In the same club as Charles Gray and Maud Adams, as an actor the Bond producers liked so much that they brought him back a second time as a completely different character
Another great one gone.
His version of Buford Pusser was the best. He embodied the whole grungy, sweaty, brutal spirit of “Walking Tall”.
Bo Svenson seemed like a watered-down version of Pusser and that’s why the sequels don’t hit as hard.
https://youtu.be/SlV45HbJm4c Edge of Darkness is one of the greatest pieces of television ever made. Joe Don was nominated for a BAFTA for it. He was absolutely superb. My Brit friends don't know MST3K. Those of a certain age remember him as Darius Jedburgh.
Thank you for that. Tonight I revisited the excellent rain-soaked neo-noir MONGO'S BACK IN TOWN (1971), where he does a great job as the antihero lead.
I was lucky enough to be familiar with him through Walking Tall, so by the time I caught him on MST3K I had context for how wild it was he (and John Saxon!!!) were onscreen with the bots
I think Point Blank is the best movie inspired by the Parker novels, but The Outfit may be the best adaptation -- i.e. the movie that feels most like reading one of Stark's stories. & features a murderers' row of character actors: JDB, Robert Duvall, Timothy Carey, Elisha Cook Jr, Robert Ryan (!)
::sigh:: I am those folks, unforch.
Few other actors were mauled as badly by MST3K as Baker. Another favorite of yours, Lee Van Cleef, is perhaps a close second.
Comments
His version of Buford Pusser was the best. He embodied the whole grungy, sweaty, brutal spirit of “Walking Tall”.
Bo Svenson seemed like a watered-down version of Pusser and that’s why the sequels don’t hit as hard.
Few other actors were mauled as badly by MST3K as Baker. Another favorite of yours, Lee Van Cleef, is perhaps a close second.