Nicholas Worth(1937-2007)

A big, beefy and imposing hulk of a man, Worth was often cast as extremely nasty and intimidating villains. Character actor Nicholas Worth was born on September 4, 1937 in St. Louis, Missouri. After earning a bachelor's in fine arts from the Carnegie Institute of Technology, he served for three years as an Army paratrooper stationed in Kentucky. After leaving the service in 1965, he moved to Los Angeles, studied at the Pasadena Playhouse and appeared in local stage productions. Worth made his film debut in For Pete's Sake! (1966). He then had small parts in such movies as Scream Blacula Scream (1973), The Terminal Man (1974), Coma (1978) and The Glove (1979) making an especially funny appearance in the latter as a gay blank check dropper rugged bounty hunter John Saxon tosses into a pool. Worth gave a wonderfully wild, intense and inspired performance as a deranged, impotent, misogynistic Vietnam veteran porno photographer who brutally strangles lovely young ladies in the splendidly sleazy psycho gem Don't Answer the Phone! (1980). Worth was likewise quite chilling and unforgettable as a vicious homosexual criminal in the outstanding made-for-TV drama The Rape of Richard Beck (1985). Worth's other memorable roles include Louis Jourdan's moronic henchman Bruno in Swamp Thing (1982), Larry Drake's mean flunky Pauly in Darkman (1990), Craig T. Nelson's chauffeur in Action Jackson (1988), an antagonistic bully Clint Eastwood beats up in a jail cell in Heartbreak Ridge (1986), a ruffian enforcer for Ricardo Montalban in The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988), a mutant humanoid frogman in Hell Comes to Frogtown (1988), a foul sex offender in The Ladies Club (1985), and a transvestite in Armed and Dangerous (1986). Among the TV shows Worth did guest spots on are Star Trek: Voyager (1995) and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993), The X-Files (1993), Night Court (1984), Moonlighting (1985) (in which he sings and dances with Bruce Willis!), Fame (1982), MacGyver (1985), The Greatest American Hero (1981), Knight Rider (1982), Hunter (1984), Simon & Simon (1981), Fantasy Island (1977), Charlie's Angels (1976), The Rockford Files (1974), Quincy, M.E. (1976), Starsky and Hutch (1975), Baretta (1975), and Cannon (1971). On stage Worth performed in everything from Shakespeare to musical comedies. A sweet and gentle man in real life (he's a born-again Christian), Worth was also an avid power-lifter and bodybuilder. More recently Worth lent his distinctive growly voice to several video games. Nicholas Worth died at age 69 from heart failure on May 7, 2007.