Remembering M. Emmet Walsh One Year After the 'Blade Runner' Character Actor Died Aged 88: 'My Job is to Come in and Move the Story Along'
M. Emmet Walsh died aged 88 on March 15, 2024.
March 19 2025, Published 7:45 p.m. ET
One year ago on March 19, 2024, beloved character actor M. Emmet Walsh died of cardiac arrest.
RadarOnline.com can reveal an inside look at the actor's most iconic roles – and how his explicit rant against Ridley Scott once cost him a role.
Walsh died of cardiac arrest on March 20, 2024.
Over the course of his career, Walsh starred in over 200 films, including classics like The Jerk with Steve Martin; Scott's 1982 hit Blade Runner with Harrison Ford, as well as Silkwood the same year with Meryl Streep. A year before his death he starred in Knives Out.
Movie critic Roger Ebert once linked Walsh to Dean Stanton for what he considered "the Stanton-Walsh rule" for films.
He explained: "No movie featuring either Harry Dean Stanton or M. Emmet Walsh in a supporting role can be altogether bad."
Walsh certainly made his mark on films – and directors.
While filming Blade Runner, Walsh, who was famously a non-smoker, was forced to chain smoke for a particular scene, leading him to unleash on perfectionist Scott – and consequently cost himself another role.
After smoking back to back cigarettes for the take, Walsh became nauseous and lashed out at the director.
He told Scott: "You ought to be hung by your balls off the ceiling and twisted from left to right."
Meanwhile, producer Alan Ladd Jr. was in earshot and dropped the character actor from an upcoming role he was working on due to the outburst.
Walsh starred in the Coen brothers' first film, 'Blood Simple,' in 1984.
Fortunately for Walsh, the comment was not career ending – and two years later he starred in one of his most famous films, Blood Simple, the Coen brothers' first movie.
Joel and Ethan Coen wrote the role of private detective Loren Visser for Walsh, whose performance ended up winning him the Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead.
The brothers credited seeing the "legends" work alongside Dustin Hoffman in 1978's Straight Time, his breakout role, for inspiring them to approach Walsh for their first film.
Walsh recalled being approached to do the Coen brother's film in a 2017 interview with the Guardian.
He said: "My agent called with a script written by some kids for a low-budget movie.
"It was a Sydney Greenstreet kind of role, with a Panama suit and the hat. I thought it was kinda fun and interesting. They were 100 miles away in Austin, so I went down there early one day before shooting."
Walsh noted the brothers did not have enough money to fly him to New York City for the opening, but was blown away at their work when he finally saw the movie.
The actor recalled: "I saw it three or four days later when it opened in LA, and I was, like: 'Wow!'
"Suddenly my price went up five times. I was the guy everybody wanted."
Walsh once unleashed on director Ridley Scott for making him chain smoke cigarettes in 'Blade Runner.'
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His portrayal of Visser – as well as the film's opening monologue, which he performed in a thick Texas drawl – proved to be a defining moment for his and the Coen brothers' careers.
The Blood Simple star's Texas accent was so convincing, it led many fans to believe he was born in the South.
In reality, he was raised in Lake Champlain in Swanton, Vermont, where his father, grandfather and brother all worked as customs officers at the US-Canadian border.
After graduating high school, Walsh went on to study at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York, before moving onto the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City.
For a decade he worked in theater arts. His first film role came when he played a small part in 1969's Alice's Restaurant, though he would not starting playing more prominent roles for another decade, when he was in his 40s.
While reflecting on his life's work, Walsh once said: "My job is to come in and move the story along. I'm a character man."
