J. T. Walsh

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

J. T. Walsh
J. T. Walsh as Warren 'Red' Barr 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
Spouse	Susan West ​ ​ (m. 1972; div. 1982)​
Children	1

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, to Mary Louise (née O'Connor) and James Patrick Walsh, who were both of Irish descent. His father was a civilian comptroller in the U.S. Army. He had three siblings: Christopher, Patricia, and Mary. From 1948 until 1962, the family lived in West Germany, where Walsh's father was stationed; they lived in Munich for seven years before moving to Stuttgart.

Walsh and his brother studied at Clongowes Wood College (a Jesuit school in Ireland) from 1955 until 1961. He then attended the University of Tübingen (Walsh spoke fluent German) for a year before his father died of a brain tumour, after which he and his family moved back to the United States, settling in his mother's native Rhode Island. He completed his studies at the University of Rhode Island, where he majored in sociology and starred in many college theater productions. During this time, he was also active in SDS demonstrations against the Vietnam War.

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. On television, he again portrayed an evil character, prison warden Brodeur on the 1995 X-Files episode "The List".

Wishing to show his range as an actor and play good guys, despite being typecast as a villain, he played relatively decent characters in Outbreak and Sniper, and also played the rather sympathetic Marine Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Markinson in A Few Good Men. 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, Teamsters president Frank Fitzsimmons in Hoffa, and Richard Nixon's domestic advisor John Ehrlichman in Nixon. He was fired from Loose Cannons after completing two days of filming because his co-star Dan Aykroyd had learned of Walsh's involvement in Wired, a biopic of Aykroyd's friend John Belushi to which Aykroyd was hostile.

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 Hidden Agenda, Pleasantville, and The Negotiator, all of which were dedicated to his memory.

Personal life and death

He married Susan West in 1972 and they had a son, John Alan West (born 1974), who works in film production under the name John West. They divorced in 1982. Walsh lived in Encino, Los Angeles. He was a lifelong Democrat, and an avid reader with a strong interest in metaphysics.

A heavy smoker, 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. Just a few weeks earlier, Walsh had experienced chest pains and had an EKG test done that was misread as normal.

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.

Other

The "Hey It's That Guy!" feature in Fametracker was inspired by him, as he appeared in over 60 films but was not well known by name. The creators expanded upon this idea in 2005 by publishing Hey! It's That Guy!: The Fametracker.com Guide to Character Actors.

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

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"
1987	The Ellen Burstyn Show	Dan Hodges	Episode: "Writer, Wronger"
1987	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"
1994	Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman	Colonel Charles Fane	Episode: "Operation Blackout"
1994	Starstruck	Greer	TV movie
1995	The X Files	Warden Brodeur	Episode: "The List"
1996	Crime of the Century	Norman Schwarzkopf Sr.	TV movie
1996	Gang in Blue	Lieutenant William Eyler	TV movie
1996–1997	Dark Skies	Frank Bach	19 Episodes
1997	Hope	Ray Percy	Goldie Hawn's directorial debut
1997	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
• J. T. Walsh at AllMovie
• Bubblegun interview