Actor Richard Lynch was found dead in his home in California on 19 June 2012. Born in Brooklyn, New York, on 12 February 1940, he won a Saturn Award in 1983 for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Sword and the Sorcerer. Reporting his death, the Associated Press noted it was his “platinum hair and scarred face” that lead him to many villainous roles.
After high school, Lynch joined the US Marine Corps in 1958, and served four years. After his service, he learned the acting trade with Herbert Berghof and Uta Hagen at H.B. Studios in New York City’s Greenwich Village, and then with Lee Strasberg at Carnegie Hall. His scars came in 1967 when, under the influence of LSD, he set himself on fire. In 1970, he began his stage career in New York, both on- and off-Broadway.
Lynch’s film debut came in 1973’s Scarecrow, which won the Grand Prix Award at the Cannes Film Festival. In recent years, he worked with director Rob Zombie, appearing in the 2007 remake of Halloween, and Zombie’s upcoming The Lords of Salem. Announcing Lynch’s death, Zombie wrote on Facebook “I woke up this morning to the news that our friend Richard Lynch has passed away. Richard was great to work with and really gave it his all. I will never forget the way he scared the crap out of the kid actors in Halloween.”
His genre appearances include: The Lords of Salem (2012), Gun of the Black Sun (2011), Resurrection (2010), Dark Fields (2009), Laid to Rest (2009), Chrome Angels (2009), Halloween (2007), Mil Mascaras vs. the Aztec Mummy (2007), The Great War of Magella (2005), The Mummy’s Kiss (2003), First Watch (2003), Charmed (2003), Curse of the Forty-Niner (2002), Total Force (1997), Werewolf (1996), Terrified (1995), Highlander (1995), Terminal Virus (1995), Phantom 2040 (1994), Necronomicon: Book of Dead (1993), Merlin (2003), the two-part Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Gambit” (1993), three episodes of Super Force (1991 and 1992), Trancers II (1991), Alligator II: The Mutation (1991), Aftershock (1990), Bad Dreams (1988), Werewolf (1987), The Barbarians (1987), Cut and Run (1985), Treasure: In Search of the Golden Horse (1984), Automan (1984), Manimal (1983), The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982), five episodes of The Phoenix (1981 and 1982), the three-part Galactica 1980 episode “Galactica Discovers Earth” (1980), Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979), Vampire (1979), the two-part Battlestar Galactica episode “Gun on Ice Planet Zero” (1978), Deathsport (1978), The Bionic Woman (1978), Good Against Evil (1977), God Told Me To (1976), and The Premonition (1976).
Lynch was married twice. His son, Christopher (product of his first marriage) died of pneumonia in 2005. He is survived by his second wife, Lily, and his brother, actor Barry Lynch.