Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Lance Henriksen: Over Forty Years Of Kicking Ass And Taking Names

Anyone - particularly a horror fan - who is unfamiliar with the name Lance Henriksen is probably not someone I could call my friend.  It's a well known fact that he is one of the finest actors working today, and not just in the horror category.

Active in film and television since the early 70's, he has an extensive resume in a broad scope of genres.  From small roles in Dog Day Afternoon and Network, to great character pieces in Aliens and The Terminator,  to leading stints in such fare as cult favorites Pumpkinhead and Near Dark; Henriksen has developed a colossal fan base.

Horror enthusiasts in particular are enamored of  his dedication to the genre, and his gracious nature when it comes to meeting and interacting with his fans.  It is because of this mutual passion that the idea for the Lance Henriksen Blogathon arose.  Renowned film critic John Kenneth Muir is joined by co-host of the blogathon and co-author of Lance's new biography ("Not Bad for a Human"), Joseph Maddrey in organizing the event.  You can get all the info here at John's blog: Reflections on Film/TV with tons of Lance-linkage and good stuff to peruse in celebration of this talented actor.  I'd also be remiss if I didn't note that the concept also coincides not only with Henriksen's book release on May 5th, but his birthday on that same date.

While I thought of writing a review of my favorite Henriksen film, Pumpkinhead (!), I realized I'd already touched base on that film over a year ago, so I decided to just have a little photographic run-down of some of Lance's unbelievably long list of film credits. 
I was surprised, once I started really thinking about it, by how many horror films the man has actually done.  In addition to the main-stream film work he's been a part of, and the three seasons of the stellar cult-status  television show Millennium, the guy has put so much sci-fi and horror out there for us to enjoy that I could never touch on all of it, lest this blog be called Fascination with Lance Henriksen. 

So without further ado, Happy Birthday to Lance, congrats on the book, and here we go:

Alien vs. Predator

Millennium

Aliens

Alone in the Dark 2

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Damien: Omen II

Jennifer 8

Man's Best Friend

Nightmares

Pumpkinhead

Sasquatch

Scream 3

Scream of the Banshee

Survival Quest

The Dark End of the Street

The Outpost

The Pit and the Pendulum

The Quick and the Dead

The Terminator

Jennifer's Body

Piranha II: The Spawning

Alien 3

Abominable
Near Dark

Hard Target

9 comments:

The Mike said...

Ooooohhhhhh, you got the evil Pumpkinhead stare. One of my favorite moments ever. And Man's Best Friend ALWAYS makes me happy.

Lance does indeed rule.

Anonymous said...

He is like my cool imaginary father. In <3 him in everything, even the bad roles. He makes a movie for me.

Will Errickson said...

Just saw him in DOG DAY AFTERNOON, one of the early '70s finest cinematic offerings.

B.R. said...

I'm going to have to check out some of those; I especially love the mangled ear in Near Dark.

Joe said...

Actually I think the mangled ear photo is from the end of ALIEN 3. Fun fact: It was Jack Nicholson's prosthetic ear, left over from BATMAN.

Great article!

Christine Hadden said...

Thanks Joe - and I corrected that pic. It's been awhile since I've seen that third Alien film... But I should have known it wasn't Near Dark. I have added a pic from that one as well.

Congrats on the book :)

John Kenneth Muir said...

Christine,

I love this wonderful tribute to Mr. Henriksen: a great gallery and great words to go alongside the perfectly chosen imagery.

Thank you so much for an excellent contribution to the L.H. Blogathon.

As always, you and Fascination with Fear completely rock.

best,
JKM

Christine Hadden said...

Mike: Oh yes, I HAD to get THE GLARE, it's awe-inspiring! My favorite flick of his.

Kelly: I agree, he can even make a poor movie tolerable. So very true.

Will: Haven't seen Dog Day in years. Must remedy that, stat.

BR: Please note the mangled ear is from Alien 3, I was mistaken and fixed the error :)

And John: Thanks for the kind words, means a lot coming from you.
It was my extreme pleasure to contribute to this crazy-good blogathon!

Teresa Nichols said...

Lance Henriksen does a great job no matter what kind of role he is given. You can really tell he puts his all in his work.