Or at least the Dog Farm, anyway.
Jeffrey Combs as Dr. Herbert West, Re-Animator |
Let’s give a strong, Dog Farm bark to Jeffrey Combs.
Trained on the West Coast, Combs graduated University of Washington’s performing arts program and transitioned to the stage. In 1981 he appeared in his first film role as the drive-in teller in Honky Tonk Freeway. From that nominal role grew a career of being the most recognizable face in horror films.
Combs, best known for the Re-Animator series, has appeared in five
adaptations of H.P. Lovecraft works.
Splitting time between stage, television, and film, the actor has
portrayed some of the great authors including Edgar Allan Poe, Lovecraft, and
even L. Frank Baum. He’s been in space
on Star Trek and even animated in
several forms including The Question of The
Justice League, and the Autobot Ratchet.
Jeffrey Combs has portrayed (from left to right) author Edgar Allan Poe, the alien Shran on Star Trek: Enterprise, and the voice of The Question on The Justice League |
A go-to actor for Stuart Gordon, others including Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson tapped the actor for some small roles made big courtesy of Combs. He often plays the determined, quiet type with a severe intensity. Combs’ portrayal of Herbert West crafted the archetypal performance of the eccentric genius. Even his delivery in the forgettable Would You Rather (2013) comes off with an undercurrent of odd that causes hairs to stand erect. Watch House on Haunted Hill (1999) to get Combs delivering a nightmare generating performance sans dialogue. His stare from behind Dr. Vannacutt’s surgical mask holds the intensity of a bullet in the chamber on a one-way ride.
As Dr. Vannacutt in House On Haunted Hill (1999) |
We can’t get Jeffery Combs an Academy
Award©,
but we can do the man a solid by visiting his website, renting
his movies, and giving the man some notice on social media. Don’t let someone who has entertained us so
well go on without some slight recognition.
If you catch him at a Horror Con, let him know how you appreciate his
work. Best of all, a spike in his movie
sales and rentals will show the industry that we know how to treat our valued
actors.
We
now return you to your regularly scheduled Dog Farm. As we say over in the scholar’s cemetery,
Keep rising from the graves of ignorance, my Zombies!
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Thanks for sharing with the Dog Farm, Carl! My post for The Info Zombie is forthcoming...
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Thanks for sharing with the Dog Farm, Carl! My post for The Info Zombie is forthcoming...
I love Jeffrey Combs! He was the best thing about The Frighteners. Glad to see his role in Honky Tonk Freeway mentioned alongside the horror work.
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