probably best known as one of the stars of Plan 9 From Outer Space, often called the worst movie ever made died on Friday at his home in the Canoga Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. He was 87.
He said in a 1998 interview that the Plan 9 script made no sense but that he took the job because one of the producers was a friend of his.
I thought maybe my name could give the show some credibility, he said.
The film seemed destined to be no more than a footnote in Mr. Walcotts busy career.
But Plan 9 From Outer Space slowly developed a following for its cheap effects, its stilted dialogue and a ragtag cast that included the one-name TV personalities Vampira and Criswell as well as Bela Lugosi, in footage shot shortly before his death in 1956. To Mr. Walcotts embarrassment, Plan 9 became a staple at bad-film festivals and the movie with which he was most often associated.
Mr. Walcott came to accept his bad-film fame with good humor. His last screen role was a cameo in Tim Burtons Ed Wood (1994), about the making of Plan 9 and its eccentric auteur. Mr. Mattox, his son, said that when a bar called Plan 9 Alehouse opened near his home in Escondido, Calif., last year, he gave the owners, with Mr. Walcotts blessing, a copy of his Plan 9 script to use as wallpaper in the mens room.
I didnt want to be remembered for that, Mr. Walcott told The Los Angeles Times in 2000. But its better to be remembered for something than for nothing, dont you think?
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Flaming globes of Sigmund!
R.I.P.
RIP.
I thought Joe Kidd was one of Eastwood’s best!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.