John Vernon; actor (Wojeck)
Hyfler/Rosner
Tuesday."
The Toronto Star
February 3, 2005 Thursday
Photo:
http://www.northernstars.ca/actorsvz/media/vernon_john.jpg
More on Wojeck:
http://www.televisionheaven.co.uk/wojeck.htm
http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/W/htmlW/wojeck/wojeck.htm
John Vernon, the Regina-born actor who starred in the
Canadian series Wojeck and went on to a successful film
career in Hollywood, has died at his Los Angeles home.
The family's death notice says he "died peacefully" on
Tuesday. He was 72.
The tall, rugged actor's credits - he usually cast a dark
shadow as a bad guy - included Animal House, The Outlaw
Josey Wales, Dirty Harry, Point Blank and Airplane II among
more than 100 TV and film roles.
Vernon was born Adolphus Agopsowicz, the son of a corner
grocery owner. His mother was a seller of Avon household
products, something Vernon tried himself as a youth.
He caught the acting bug in high school and studied at the
Banff School of Fine Arts and the Royal Academy of Dramatic
Art in London, where his classmates included Peter O'Toole
and Albert Finney.
Vernon's breakthrough role was as Steve Wojeck in the 1960s
CBC drama inspired by the exploits of Toronto coroner Dr.
Morton Shulman.
"I did only 20 episodes of the show as the crusading
coroner, but the reaction was so strong that it reached the
attention of some Hollywood producers, who brought me to
L.A.," Vernon said in a 1988 interview.
Trained for the stage, Vernon had fond memories of his early
CBC work. "Live TV was something else. An actor got to do
Chekhov one week, Shakespeare a few weeks later. Wojeck was
CBC's first filmed show. They hadn't even drawn up contracts
to cover such things as actors' residuals."
In 1990 he rejoined co-star Patricia Collins for the CBC
reunion movie Wojeck: Out of the Fire.
About that time he was a Gemini Award nominee for his role
in the CBC drama Two Men, opposite Jan Rubes, and made a
cops and gangsters comedy in Winnipeg called Mob Story.
Vernon's film resume included Topaz, one of the last movies
made by Alfred Hitchcock.
"The public thinks of Hitchcock as a tyrant but as a
director, he was fantastic," Vernon recalled. "He allowed
the actor to discover what he was to do and you
automatically gravitated to what you should do."
GRAPHIC: John Vernon in Wojeck, the 1960s TV role that led
to busy Hollywood career.
mavman
casting. Father of the lovely actress Kate Vernon, whom he reportedly
disowned when she agreed to appear nude in films (not porn: legit,
R-rated stuff). Anyone know if they reonciled before his death?
DGH
Good point.
- - - - .
On Thu, 03 Feb 2005 16:44:48 GMT, "Rob Petrie" <r...@att.net> wrote:
>x-no-archive: yes
>
>"Hyfler/Rosner" <rel...@rcn.com> wrote in message
>news:AN2dnTzBg-e...@rcn.net...
>
>> "The family's death notice says he "died peacefully" on Tuesday."
>
>
> "It's time someone put their foot down--and that foot is me."
> --'Dean Vernon Wormer' (John Vernon),
> "Animal House" (1978) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077975
>
>
>http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006893
>
>http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006893/bio
>
> Mini-bio:
>
> "Prolific stage-trained Canadian character player who convinces as
>crafty villains, morally bankrupt officials and heartless authority figures
>in American films and TV since the 1960s. ...He again failed to inspire
>confidence as the ineffectual mayor of San Francisco in 'Dirty Harry'."
>['Dirty Harry', 1971]
>
>
> Trade mark:
>
> "Frequently plays crusty authority figures, i.e., mayors, college
>deans, high school principals, prison wardens, etc."
>
>
>
> John Vernon, 72 (missed 73rd b-day by 23 days)
> Birth name: Adolphus Raymondus Vernon Agopsowicz
>
> b. Feb. 24, 1932 d. Feb. 1, 2005
>
>
> R.I.P., John Vernon ('Dean Wormer')
deb...@comcast.net
probation!"
Dave Garrett
deb...@comcast.net says...
> Very sad to hear this- "From now on, they're on double secret
> probation!"
"Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son!"
Dave
S.
>
> John Vernon, the Regina-born actor who starred in the Canadian series
> Wojeck and went on to a successful film career in Hollywood, has died at
> his Los Angeles home.
>
A very fine actor ; extremely memorable as the villain in London-set
"Brannigan", the mayor in "Dirty Harry", and in "The Outlaw Josey Wales".
R.I.P John.
R H Draney
>
>"The family's death notice says he "died peacefully" on
>Tuesday."
Saddened to hear it...saw him just Saturday when I introduced my mother to "I'm
Gonna Git You Sucka", where he plays "Mr Big" and expounds on how when an actor
is important enough he can get away with doing exploitation films....r
James Neibaur
da...@compassnet.com wrote on 2/3/05 11:45 AM:
Vernon was very good in many character roles in some very noted Hollywood
films.
RIP
JN
Kent
are 19 articles referencing his death yielded by a search of Google News.
Every last one of the newspapers referenced is Canadian. There's not one
American entry yet.
Until he died I had no idea he was Canadian and had never heard of "Wojeck".
However, he is pretty damn famous on this side of the border as well, for
"Animal House" and other movies, and I wonder about the delay in the U.S.
media picking up notice of his death.
Kent
ing
> Here's something I find interesting. As of 2:00 PM Eastern US time there
> are 19 articles referencing his death yielded by a search of Google News.
> Every last one of the newspapers referenced is Canadian. There's not one
> American entry yet.
>
> Until he died I had no idea he was Canadian and had never heard of "Wojeck".
He was extremely well-known for Wojeck. So much so
that a lot of folks who followed the program
didn't know his real name, just the character
name. They'd see him on the street or wherever,
and call out "hey there, Wojeck, how ya doin'".
He mentioned this in a radio interview on CBC,
years and years ago. Said he loved it, when that
happened - said he felt like he'd connected.
It was a terrific show and I'd bet, if they ever
rerun it, if won't't have aged much at all - the
storylines were strong and quite compelling.
ing
Andrewjmilner
JoeThomas
Joe
"ing" <ing.b...@sympatico.ca> wrote in message
news:m%uMd.21849$Ck1.1...@news20.bellglobal.com...
Hal Horn
"R H Draney" <dado...@spamcop.net> wrote in message
news:ctton...@drn.newsguy.com...
Also, after playing the mayor in "Dirty Harry", he also played the mayor in
the wonderful TV spoof on the genre, "Sledge Hammer!".
HCH
mpoco...@aol.com
He had lots of great lines in Animal House:
"Put Neidermayer on it. He's a sneaky little shit just like you."
"Mr. Blutarsky....zero point zero."
Kent
I don't remember that episode but I can easily picture that.
And in an update: Five hours from my last report, 7:00 PM Eastern time,
still the only reports on Google News are from Canadian papers and websites.
How is that possible? Dean Wormer is dead and no one noticed?
Terry Ellsworth
I loved him in Topaz. He always seemed older and I was surprised he was
only 72. He'll be greatly missed.
Terry Ellsworth
Kent
"Kent" <ke...@ixnayontheamspay-deadoraliveinfo.com> wrote in message
news:KOydnUMzt9b...@comcast.com...
Okay, finally it's hit some U.S. papers' websites. It's not a huge deal but
it just makes me wonder how these things work. Why are some people's deaths
all over the place within five minutes and others take hours?
Christopher Reeves' death (or was it Marlon Brando's?) took hours to come
out but once it did it was on every major website within about a five minute
span. I'm wondering if there is a Canadian AP feed and a U.S. one and the
U.S. papers only print something once it hits the U.S. one? Anybody know
details? I mean John Vernon has been working here 30 years and it took 8
hours to get the news on the first U.S. site.
Hyfler/Rosner
>> noticed?
>>
And I apologize for putting his TV show in the header
instead of Animal House or Dean Wormer. I had no idea that
he was that quotably famous and the Toronto Star obit didn't
let on, either.
Ok. I admit it. I've never seen it.
Arty McToon
That's too bad.
Mr. Vernon also played some sympathetic roles (voice of Wildfire the
magic horse in the 1980s Hanna-Barbera cartoon show of the same name,
playing a police animal handler in a guest role on "CHiPs") as well as
his trademark snarling villains (Dean Wormer, Mr. Big on "I'm Gonna Git
You, Sucka").
Vernon reprised his Dean Wormer role in the tv version of "Animal
House" titled "Delta House" that lasted 4 or 5 episodes on ABC in the
late 1970s with Stephen Furst (Flounder), Bruce McGill (D-Day), and
James Widdoes (Hoover) reprising their film roles.
King Daevid MacKenzie
...considering the nature of his scenes with Linda Blair in CHAINED HEAT
(and his very presence in SWEET MOVIE), it'd be highly hypocritical if
he hadn't reconciled with Kate. Ironically, Vernon would later play
Blair's high school principal in SAVAGE STREETS and her _father_ in BAIL
OUT...
...and as of 5:30 A.M. Central Time on 4 February, the IMDb has yet to
list his death...
--
King Daevid MacKenzie, WLSU-FM 88.9 La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA
http://wpr.org/music/ http://ultimajock.blogspot.com
"Why do people take drugs anymore, when reality has become a
hallucination?" LEWIS BLACK
Brad Ferguson
<thevoic...@centurytel.net> wrote:
> mavman sez:
>
> > Best known as the unforgettable Dean Wormer in Animal House... perfect
> > casting. Father of the lovely actress Kate Vernon, whom he reportedly
> > disowned when she agreed to appear nude in films (not porn: legit,
> > R-rated stuff). Anyone know if they reonciled before his death?
>
> ...considering the nature of his scenes with Linda Blair in CHAINED HEAT
> (and his very presence in SWEET MOVIE), it'd be highly hypocritical if
> he hadn't reconciled with Kate. Ironically, Vernon would later play
> Blair's high school principal in SAVAGE STREETS and her _father_ in BAIL
> OUT...
>
> ...and as of 5:30 A.M. Central Time on 4 February, the IMDb has yet to
> list his death...
It didn't get on the U.S. wires yesterday until I sent the Toronto Star
piece someone kindly posted here to a friend at the AP. It appears
that nobody down here picked up on Vernon's obit because of that damn
"Wojeck" thing.
I suspect that the Canadian press's judgment that Vernon was better
known as Wojeck than as Dean Wormer, even up there, is deeply flawed.