M. Emmet Walsh

Michael Emmet Walsh was born on March 22, 1935, in Ogdensburg, New York, He was of Irish descent, and was raised in rural Swanton, Vermont, where he underwent a mastoid operation at age 3, which left Walsh deaf in his left ear. Encouraged by a faculty advisor, he moved to New York City to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. ==Career==

Walsh performed in regional theater in the 1960s, first as a prop man. Being partially deaf in one ear and with an accent harkening from Vermont made it clear to Walsh: "I wasn't going to do Shaw and Shakespeare and Molière — my speech was simply too bad." He brought a "delightfully menacing presence" to his characters. He was a no-nonsense worker bee in the film industry. Walsh characterized himself as approaching "each job thinking it might be my last, so it better be the best work possible. I want to be remembered as a working actor. I'm being paid for what I'd do for nothing." and the 1978 crime film Straight Time, in which he played a vicious parole officer opposite Dustin Hoffman. He characterized Blade Runner as being especially difficult and tiresome to make, given director Ridley Scott's insistence on perfection. As a hard-bitten police commander, Walsh's character brings Deckard (Harrison Ford) out of retirement to "retire" cyborgs, telling Deckard, "I need your magic." Pauline Kael praised Walsh's performance: "his broad buffoonery helps to ground the picture, to keep it jaundiced and low-down." He then reteamed with the Coen brothers for Raising Arizona (1987) as a memorable "yakking machine shop worker". He appeared in an episode of the NBC drama series Gibbsville in 1976 and Little House on the Prairie in 1981. Later appearances included the series Sneaky Pete and The Righteous Gemstones. He was a member of the Screen Actors Guild, Actors Equity, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and The Television Academy. ==Legacy and accolades==

In 1998, the Clarkson Alumni Association presented Walsh with its Golden Knight Award. Ebert also fabricated his "Stanton-Walsh Rule": "No movie featuring either Harry Dean Stanton or M. Emmet Walsh in a supporting role can be altogether bad." In 2018, Walsh was inducted into the Character Actor Hall of Fame by his Blade Runner co-star Harrison Ford. Later in the same ceremony, he received the Chairman's Lifetime Achievement Award. Walsh established the Blarney Fund Education Trust in 1979 to provide scholarships for college to needy high school graduates in the Swanton, Vermont, area. ==Personal life==

Walsh had a reputation for generosity and wry wit. He habitually distributed two-dollar bills to the set's crew, with some advice: "Don't spend it, and you'll never be broke." ==Death==

Walsh died of cardiac arrest at Northwestern Medical Center in St. Albans, Vermont, on March 19, 2024, three days before his 89th birthday. ==Filmography==

Film Television ==References==