Friday, June 22, 2012

RIP Richard Lynch, the man we loved to hate.

Veteran TV and B-movie villain actor Richard Lynch passed away on Tuesday at his home in Palm Springs, California at 76. Alas Lynch's name may not have been a household one, but his face is instantly recognisable to anyone who watched TV shows in the 80's. His trademarked scarred appearance was as a result of an in LSD incident 1976 when he set himself on fire. After studying at the Actor's Studio he turned his burn scars to his advantage by carving out a prolific career by portraying memorable nemeses of great on-screen heroes. 

The nefarious plans of his villainous characters have been thwarted at one time or another by The A-Team, T.J. Hooker, Matt Houston, Starsky and Hutch, The Fall Guy, Frank Buck, Charlie's Angels, Manimal, Automan, Stringfellow Hawke, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Jessica Fletcher, Jake and the Fatman and even Chuck Norris himself in the 1985 movie Invasion: USA.

Throughout his career Lynch appeared in more than a whopping 160 movies and television programs. He is well regarded in cult science-fiction circles for portraying Wolfe in the two-part Battlestar Galactica episode "Gun on Ice Planet Zero" (1978), later he was Velosi on Buck Rogers in '79 and later returned to Galactica as Xavier on Galactica '80. In 1993 he starred as antagonist to Captain Picard as Baran in the Star Trek: The Next Generation two-parter "Gambit". He was also no stranger to the fantasy genre and one of his most lauded roles was as the evil King Cromwell in The Sword and the Sorcerer [1982] for which he won a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Before acting, Lynch was one of the few and the proud serving in the United States Marine Corps from 1956-1960. He was also a musician and played the saxophone, guitar, piano, and flute. He enjoyed fishing, poetry, and architecture. He held Irish citizenship through his Irish born parents and was a frequent visitor to Ireland. Lynch is survived by his brother Barry and his wife Lily.

Sources: IMDB /Wikipedia

1 comment:

Mark said...

I recall being pissed off when they replaced him with Jeremy Brett in Galactica 80.

Then I wasn't pissed off when three episodes later they pressed the dump button on Galactica 80.

But Jesus, Glen Larson used to spend $1.5M an episode on Galactica back in the 80's. No one outside of Next Gen has even come that close to that level of spend for a SciFi show on a dollar for dollar basis.