RIP: William Hootkins (Jet Porkins)
Michael Ponte
worked for many years in the UK and was last seen on the London stage in
Hitchcock Blonde - has passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
Diagnosed earlier this year, he died yesterday (Sunday 23 October 2005) at
St Johns Hospital in Santa Monica near his Californian home. He was 58.
Born in Dallas, Texas on 5 July 1948, the ebullient Hootkins - known as Bill
or 'Hoot' to his friends - made his stage debut in a local school production
that co-starred a fellow student who later had success in Hollywood, Tommy
Lee Jones. He initially tried to distance himself from drama by studying
astrophysics and Chinese linguistics at Princeton University, but soon
became involved with Princeton's Intime Theatre group. On the recommendation
of his friend, John Lithgow, he moved to the UK after graduation to study at
LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts) and subsequently made his
home in this country.
In a busy career, Hootkins worked regularly on both sides of the Atlantic.
His first film role was in 1977, playing Jedi fighter Jek Porkins in George
Lucas' Star Wars. Though the part was small, it had a big impact. He joked
in a Whatsonstage.com interview two years ago (See 20 Questions, 28 Jul
2003): "In a sense, my career's been downhill ever since. Fans still come to
greet me at the stage door with action figures of my character and
embarrassing photographs for me to sign."
But such recognition did have its upside. As he also told Whatsonstage.com:
"I still didn't realise what power would come from that job until a year
later I received my first fan letter. In it was a drawing of my scene by a
little boy, and it was actually a clearer and more understandable version of
the scene than George Lucas'! He asked if he could have an autographed
photo. When I checked the return address, it was the leukaemia ward of a
children's hospital. It's a blessing to me that I have any power to make
even the tiniest difference in other people's lives."
More screen roles followed Star Wars, including two Pink Panther films
starring Peter Sellers, The Raiders of the Lost Ark, Three Men in a
Restaurant, The Magnificent Ambersons, This World Then the Fireworks, The
Island of Dr Moreau, Town & Country, A River Runs Through It and the
upcoming Colour Me Kubrick, starring John Malkovich. On the small screen,
Hootkins appeared in a host of popular US and UK programmes, such as Cheers,
Poirot, Cagney & Lacey, Taxi, The New Statesman, Tales of the Unexpected and
Blackadder.
Amongst his British stage credits were: Dreams in an Empty City and What a
Way to Run a Revolution in the West End; Orpheus Descending at the Donmar
Warehouse; The Dentist, The Watergate Tapes and Terry Johnson's
Insignificance at the Royal Court.
Hootkins returned to the Court in April 2003 to star in Johnson's Hitchcock
Blonde which transferred that summer to the West End's Lyric Theatre where
he reprised his performance as Alfred Hitchcock alongside other original
cast members including Rosamund Pike and David Haig. The Texan actor's
uncanny portrayal of the eccentric British film director earned him a
Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers' Choice Award nomination for Best Supporting
Actor (he is pictured at our awards launch party in November 2003).
In explaining his commitment to British theatre, Hootkins told
Whatsonstage.com: "The arts are not an additional luxury, they are the
centre of life - especially at a time when our behaviour towards each other
is so worrying and under so much scrutiny. Theatre is the laboratory in
which we study ourselves and we definitely need to understand ourselves
better."
He is survived by his wife of three months, Carolyn Robb.
- by Terri Paddock
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FROM WRITER-DIRECTOR TERRY JOHNSON:
"I gave a party to thank Bill and everyone concerned with Hitchcock Blonde,
and I served a buffet that had spread over a couple of tables. Bill beamed.
'Ah,' he said, You are privy to the Epicurean secret of the cold platter...'
(He paused for effect) '... rrrelish!'
"Which was something Bill dedicated his life to. He relished many, many
things, from Cairo by moonlight to Mandarin offal feasts, from his eleven
languages to his collection of dinosaur dung, from his 29 hour CD set of
Moby Dick (read entirely by William Hootkins), to a good cigar, loud
company, and louder shirts. He relished work, he relished women, and in both
spheres, he relished a challenge.
"His performances were memorable. I owe him an enormous debt of gratitude
for his infinitely detailed characterisation of Hitchcock (not to mention
the joy of watching him trying to seduce Tippi Hedren into spilling the
beans). His early demise in the Star Wars trilogy spawned a website (Google
'Porkins'), dedicated to his character's purportedly deleted scenes, and a
rock band in Wales called, imaginatively, Bill Hootkins. Such was his charm,
his disgusting abuse of the leading lady in the film Hardware led to a
20-year friendship. Stacey (Travis) was at his bedside with friends and
family, having smuggled his small, loyal, and slightly insane dog into the
hospital.
"I saw Bill a few months ago, when a cerebral accident had added a random
element to his loquacious vocabulary. His sense of irony was undiminished,
so he relished this new language too, and imbued it with the same
enthusiasms, the same love of the world around him, the same urge to share
it. Looking out proudly at his uninhabited view of the less populated side
of the Hollywood Hills, he stood, surrounded by a dedicated and witty
collection of cactii, on his grassy patio, and gestured around him. He
searched for words, then beamed and said, grandiloquently: 'You, here.
Everyone. Anytime.'
"He won't be forgotten, because he was kind of unforgettable. A splendid,
hedonistic apostle for one of life's big lessons. That some men live, and
other men live. Thanks, Bill. Fair speed."
--
----------------------
Michael Ponte: super...@comcast.net
http://www.mponte.com
(Doctor shoots traitor in chest with arrow)
Traitor: I thought you said you're a doctor! You're supposed to heal people!
Ivan: I am. You're stupidity is terminal, and now your cured.- Bruce
Campbell in Alien Apocalypse
Sean Walsh: Piettus Worshipus
Dammit. :(
--
Sean
Sean Walsh: Piettus Worshipus
- but here is what he was up to (and some photos) for the last months
of his life.
http://www2.caringbridge.org/ca/williamhootkins/index.htm
--
Sean
:(
Muuurgh
news:uKSdnaxEMfY...@comcast.com...
God bless Porkins.
-Muuurgh
Kalibushka
transmitted this:
Thanks for this post. He was a great man...and to
think you got to touch him...you lucky b'stard.
Rest well, Bill.
Michael Ponte
> Thanks for this post. He was a great man...and to
> think you got to touch him...you lucky b'stard.
>
> Rest well, Bill.
>
I did, shook his hand and everything. Me and PB told him of the Porkinites!
He was most thrilled.
A
> He initially tried to distance himself from drama by studying
> astrophysics and Chinese linguistics at Princeton University
OK, I'm very impressed.
- Anne
RIP Porkins
usher
breath:
>American stage and screen actor William Hootkins (pictured) - who lived and
>worked for many years in the UK and was last seen on the London stage in
>Hitchcock Blonde - has passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
>Diagnosed earlier this year, he died yesterday (Sunday 23 October 2005) at
>St Johns Hospital in Santa Monica near his Californian home. He was 58.
How sad.
http://www.imdb.com/gallery/hh/0393853/Starwars1.jpg?path=pgallery&path_key=Hootkins,%20William&seq=3
As most of us will remember him.
usher
:-/ I am Sifo-Dyas
and
> worked for many years in the UK and was last seen on the London stage in
> Hitchcock Blonde - has passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
> Diagnosed earlier this year, he died yesterday (Sunday 23 October 2005) at
> St Johns Hospital in Santa Monica near his Californian home. He was 58.
>
So very sad... and to think he was only 8 years older than me.
RIP, Bill. Thanks for the memories.
Paula
Aaron Snyder
On 10/25/05 4:28 PM, in article uKSdnaxEMfY...@comcast.com, "Michael
Ponte" <super...@comcast.net> wrote:
He was in a lot of my favorite movies, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark,
and Flash Gordon. It's very sad.