Brion James

Brion Howard James  (February 20, 1945 – August 7, 1999) was an American character actor. Perhaps best known for his portrayal of Leon Kowalski in Blade Runner, James portrayed a variety of colorful roles in popular films such as Southern Comfort, 48 Hrs., Another 48 Hrs., Silverado,  Tango & Cash, Red Heat, The Player and The Fifth Element.

James' commanding screen presence and formidable physique at 6 ft tall usually resulted in his casting as a heavy, appearing more frequently in lower-budget horror and action films and TV shows throughout the 1980s and 1990s. James appeared in more than 100 films before he died of a heart attack, at the age of 54.

Early life
James was born in Redlands, California, the son of Ida Mae (née Buckelew) and Jimmy James. He spent his early years in Beaumont, California, where his parents owned and operated a movie theater; James had said, "My story is like Cinema Paradiso. Every night in my life since I was 2 years old... I ran movies". After graduating from high school in 1962, James attended San Diego State University as a Theater Arts major. Migrating to New York, James immersed himself in the theatre scene, taking on bit roles here and there.

Career
In 1975, James landed a small role in the made-for-television film, The Kansas City Massacre, playing John Dillinger gang member Homer Van Meter. Higher profile roles followed in 1976, with his casting in Nickelodeon and Harry and Walter Go to New York. James also appeared in the acclaimed television miniseries Roots and popular 1970s shows such as Gunsmoke, The Incredible Hulk, Mork and Mindy, Chico and the Man, and CHiPs.

James' career took a sudden upturn in the early 1980s with several sharply defined character roles in films such as Southern Comfort and 48 Hrs. (which were both directed by Walter Hill), but it was his performance as Leon Kowalski in the 1982 film Blade Runner that gave him his greatest, most lasting fame. Even though his memorable performance threatened to typecast the intense yet versatile actor as a movie villain for the remainder of the decade, James continued to pile up a prolific acting resume, playing significant roles in Enemy Mine, Flesh + Blood, A Breed Apart, Silverado, Armed and Dangerous, Red Heat, Steel Dawn, Red Scorpion, Tango & Cash and Showdown (portraying an obnoxious high-school vice-principal, Kowalski, whose name was probably an inside joke inspired by Blade Runner). James continued his strong work on the small screen as well, with guest spots in Benson, Quincy, M.E., The A-Team, Little House on the Prairie, The Dukes of Hazzard, Matlock, Miami Vice, Sledge Hammer!, and Dynasty. In the 1990s, he appeared in Highlander: The Series, and as Sheriff Bowman in the Millennium season 2 episode "Luminary". He lent his voice to the character of Parasite in Superman: The Animated Series. In 1982, he was in the made-for-TV-movie Hear No Evil as Billy Boy Burns.

His only starring role was in the low-budget 1989 supernatural horror film The Horror Show (aka House III), where he played serial killer "Meat Cleaver Max" Jenke. This was his all-time favorite role. The character was expected to spin off into a series, but there were no other movies with this character. James was relieved as he said he didn't want to make a career out of something so schlocky.

In 1994, he played a grouchy sponsor who became a victim of the gruesome goings-on during a 1939 radio show in the film Radioland Murders. Another of his most memorable roles came near the end of his career, as the amiable General Munro in The Fifth Element (1997). Two months before his death, James reprised his role as Parasite in Superman 64, a video game based on the critically acclaimed Superman: The Animated Series.

Concerning his talent for playing villains in films, he stated in an interview in Fangoria magazine, "I consider myself a classical character actor like Lon Chaney, Wallace Beery, Charles Laughton. I always like to play bad guys. I'm real good at psychotic behavior."

Death
James died in 1999 from a heart attack in Malibu, California. He appeared in five feature films that were released posthumously. The last of these was Phoenix Point (2005).

The motion picture The King Is Alive (2000) was dedicated to him.

Film

 * Hard Times (1975) (uncredited)
 * Harry and Walter Go to New York (1976) as Hayseed
 * Treasure of Matecumbe (1976) as Roustabout
 * Bound for Glory (1976) as Pick-Up Truck Driver at Border
 * Nickelodeon (1976) as Bailiff
 * Blue Sunshine (1977) as Tony
 * Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park (1978) as Wayne's Car Wash Henchman
 * Corvette Summer (1978)
 * Wholly Moses! (1980) as Guard at Banquet
 * The Jazz Singer (1980) as Man in Bar
 * The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981) as Crapshooter
 * Southern Comfort (1981) as Trapper
 * Soggy Bottom, U.S.A. (1981) as Defalice
 * The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez (1982) as Captain Rogers
 * Blade Runner (1982) as Leon Kowalski
 * 48 Hrs. (1982) as Ben Kehoe
 * A Breed Apart (1984) as Peyton
 * Crimewave (1985) as Arthur Coddish
 * Flesh & Blood (1985) as Karsthans
 * Silverado (1985) as Hobart (uncredited)
 * Enemy Mine (1985) as Stubbs
 * Armed and Dangerous (1986) as Anthony Lazarus
 * Steel Dawn (1987) as Tark
 * Cherry 2000 (1987) as Stacy
 * Dead Man Walking (1988) as Decker
 * D.O.A. (1988) as Detective Ulmer
 * The Wrong Guys (1988) as Glen Grunski
 * Red Heat (1988) as Streak
 * Death Street U.S.A. (aka: Nightmare at Noon) (1988) as The Albino
 * Red Scorpion (1988) as Sgt. Krasnov
 * The Horror Show (1989) as Max Jenke
 * Mutator (1989) as David Allen
 * Circles in a Forest (1989) as Mr. Patterson
 * Tango & Cash (1989) as Requin
 * Enid Is Sleeping (1990) as Trucker
 * Street Asylum (1990) as Reverend Mony
 * Another 48 Hrs. (1990) as Ben Kehoe
 * Mom (1991) as Nestor Duvalier
 * Ultimate Desires (1991) as Wolfgang Friedman
 * The Player (1992) as Joel Levison
 * Wishman (1992) as Staten Jack Rose
 * Nemesis (1992) as Maritz
 * Frogtown II (1992) as Prof. Tanzer
 * Rio Diablo (1993, TV Movie) as Jake Walker
 * Time Runner (1993) as Neila
 * Brainsmasher...A Love Story (1993) as Brown
 * Striking Distance (1993) as Det. Eddie Eiler
 * Showdown (1993) as Vice Principal Kowalski
 * The Dark (1993) as Paul Buckner
 * Cabin Boy (1994) as Big Teddy
 * Future Shock (1994) as Jack Porter
 * F.T.W. (1994) as Sheriff Rudy Morgan
 * Savage Land (1994) as Cyrus
 * Art Deco Detective (1994) as Jim Wexler
 * Radioland Murders (1994) as Bernie King
 * The Soft Kill (1994) as Ben McCarthy
 * Hong Kong 97 (1994) as Simon Alexander
 * Spitfire (1995) as Tough guy (uncredited)
 * The Nature of the Beast (1995) as Sheriff Gordon
 * Steel Frontier (1995) as General J.W. Quantrell
 * Dominion (1995) as Lynwood
 * Cyberjack (1995) as Nassim
 * Indecent Behavior III (1995) as Mr. Cowed (uncredited)
 * Marco Polo: Haperek Ha'aharon (1996)
 * Precious Find (1996) as Sam Horton
 * American Strays (1996) as Oris
 * Evil Obsession (1996) as Stavinski
 * Assault on Dome 4 (1996) as Chairman
 * Billy Lone Bear (1996) as Walsh
 * The Killing Jar (1997) as Dr. Vincent Garret
 * Back in Business (1997) as Emery Ryker
 * The Fifth Element (1997) as General Munro
 * Snide and Prejudice (1997) as Hermann Goering
 * The Setting Son (1997) as Junior
 * Pterodactyl Woman from Beverly Hills (1997) as Salvador Dali / Sam
 * The Underground (1997) as Captain Hilton
 * Bombshell (1997) as Donald
 * Jekyll Island (1998) as Lawton Goodyear
 * Deadly Ransom (1998) as Bobby Rico
 * In God's Hands (1998) as Captain
 * Border to Border (1998) as Card Shark
 * Heist (1998) as Caz
 * Brown's Requiem (1998) as Cathcart
 * Kai Rabe gegen die Vatikankiller (1998) as Mönch
 * Joseph's Gift (1998) as Frank Childress
 * Black Sea 213 (1998) as Captain Killick
 * A Place Called Truth (1998) as Hank
 * Malevolence (1999) as Warden Walker
 * Foolish (1999) as Ruben Reyes, Talent Scout (uncredited)
 * Diplomatic Siege (1999) as Gen. Stubbs
 * Dirt Merchant (1999) as Detective Harry Ball
 * Farewell, My Love (2000) as Renault
 * Heist (2000) as Vernon Woods
 * The King Is Alive (2000) as Ashley
 * The Thief & the Stripper (2000) as Shoe
 * Phoenix Point (2005) as Spider Rico (posthumous release) (final film role)

Television

 * The Waltons (1974) as Henry Ferris Jr.
 * Gunsmoke (1975) as Joe Barnes
 * Roots (1977) as Slaver
 * The Rockford Files (1977) as Clamshell
 * Chico and the Man (1978) as Hog
 * Mork & Mindy (1978) as George
 * B. J. and the Bear (1979) as Bomber / Patrol Officer
 * CHiPs (1979-1981) as Ackerman / Monk
 * Galactica 1980 (1980) as Willy
 * The Jeffersons (1980) as Dirty Dog
 * Benson (1981) as Axe-Man
 * Little House on the Prairie (1982) as Amos
 * Quincy, M.E. (1982) as Henry Muller
 * The Dukes of Hazzard (1982-1984) as Captain Slater / Jenkins
 * Hear No Evil ( 1982 made-for-TV-movie) as Billy Boy Burns
 * The Gambler: The Adventure Continues (1983) (TV movie)
 * The A-Team (1983-1985) as David Plout / Ryder
 * The Fall Guy (1985)
 * Amazing Stories (1985) as Willie Joe
 * Dynasty (1986) as Hawkins
 * Annihilator (1986, TV movie) as Alien Leader
 * Sledge Hammer! (1986-1988) as Don Merrill / Felix Ridel
 * Matlock (1987) as Mr. Grock
 * The Hitchhiker (1987) as Lionel
 * Miami Vice (1988) as Edward Reese
 * Hunter (1988-1991) as Thomas Duffy / Lt. Jeff Wadsworth
 * Renegade (1993) as Eli Starke
 * Silk Stalkings (1994) as Rupert Tarlow
 * Knight Rider 2010 (1994, TV Movie) as Jared
 * Walker, Texas Ranger (1997) as Rafer Cobb
 * Millennium (1998) as Sheriff Bowman
 * The Magnificent Seven (1998-1999) as Stuart James