August 16, 2012

Charles Napier, Distinctive Character Actor with Dozens of Film and Television Credits

One of the busiest character actors in the business for 40 years, Napier brought his unique edge to a long list of memorable roles.

Charles Napier, an actor whose menacing grin and prominent jaw were put to frequent use in touch-guy roles — and several memorable comedies as well — died October 5, 2011, in Bakersfield, California. He was 75.

According to news reports, the cause was of death was unclear, although he had been hospitalized in 2010 for blood clots in his legs.

A Kentucky native who served in the U.S. Army and worked as a substitute teacher before turning to acting (reportedly with the assistance of Jack Nicholson, with whom he had become friends), Napier got his start in television, with early roles in such series as Mannix, Hogan’s Heroes and Star Trek.

In the early ’70s he found steady work with exploitation filmmaker Russ Meyer, who cast him in Cherry, Harry & Raquel, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls and Supervixens.

All the while he continued to work in television, and made appearances in several other series, including Kojak, The Streets of San Francisco, The Rookies, Starsky and Hutch, The Rockford Files. Knight Rider, Simon & Simon, CHiPS, The A Team, L.A. Law , The Practice, Monk, CSI and dozens of others.

In addition, he had regular roles in The Oregon Trail, B.J. and the Bear, Dallas, Outlaws, Renegade, and lent his voice to numerous animated series, from Superman to The Simpsons.

Napier also worked widely in feature films like The Blues Brothers, Melvin and Howard, Swing Shift, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Miami Blues, The Grifters, The Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, The Manchurian Candidate and many others.

Survivors include two sons and a daughter.

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