I had been meaning to post about David Hedison’s passing, but now the news of Rutger Hauer has hit and it is a double dose of sadness.
David Hedison is one of those actors that only made a handful of genre appearances, but the ones that he did, definitely made an impact. Growing up watching a lot of TV, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea was basically Star Trek but underwater, so it had my attention. Of course, then seeing The Fly (1958) would forever make me know who David Hedison is. Even though his face is covered through a good part of the film, he was still able to make you feel for his character. That is the power of a good actor, that they can only appear in a few things you’ve seen, but it still makes a lasting impression.
Now Rutger Hauer, this guy made a lasting impression several times in his career. My first memory of his was as the terrorist in Nighthawks (1981) and it just got better after that! Most people remember him as the villain from Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, but I never saw him as a the bad guy but a creature that just wanted to continue to live his life. Hauer was so good at brining Roy Batty, an artificial creature, to life. So much so that Anne Rice modeled her famous vampire character Lestat after Hauer from that performance.
While he did play the good guy in films like Ladyhawke (1985) and Wanted: Dead or Alive (1986), when he did play a villain, such as the mystery passenger John Ryder in the 1986 film The Hitcher, Hauer excelled and made us think twice about ever picking up a hitchhiker.
Both of these talented actors have left us, but have also left us plenty of great performances that we can watch and watch again and continue to remember and honor their work. Our thoughts go out to their friends and family in this difficult time.
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