J. T. Walsh

Not to be confused with J. D. Walsh (actor).

J.T. Walsh
Walsh in Breakdown (1997)
Born	James Thomas Patrick Walsh (1943-09-28)September 28, 1943 San Francisco, California, U.S.
Died	February 27, 1998(1998-02-27) (aged 54) La Mesa, California, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Tübingen University of Rhode Island
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1975–1998

James Thomas Patrick Walsh (September 28, 1943 – February 27, 1998) was an American character actor. His many films include: Tin Men (1987), Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), A Few Good Men (1992), Hoffa (1992), Nixon (1995), Sling Blade (1996), Breakdown (1997) and Pleasantville (1998).

Early life

Walsh was born in San Francisco, California. He had three siblings: Christopher, Patricia, and Mary.

After graduating from college in 1967, Walsh worked briefly as a VISTA volunteer in Newport, Rhode Island organizing tenants for the United Tenant Organizations of Rhode Island (UTO) before resigning to pursue his acting career. Prior to becoming an actor, he also worked as a barman, an encyclopedia salesman, a junior high school teacher, a gymnasium equipment salesman, and a reporter. In 1974, he was discovered by a theater director and began working in off-Broadway shows, where he began using the initials "J. T." to avoid confusion with another stage actor named James Walsh.

Career

On stage, Walsh received critical acclaim for his performance as John Williamson in the 1984 U.S. premiere of David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross in Chicago and subsequently on Broadway. He did not appear in films until 1983, when he had a minor role in Eddie Macon's Run. Over the next 15 years, he appeared in over 50 feature films, increasingly taking the villain role for which he is well known, such as Sergeant Major Dickerson in Good Morning, Vietnam (1987). On television, he again portrayed an evil character, prison warden Brodeur on the 1995 X-Files episode "The List".

Among the films Walsh appeared in are Tin Men (1987), Misery (1990), Backdraft (1991), Sniper (1993), The Client (1994), Miracle on 34th Street (1994), Outbreak (1995), Executive Decision (1996), Sling Blade (1996), and he also played the rather sympathetic Marine Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Markinson in A Few Good Men (1992). He played a member of Majestic 12 in the 1996 sci-fi drama series Dark Skies. Walsh notably played real people in three films: journalist Bob Woodward in Wired (1989), Teamsters president Frank Fitzsimmons in Hoffa (1992), and Richard Nixon's domestic advisor John Ehrlichman in Nixon (1995).

The 1997 thriller Breakdown, which featured Walsh as villainous truck driver Warren "Red" Barr, was his last starring film released during his lifetime. In his final year of life, Walsh starred in The Negotiator (1998), Pleasantville (1998), and Hidden Agenda (1999), all of which were dedicated to his memory.

Personal life and death

Walsh died of a heart attack in the hospital in La Mesa, California, on February 27, 1998, at the age of 54, after feeling ill and collapsing at the Optimum Health Institute in Lemon Grove. According to author Marc Seifer, for whom Walsh had narrated a documentary a few weeks earlier, Walsh had experienced chest pains and had an EKG test done that resulted in a misdiagnosis.

Jack Nicholson, who acted with Walsh in A Few Good Men and Hoffa, dedicated his Best Actor Oscar for As Good as It Gets to him.

In his tribute to Walsh in Time Out New York, Andrew Johnston wrote:

Walsh is invariably referred to as a character actor who specialized in villains, but that description doesn't quite do justice to what he did. The typical Walsh character was a plot device, really, serving either as a moral counterpoint to the star of the show or as an Iagolike figure egging on the hero in a way likely to lead to the protagonists's downfall. These characters were often self-important authority figures 'defending' the American establishment from the individualism represented by the movies' heroes ... or crooks who thrived by exploiting the hypocrisy of the system. Walsh didn't just make a career of playing bad guys — his performances offered a sort of running commentary on the power structure of American society.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	Eddie Macon's Run	Man in Bar	Film debut
1984	The Beniker Gang	Principal Stoddard
1985	Right to Kill?	Major Eckworth	TV movie
	Hard Choices	Deputy Anderson
1986	Hannah and Her Sisters	Ed Smythe
	Power	Jerome Cade
1987	Tin Men	Wing
	House of Games	The Businessman / Cop
	Good Morning, Vietnam	Sergeant Major Phillip Dickerson
1988	Things Change	Hotel Manager
	Tequila Sunrise	DEA Agent Hal Maguire
1989	The Big Picture	Allen Habel
	Wired	Bob Woodward
	Dad	Dr. Santana
1990	Why Me?	Chief Inspector Francis Mahoney
	Crazy People	Mr. Charles F Drucker
	The Grifters	Cole
	Narrow Margin	Michael Tarlow
	Misery	Chief Sherman Douglas	Uncredited
	The Russia House	Colonel Jackson Quinn
1991	Iron Maze	Jack Ruhle
	Backdraft	Alderman Marty Swayzak
	Defenseless	Steven Seldes
	True Identity	Agent Houston
1992	A Few Good Men	Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Andrew Markinson
	Hoffa	Frank Fitzsimmons
	The Prom	Grover Dean
1993	Sniper	Colonel Chester Van Damme
	Loaded Weapon 1	Desk Clerk
	Red Rock West	Kevin McCord / Sheriff Wayne Brown
	Needful Things	Danforth "Buster" Keeton III	Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
	Morning Glory	Sheriff Reese Goodloe
	One Little Indian	Marshall Robinson	Short
1994	The Last Seduction	Frank Griffith
	Blue Chips	"Happy" Kuykendahl
	The Client	FBI Agent Jason McThune
	Silent Fall	Sheriff Mitch Rivers
	Miracle on 34th Street	Ed Collins
1995	Outbreak	White House Chief of Staff	Uncredited
	The Low Life	Mike Sr.
	The Babysitter	Harry Tucker
	Black Day Blue Night	Lieutenant John Quinn
	Charlie's Ghost Story	Darryl
	Nixon	John Ehrlichman	Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
	Sacred Cargo	Father Stanislav
1996	Executive Decision	Senator Jason Mavros
	The Little Death	Ted Hannon
	Sling Blade	Charles Bushman	Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1997	Breakdown	Warren "Red" Barr	Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
1998	The Negotiator	Inspector Terence Niebaum	Posthumous release
	Pleasantville	Bob "Big Bob"
1999	Hidden Agenda	Jonathan Zanuck

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1984	The Edge of Night	Ken Bloom #2	9 Episodes
1985	All My Children	Jay Garland	1 Episode
1987	Spenser: For Hire	Andrew Lawford	Episode: "Murder and Acquisitions"
	The Ellen Burstyn Show	Dan Hodges	Episode: "Writer, Wronger"
	The Equalizer	Andrew Banks / Sam Griffith	2 Episodes
1988	Windmills of the Gods	Colonel Bill McKinney	TV Miniseries
1989	L.A. Law	Pete Bostik	Episode: "Consumed Innocent"
1992	In the Shadow of a Killer	Inspector Leo Kemeny	TV movie
1993	The American Clock	Judge Bradley	TV film based on the play by Arthur Miller
1994	Birdland	Potter	Episode: "Grand Delusion"
	Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman	Colonel Charles Fane	Episode: "Operation Blackout"
	Starstruck	Greer	TV movie
1995	The X Files	Warden Brodeur	Episode: "The List"
1996	Crime of the Century	Norman Schwarzkopf Sr.	TV movie
	Gang in Blue	Lieutenant William Eyler
1996–1997	Dark Skies	Frank Bach	19 Episodes
1997	Hope	Ray Percy	Goldie Hawn's directorial debut
	C-16: FBI	Jules Rozack	Episode: "Radio FBI"

External links

• J. T. Walsh at IMDb
• J. T. Walsh at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• J. T. Walsh (1943-1998): Reflections Of A Friend; biographical essay and tribute by Marc Seifer
• Bubblegun interview