RIP John Saxon

Didn't John Saxon also show up at some horror conventions? I wonder what he was like. I've got "Evil Eye" ready to watch via UK blu-ray. I haven't seen that film in a long time. He was only in his mid 20s at the time. I actually can't recall seeing him in kung fu flicks.

 

is that on a tv station still?

 

Recently watched his Rockford Files appearance too. He had a presence, which is why he will be remembered. RIP John.

 

RIP.
I remember him first from The Bold Ones doctors episodes, which he left after the first two seasons (the series went on for another two seasons), which has never been explained as far as I know. Then for Planet Earth, which I would watch every time it came on at all hours (because Janet Margolin), then, to my viewing, he would pop up everywhere, including older movies. What a varied hard-working body of work. He was consistently excellent, even when the production wasn't.
RIP.

 

I always liked the guy. I see him all the time on old tv shows and movies. RIP.

 

Very sorry to hear of his passing,very good actor,an American classic..R.I.P.

 

R.I.P. John, just watched him in Beverly Hills Cop III last week.

 

Despite a long and varied career, I will always remember him as Roper from Enter The Dragon. RIP.

 

Some tributes:

'A Nightmare on Elm Street' actor John Saxon dies aged 83

'Enter the Dragon' and 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' actor John Saxon dies at age 83

John Saxon Dead: Nightmare on Elm Street Actor Dies at 83 - Variety

 

His appearance on "Six Million Dollar Man" also made quite an impression on Peyton Reed, director of "Bring It On", "Ant-Man", "Ant-Man and The Wasp"....

 

The older I get, the more I appreciate actors like John Saxon and Robert Forster (to name two). Acting was their craft but it was also their job - and they did what was needed to keep food on the table and a roof above their heads. Sometimes they lucked out and scored choice roles in big, splashy productions like The Black Hole or Enter The Dragon but most of the time they worked in B-movies like Blood Beach or Alligator, maybe even grabbing a "Special Guest Star" role on TV.

...but they were always pros. It took me a few years to get around to Enter The Dragon, but I sure as hell remember John Saxon as Maskatron in The Six Million Dollar Man.

 

I happened to watch The Appaloosa a few days ago with Marlon Brando and John Saxon.
John was very good as Luis Chama in Joe Kidd with Clint Eastwood too(music by Lalo Schifrin )

RIP John Saxon

 

I had forgotten that he was on Time Tunnel.

 

That was on a app I subscribe to. Lots of dedicated stations one of which is Kung Fu.

 

Cannibal Ferox is a favorite.

 

I always appreciated that he brought a cool, weird energy, even in some really dodgy movies. He wasn't a great actor, but he was typically the most interesting thing on the screen when he showed up.

Plus, Enter the Dragon. Is there a cooler movie for a B actor to have starred in?

 

Yeah, there is a group of people who basically took whatever gig came their way and were usually pretty good.

George Kennedy is probably the king of this category. Also, James Franciscus, Stewart Whitman, and basically everyone who appeared in any of the old Planet of the Apes movies. Except Charlton Heston.

 

I dig James Franciscus in Beneath The Planet of the Apes - he's like Charlton Heston's mini me!

I totally agree - there's something truly admirable about those actors who fell short of the big time, but still managed to grind out decent careers for themselves by taking whatever gig they were offered. And they were total professionals about it, too. Can you imagine Dustin Hoffman - an actor who's particular creative process made him notoriously difficult on the set - having to do movies like The Valley of Gwangi to earn his living? Yet James Franciscus showed up, put on a tight cowboy suit, and pretended to rope a dinosaur while on horseback like it was just another day at the office.

Yeah, George Kennedy didn't let that Oscar he won for Cool Hand Luke stop him from making all the Airport movies or Earthquake. Martin Landau was another actor who spent a lot of years going from gig-to-gig, doing TV series, guest starring shots, and even a made-for-TV movie with the Harlem Globetrotters stuck on Gilligan's Island before landing the best roles of his career. I'm sure Landau got discouraged - "I've gone from working with Alfred Hitchcock to being stranded on Gilligan's Island!!" - but he did the job, cashed the check, and moved on.

 

One of "those guys" whose faces you recognize but names you don't. I know Tarantino wanted to work with him and I'm sorry he didn't back in the 90's! But Saxon was one of the best of those guys. Can't be a lot of them who were so clear in their minds about being a character actor and ambitious about what they could do there. During this quarantine I've had a lot of time up late watching old TV shows... I've had to have seen Saxon three different times in the past month without trying and he always made an impression! I remember an episode of Wonder Woman when he played a Nazi!!! He played all kinds and look at these pictures of him a proud old Italian gran'pa living in a nice retirement place in TN!!! I regret he didn't get a role in those great 70s gangster movies or in Goodfellas or Casino working with one of those casts but he didn't go that way and probably was happier as a result! You couldn't pin him down and you saw him everywhere. He travelled the world of Hollywood TV land and his suitcase had 1000 stickers on it from all the character parts he'd played. R.I.P John Saxon aka Carmine Orrico!

 

Liked how he played heavies. Didn't need to twirl the mustache just wear it! Up there with the Don Stroud, Michael Ansara, and Anthony Zerbe!!! Remember when James Bond cast some of those guys alongside Robert Davi in License to kill. Here was one they missed though I guess he was doing that work on TV weekly by that point on the cheap so he was overlooked bit I wish they'd put a couple of American TV villains in another film like that. Expendables:TV!

 

Good days! I mean... don't forget Landau had a nice little gig doing Space 1999 in England in the 70s. We live in a world where Gerry Anderson had to choose between doing UFO and had to scrounge for cash to do Space 1999 and had to choose one over the other while NBC was doing SUPERTRAIN and the majors cancelled 60 shows in one season back in 79! Hey... exploitation and action films should be good and well made and edited of course but hey kudos to those actors who left their skin on the road in even this thankless work. Michael Parks... John Colicos... those were the days!!!

 

They were usually the highlight of the piece. I just saw Rip Torn on Mannix from 72 and he was so good I felt relieved when he fell from the helicopter at the end! He was MEAN and he's even smacking at the side of the helicopter at the end!!! Those characters guys were the best!! Surprised Saxon was ready for character work so early in his career!

 

One of my favorite John Saxon roles was when he played the police lieutenant in the original Black Christmas (1974).

 

The true king of the B’s.

 

Tarantino and Rodriguez both worked with Saxon on From Dusk 'til Dawn but his part lasted only seconds. I wish Quentin had used him again in another film.