William Hootkins, actor of stage & screen, 58 ("Porkins" in "Star Wars")
deb...@comcast.net
24th October 2005 - What's on Stage News
Hitchcock Hootkins Dies after Cancer Battle at 58
American stage and screen actor William Hootkins - 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 last night (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 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
PirateJohn
MWB
Glitter Ninja
most recently saw him on a showing of "Batman" on TCM, but remember him
from many films. I'm sorry to see him go.
<http://www.whiterose.org/pete/blog/archives/008991.html>
Stacia
Bob Feigel
proffered:
>
>24th October 2005 - What's on Stage News
>
>Hitchcock Hootkins Dies after Cancer Battle at 58
>
>
> American stage and screen actor William Hootkins - 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 last night (Sunday 23
>October 2005) at St Johns Hospital in Santa Monica near his Californian
>home. He was 58.
Does anyone know of someone who has survived, let alone lived more
than a year, after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer? It seems
like a death sentence to me, but I'm only going by the few people I've
known or known of who have been diagnosed with it.
"It's not that I'm afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it happens." - Woody Allen
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Wax-up and drop-in of Surfing's Golden Years: <http://www.surfwriter.net>
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MGW
<b...@surfwriter.net.not> scrawled:
> On 24 Oct 2005 08:22:40 -0700, deb...@comcast.net magnanimously
> proffered:
> >
> >24th October 2005 - What's on Stage News
> >
> >Hitchcock Hootkins Dies after Cancer Battle at 58
> >
> >
> > American stage and screen actor William Hootkins - 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 last night (Sunday 23
> >October 2005) at St Johns Hospital in Santa Monica near his Californian
> >home. He was 58.
>
> Does anyone know of someone who has survived, let alone lived more
> than a year, after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer? It seems
> like a death sentence to me, but I'm only going by the few people I've
> known or known of who have been diagnosed with it.
It's extremely rare, but it occasionally happens. An elderly cousin
lived over two years with it. Since he was over 90 when he died, it's
hard to say whether or not the cancer killed him.
--
MGW
If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've
always got.