RIP Dean Wormer - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

choskins · 02-03-2005, 06:57 PM

John Vernon, who starred in CBC-TV's 1960s drama Wojeck before moving on to a career in Hollywood, has died. He was 72.

According to his family, the Saskatchewan-born Vernon – who became known for playing villains, sinister officials and unsympathetic authority figures – died peacefully at his Los Angeles home Tuesday.

John Vernon as Wojeck. (CBC photo)Born Adolphus Raymondus Vernon Agopsowicz, he started acting while attending high school in the community of Zehner, located northeast of Regina. He went on to study at the Banff School of Fine Arts and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

He spent time working in theatre troupes in London and at the Stratford Festival of Canada.

Vernon's stage training led to a job performing live in the early days of CBC-TV, which he recalled fondly in a 1988 interview. "Live TV was something else," he said. "An actor got to do Chekhov one week, Shakespeare a few weeks later."

Wojeck, which turned out to be his breakthrough role, was one of the CBC's first filmed series, Vernon said. "They hadn't even drawn up contracts to cover such things as actors' residuals."

Though he did only 20 episodes of the show, based on the exploits of Toronto coroner Dr. Morton Shulman, "the reaction was so strong that it reached the attention of some Hollywood producers, who brought me to L.A.," he said.

John Vernon in an early CBC-TV production of Antigone. (CBC photo)Vernon did voice work for several animated TV series based on comics (including Captain America, Iron Man, and The Marvel Superheroes) before being cast in the 1967 gangster classic Point Blank.

His prolific Hollywood resumé also included Dirty Harry, Alfred Hitchcock's 1969 cold war thriller Topaz and the Clint Eastwood western The Outlaw Josey Wales, as well as comedies like John Landis's Animal House, in which he played Dean Vernon Wormer, and the 1988 blaxploitation spoof I'm Gonna Git You Sucka.

Altogether, he appeared in more than 100 TV shows and films but returned to voice work, primarily for video games, in the last 10 years.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts/nationa...bit050203.html

darens42 · 02-03-2005, 07:53 PM

I would have like to have known the video games that he did voice work for...

Seething · 02-03-2005, 09:36 PM

Games he did can be found here.

Sad to see another icon go. He'll always be remembered for Animal House.

warrrreagl · 02-04-2005, 06:13 AM

"Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son. "

This should be on the All-Time Greatest Movie Lines list, whenever I make one....

Animal House came out my freshman year in college, and everybody seemed to view it as an instructional movie.

grayman · 02-04-2005, 10:13 PM

A small memorial service will be held Sunday, with an even smaller double top secret service to follow on Monday.

02-03-2005, 06:57 PM	#1 (permalink)
choskins Psycho Location: Greenville, SC	RIP Dean Wormer John Vernon, who starred in CBC-TV's 1960s drama Wojeck before moving on to a career in Hollywood, has died. He was 72. According to his family, the Saskatchewan-born Vernon – who became known for playing villains, sinister officials and unsympathetic authority figures – died peacefully at his Los Angeles home Tuesday. John Vernon as Wojeck. (CBC photo)Born Adolphus Raymondus Vernon Agopsowicz, he started acting while attending high school in the community of Zehner, located northeast of Regina. He went on to study at the Banff School of Fine Arts and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. He spent time working in theatre troupes in London and at the Stratford Festival of Canada. Vernon's stage training led to a job performing live in the early days of CBC-TV, which he recalled fondly in a 1988 interview. "Live TV was something else," he said. "An actor got to do Chekhov one week, Shakespeare a few weeks later." Wojeck, which turned out to be his breakthrough role, was one of the CBC's first filmed series, Vernon said. "They hadn't even drawn up contracts to cover such things as actors' residuals." Though he did only 20 episodes of the show, based on the exploits of Toronto coroner Dr. Morton Shulman, "the reaction was so strong that it reached the attention of some Hollywood producers, who brought me to L.A.," he said. John Vernon in an early CBC-TV production of Antigone. (CBC photo)Vernon did voice work for several animated TV series based on comics (including Captain America, Iron Man, and The Marvel Superheroes) before being cast in the 1967 gangster classic Point Blank. His prolific Hollywood resumé also included Dirty Harry, Alfred Hitchcock's 1969 cold war thriller Topaz and the Clint Eastwood western The Outlaw Josey Wales, as well as comedies like John Landis's Animal House, in which he played Dean Vernon Wormer, and the 1988 blaxploitation spoof I'm Gonna Git You Sucka. Altogether, he appeared in more than 100 TV shows and films but returned to voice work, primarily for video games, in the last 10 years. http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts/nationa...bit050203.html __________________ "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." - Sigmund Freud

02-03-2005, 07:53 PM	#2 (permalink)
darens42 Crazy Location: Dallas	I would have like to have known the video games that he did voice work for... __________________ I'm not superstitious - it's bad luck to be superstitious

02-03-2005, 09:36 PM	#3 (permalink)
Seething Insane	Games he did can be found here. Sad to see another icon go. He'll always be remembered for Animal House. __________________ Common sense is uncommon. Ironic, isn't it?

02-04-2005, 06:13 AM	#4 (permalink)
warrrreagl pinche vato Location: backwater, Third World, land of cotton	"Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son. " This should be on the All-Time Greatest Movie Lines list, whenever I make one.... Animal House came out my freshman year in college, and everybody seemed to view it as an instructional movie. __________________ Living is easy with eyes closed.

02-04-2005, 10:13 PM	#5 (permalink)
grayman you can't see me Location: Illinois	A small memorial service will be held Sunday, with an even smaller double top secret service to follow on Monday. __________________ That's right - I'm a guy in a suit eating a Blizzard. F U.