Friday, June 30, 2017

Michael Parks, 1940-2017, R.I.P.


Aww, s**. It's happened again.

It was only last weekend that I was looking at some of my old LPs, and I came across the album "Long Lonesome Highway" (pictured below) by actor/singer Michael Parks, star of the 1969-1970 TV series, Then Came Bronson. ("Long Lonesome Highway" was Bronson's theme song.) I couldn't help thinking that it would be nice if I could someday hand it to him personally so I could get it autographed.

And just today I learned that he died on May 9th, at the age of seventy-seven. How the hell did I miss that news?


I had first seen Parks as Adam at a drive-in viewing of John Huston's 1966 film, The Bible: In the Beginning... but I didn't recognize/remember him when Then Came Bronson premiered a few years later.

After Then Came Bronson was cancelled, I personally didn't hear anything about Parks until approximately twenty years later, when he appeared as Jean Renault on Twin Peaks. (You know, that offbeat series that came from the other David Lynch.) And much later, I saw him again in both entries in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill series of movies, where he played a different role in each one. I've obviously missed many of the parts he played over the years, but just the ones I did see were enough to make me post a tribute to him here.

As Texas Ranger Earl McGraw in 2003's Kill Bill, Vol. 1, with
real-life son James Parks, who played McGraw's son Edgar!


With Ulla Bergryd (as Eve) in 1966's The Bible: In the Beginning...

In 2014's Tusk, directed by Kevin Smith

With Chuck Norris in 1991's The Hitman

With director Kevin Smith


As Jean Renault in Twin Peaks

Thanks for your time.

20 comments:

  1. I've seen him in more things than I thought. I knew he passed as I saw it when they were talking about the twin peaks revival stuff.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm very surprised that I didn't hear about it.

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  2. Dude, you've gotta stop browsing through your record collection!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I don't remember his at all. I saw both of the Kill Bill movies, but I don't think I've seen any of the other shows or movies that you mentioned. I wouldn't have minded being his Eve.

    Love,
    Janie

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  4. Well, another has left this plane of existence (rip). I don't think he was on your list, but then again he died prior to your list. I don't remember hearing about this one.

    ss - Sorry Silver

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I didn't either, not for a while. Surprising, since I read celebrity obituary notices on a daily basis.

      Delete
  5. I'm starting to think your theme song is "Another One Bites the Dust." I suppose I've seen Michael Parks in more things than I'd realized.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith, who both directed Parks in their projects, claimed he was the best actor they knew.

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  6. i had no idea Michael Parks was in so much, but a long hefty career leaves him fondly remembered.

    thanks for the memories.
    Tara Tyler Talks

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    Replies
    1. I'm kinda surprised I wasn't familiar with his work in either of the two Kevin Smith films he was in.

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  7. This is an actor I'm not familiar with, but I do recognize his face. I bet he was one of those character actors who can slip in and out of roles undetected.

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    Replies
    1. That's the best kind of character actor, I think.

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  8. Replies
    1. He was in quite a few, although I only knew him in a handful of roles.

      Delete

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