Michael Emmet Walsh (March 22, 1935 – March 19, 2024) was an American actor who appeared in over 200 films and television series, including supporting roles as Earl Frank in Straight Time (1978), the Madman in The Jerk (1979), Captain Bryant in Blade Runner (1982), Harv in Critters (1986), and Walt Scheel in Christmas with the Kranks (2004). He starred as private detective Loren Visser in Blood Simple (1984), the Coen brothers' first film, for which he won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead.

Walsh's other numerous film appearances include Midnight Cowboy (1969), Little Big Man (1970), What's Up, Doc? (1972), Serpico (1973), The Gambler (1974), Bound for Glory (1976), Slap Shot (1977), Airport '77 (1977), Brubaker (1980), Ordinary People (1980), Reds (1981), Silkwood (1983), Fletch (1985), Back to School (1986), Raising Arizona (1987), Romeo + Juliet (1996), My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), The Iron Giant (1999), Calvary (2014), and Knives Out (2019). Over seven decades as a character actor, he credited roles in more than 220 films and television shows.^[1]

Michael Emmet Walsh was born on March 22, 1935, in Ogdensburg, New York,^[2] the son of Agnes Katharine (née Sullivan) and Harry Maurice Walsh Sr., who was a customs agent, as were his grandfather and brother.^[3] He was of Irish descent, and was raised in rural Swanton, Vermont, where he underwent a mastoid operation at age 3, which left Walsh deaf in his left ear.^[4]

He graduated from Clarkson University in 1958 (B.A., Business Administration), and in 1998, the Clarkson Alumni Association presented Walsh with the Golden Knight Award.^[5] At Clarkson, Walsh had also dabbled in stage productions, and soon after being encouraged by a faculty advisor, he moved to New York City to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He went on to perform in regional theater for the next decade before making his Broadway debut in 1969, with Al Pacino, in Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?.^[4]

According to his manager, Sandy Joseph, "Walsh's tremendous body of work includes 119 feature films and more than 250 television productions."^[6] Being partially deaf in one ear and with an accent harkening from Vermont made it clear to Walsh: "I wasn't going to do Shaw and Shakespeare and Molière — my speech was simply too bad."^[4] His persona was a "mesmerising everyman and an indelible gargoyle" who featured "poached-egg eyes."^[1]

Walsh specialized in playing villains who were blissfully oblivious to their villainy.^[7] He brought a "delightfully menacing presence" to his characters.^[8] He was a no-nonsense worker bee in the film industry. Walsh characterized himself as approaching "each job thinking it might be my last, so it better be the best work possible. I want to be remembered as a working actor. I'm being paid for what I'd do for nothing."^[2]

Walsh spent years honing his craft in movie bit parts and on stage. After appearances in the films Midnight Cowboy (1969),^[1] Alice's Restaurant (1969),^[1][2] Little Big Man (1970), Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971), They Might Be Giants (1971),^[2] What's Up, Doc? (1972),^[2] Serpico (1973),^[2] The Gambler (1974), Bound for Glory (1976), and Airport '77 (1977),^[7] Walsh came to prominence in the iconic 1977 hockey comedy film Slap Shot, in which he played the cynical small town sportswriter Dickie Dunn,^[1][2][9] and the 1978 crime film Straight Time, in which he played a vicious parole officer opposite Dustin Hoffman.^[1][2] USA Today film critic Mike Clark wrote that the film character who was "a cesspool in a flowered shirt" was typically Walsh.^[10][11] He also had a small but memorable role as a crazed sniper in the Steve Martin comedy The Jerk (1979),^[1][2] followed by roles in the drama films Brubaker (1980),^[2] Ordinary People (1980),^[2] and Reds (1981).^[12][13]

Critic Nicolas Rapold called Walsh "a consummate old pro of the second-banana business", while Roger Ebert hailed him as "the poet of sleaze".^[4] Ebert also fabricated his "Stanton-Walsh Rule": "No movie featuring either Harry Dean Stanton or M. Emmet Walsh in a supporting role can be altogether bad."^[1] Walsh was "ham-faced, heavyset" and "often played good old boys with bad intentions".^[22]

In 2018, Walsh was inducted into the Character Actor Hall of Fame by his Blade Runner co-star Harrison Ford. Later in the same ceremony he received the Chairman's Lifetime Achievement award.^[4]

Walsh had a reputation for generosity and wry wit. He habitually distributed two-dollar bills to the set's crew, with some advice: "Don't spend it, and you'll never be broke."^[11]

Walsh died of cardiac arrest at Northwestern Medical Center in St. Albans, Vermont, on March 19, 2024, at the age of 88.^[2][6][7]