A big screen and stage giant, a guy whose imposing presence in five decades of work spanned movies and film are gone-leaving a long line of memorable characters and artistic imprint.
His death, as per longtime manager Sue Leibman, was on June 10 in New York City because of a cardiac arrest. He was an 87-year old.
Although to the mainstream he may be best known as a result of having stolen a scene as the fire-throwing judge in Ghostbusters II, where his furious tirade in court unleashes a full scale ghost attack, it
was a brief sparkling moment in a career jammed with vocal, colorful character roles. Whether in the dark depths of Scarface or the political drama of Clear and Present Danger, training Day, his screen performance always brought a sense of weight to the proceedings.
However, he did much more than cinema. He has been nominated for an Emmy on television because of his layered performance in Frasier, and he has confused viewers in series such as Ozark by engaging in dangerous games with Jason Bateman and Laura Linney. He turned up in various programmes as diverse
as Veep, Billions, Divorce, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and And Just Like That…, and managed to blend in with both comic and dramatic roles.
He was a deity in the theatre scene. He has been on the stage many years, and has performed Hamlet not only once, but three times off-Broadway; which in itself says a lot about his abilities and sheer respect of the profession.
He played in well-received revivals of Hedda Gabler, The Price, and The Visit and in the course of an eight-year stint as a drama teacher at Juilliard, developed future acting talent.
In his most recent preparation, he was getting ready to work on a new series named American Classic, where he was to come up alongside Laura Linney and Kevin Kline. The director of show, Michael Hoffman, simply stated that he was one of the greatest artists whom he has ever met in his life.
As Hoffman added, he was blessed with grace, humility, and generosity, wherever he stepped a foot in. We all were lucky to work with him.
With a close personal friend and collaborator, Stacy Keach, on whom he worked together since the two were together in the 1971 western DOC, Keach was said to be developing new projects with him up to the very last stage of severe illness-a testament to a creative spirit that never quavered.
Off-screen, there was a short relationship with actress Faye Dunaway in the early Seventies. He left a wife, actress Kristen Lowman, son-in-law, nephew and a number of godchildren. He was pre-deceased by his actress daughter Claire Lucido.
One of the most highly regarded names whose work so much passed undetected even after creating so many memorable moments in movies and TV, his death is a true final nail in the coffin of serious, character-driven acting.
