R.I.P. Gunner Hansen
Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2015 2:24 am
From Deadline
Gunnar Hansen, Original Leatherface Of Tobe Hooper’s ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre,’ Dies At 68
Gunnar Hansen, the actor who first stretched cinema’s most unsettling mask over his head and delivered the iconic Leatherface to our nightmares, died yesterday of pancreatic cancer in Maine. The star of Tobe Hooper’s 1974 drive-in classic Texas Chain Saw Massacre was 68.
“May you spin with your chainsaw at magic hour forever more,” tweeted Edgar Wright, director of Shaun of the Dead. Wright, of course, was referring to the indelible image of Hansen’s psycho Leatherface handling his killer chainsaw like a demented baton-twirling cheerleader. On Facebook, John Dugan, the actor who played Leatherface’s grandfather, wrote “So long Gunn, my old friend……You’ll forever be alive in my heart.”
A native of Iceland who grew up in Maine, Hansen embraced the genre that brought him notoriety, often appearing at fan gatherings and filling his resume with B-movie features like Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers and Freakshow. His book Chain Saw Confidential was published in 2013, and he reportedly was developing a prison-horror movie called Death House at the time of his death, which was confirmed to the Associated Press earlier today by his agent Mike Eisenstadt.
Gunnar Hansen, Original Leatherface Of Tobe Hooper’s ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre,’ Dies At 68
Gunnar Hansen, the actor who first stretched cinema’s most unsettling mask over his head and delivered the iconic Leatherface to our nightmares, died yesterday of pancreatic cancer in Maine. The star of Tobe Hooper’s 1974 drive-in classic Texas Chain Saw Massacre was 68.
“May you spin with your chainsaw at magic hour forever more,” tweeted Edgar Wright, director of Shaun of the Dead. Wright, of course, was referring to the indelible image of Hansen’s psycho Leatherface handling his killer chainsaw like a demented baton-twirling cheerleader. On Facebook, John Dugan, the actor who played Leatherface’s grandfather, wrote “So long Gunn, my old friend……You’ll forever be alive in my heart.”
A native of Iceland who grew up in Maine, Hansen embraced the genre that brought him notoriety, often appearing at fan gatherings and filling his resume with B-movie features like Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers and Freakshow. His book Chain Saw Confidential was published in 2013, and he reportedly was developing a prison-horror movie called Death House at the time of his death, which was confirmed to the Associated Press earlier today by his agent Mike Eisenstadt.