M. Emmet Walsh

Highest Rated: 100% The Music of Chance (1993)

Lowest Rated: 0% War Party (1989)

Birthday: Mar 22, 1935

Birthplace: Not Available

Rarely garnering a lead role, M. Emmet Walsh has become one of the busiest character actors in Hollywood, using his ruddy, seedy appearance to embody countless low-life strangers with unsavory agendas. In his rare sympathetic roles, he's also capable of generating genuine pathos for the put upon plight of struggling small-timers. His effortless portrayals have made him a welcome addition to numerous ensembles, even if many viewers can't match a name to his recognizable mug. In fact, his work is so well thought of that critic Roger Ebert created the Stanton-Walsh Rule, which states that no film featuring either Walsh or Harry Dean Stanton can be altogether bad.Contrary to his frequent casting as a Southerner, Walsh is a native New Yorker, born on March 22, 1935, in Ogdensburg, NY. As a youth he attended the prestigious Tilton School in New Hampshire, and went on to share a college dorm room with actor William Devane. He graduated from the Clarkson University School of Business, but it was not until his thirties that he discovered his true calling: acting. He first popped up in Midnight Cowboy (1969), and has worked steadily ever since, some years appearing in as many as eight motion pictures, other years focusing more on TV movies. Working in relative anonymity through the '70s and early '80s, appearing in films ranging from Serpico (1973) to Slapshot (1977) to Blade Runner (1982), Walsh landed his meatiest and most memorable role in Joel and Ethan Coen's remarkable debut, Blood Simple (1984). Without batting an eye, Walsh exuded more casual menace as the amoral private detective doggedly pursuing his own self-interest than a host of typecast villains could muster in their entire careers. His role was key to creating a stylish noir that would launch the careers of two modern masters. It earned him an Independent Spirit Award.Blood Simple did not markedly alter Walsh's status as a supporting actor, as he went on to appear in this capacity in Fletch (1985), Back to School (1986), and Raising Arizona (1987), his next collaboration with the Coens, in which his bull-slinging machinist scores riotously with less than a minute of screen time. One of the first appearances of the kindly Walsh was in 1988's Clean and Sober, in which he plays a recovering alcoholic helping Michael Keaton through the same struggle.As he crept into his late fifties and early sixties, the stature of Walsh's films diminished a little, if not his actual workload. Continuing to dutifully pursue his craft throughout the early '90s, Walsh again returned to a higher profile with appearances in such films as A Time to Kill (1996), William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (1996), and My Best Friend's Wedding (1997). More as a reaction to the ineptitude of the movie than Walsh's performance, Ebert called into question his own Walsh-Stanton Rule in his review of Wild Wild West, the 1999 Will Smith-Kevin Kline debacle in which Walsh is one of the only tolerable elements. In the years to come, Walsh would remain active on screen, appearing in films like Youth in Revolt and providing the voice of Olaf on the animated series Pound Puppies.

Highest Rated Movies

Filmography

Movies

		Credit
80%	Faith, Hope & Love	Actor	—	2019
No Score Yet	Raising Buchanan	Actor	—	2019
11%	Change in the Air	Walter	—	2018
No Score Yet	Shifting Gears	Hank	—	2018
No Score Yet	Boiling Pot	Dean Marison	—	2015
No Score Yet	The Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power	Gorak	—	2015
89%	Calvary	Gerald Ryan	$5.1M	2014
20%	Arthur Newman	Zazek	$0.2M	2013
No Score Yet	Love Sick Love	Ed	—	2013
35%	The Odd Life of Timothy Green	Uncle Bub	$51.9M	2012
38%	Don McKay	Samuel	—	2010
66%	Youth in Revolt	Mr. Saunders	$15.2M	2010
11%	Big Stan	Lew Popper	—	2009
33%	Sherman's Way	Hoyt	—	2009
No Score Yet	Sam Steele and the Junior Detective Agency	Chief Van Owen	—	2009
No Score Yet	Chasing 3000	Actor	—	2008
No Score Yet	Your Name Here	Actor	—	2008
No Score Yet	Haunted Echoes	Neil	—	2008
49%	Man in the Chair	Mickey Hopkins	—	2007
69%	Christmas in the Clouds	Stu O'Malley	—	2005
No Score Yet	Greener Mountains	Muggs	—	2005
35%	Racing Stripes	Woodzie	$49.2M	2005
5%	Christmas With the Kranks	Walt Scheel	$73.8M	2004
No Score Yet	Me & Will	Actor	—	2003
25%	Snow Dogs	George	$81.2M	2002
60%	Poor White Trash	Judge Pike	—	2000
No Score Yet	Eyeball Eddie	Actor	—	2000
96%	The Iron Giant	Earl Stutz	—	1999
17%	Wild Wild West	Coleman	—	1999
No Score Yet	Baggage	Sandy Westphall	—	1999
No Score Yet	Jack of Hearts	Commissioner Menlo Boyce	—	1999
No Score Yet	Men in White (National Lampoon's Men in White)	Stanley	—	1998
No Score Yet	Erasable You	Ralph Worth	—	1998
60%	Twilight	Lester Ivar	—	1998
73%	My Best Friend's Wedding	Joe O'Neal	—	1997
13%	Chairman of the Board	Freemont	—	1997
57%	Retroactive	Sam	—	1997
No Score Yet	The Killing Jar	Sheriff Foley	—	1997
72%	Romeo + Juliet	Apothecary	—	1996
50%	Albino Alligator	Dino	—	1996
No Score Yet	The Lottery	Chief Davis	—	1996
66%	A Time to Kill	Dr. Willard Tyrell Bass	—	1996
No Score Yet	Portraits of a Killer	Raymond Garrison	—	1996
31%	Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home	Wilcox	—	1995
No Score Yet	From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler	Morris	—	1995
27%	Panther	Dorsett	—	1995
No Score Yet	Criminal Hearts	Martin	—	1995
65%	The Glass Shield	Hal	—	1994
18%	Camp Nowhere	T.R. Polk	—	1994
14%	Cops And Robbersons	Captain Theodore "Ted"	—	1994
No Score Yet	Probable Cause	Sadler	—	1994
No Score Yet	Dead Badge	Sgt. Miller	—	1994
No Score Yet	Relative Fear (The Child)	Earl	—	1994
100%	The Music of Chance	Calvin	—	1993
No Score Yet	Four Eyes and Six-Guns	Mayor Thornbush	—	1993
25%	Wilder Napalm	Fire Chief	—	1993
No Score Yet	Bitter Harvest	Sheriff Bob	—	1993
33%	Equinox	Pete Petosa	—	1992
44%	White Sands	Bert Gibson	—	1992
No Score Yet	The Naked Truth	Garcia / Gesundheim	—	1992
No Score Yet	Killer Image	John Kane	—	1992
No Score Yet	Fourth Story, (Basic Deception)	Harry	—	1991
58%	Narrow Margin	Sgt. Dominick Benti	—	1990
No Score Yet	The Flash	Henry Allen	—	1990
No Score Yet	Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat	Milt	—	1990
No Score Yet	Catch Me If You Can	Johnny Phatmun	—	1989
14%	Chattahoochee	Morris	—	1989
0%	War Party	Detweiler	—	1989
88%	The Mighty Quinn	Miller	—	1989
9%	Red Scorpion	Dewey Ferguson	—	1989
No Score Yet	Thunderground	Actor	—	1989
62%	Clean and Sober	Richard	—	1988
23%	Sunset	Chief Dibner	—	1988
55%	The Milagro Beanfield War	The Governor	—	1988
50%	No Man's Land	Capt. Haun	—	1987
42%	Harry and the Hendersons	George Henderson Sr.	—	1987
91%	Raising Arizona	Machine Shop Ear-bender	—	1987
No Score Yet	The Abduction of Kari Swenson	Don Nichols	—	1987
No Score Yet	Murder Ordained	Vern Humphrey	—	1987
85%	Back to School	Coach Turnbull	—	1986
No Score Yet	Broken Vows	Detective Mulligan	—	1986
No Score Yet	The Deliberate Stranger	Detective Sam Davies	—	1986
No Score Yet	Resting Place	Sarge	—	1986
58%	Critters	Harv	—	1986
22%	Wildcats	Coes	—	1986
31%	The Best of Times	Charlie	—	1986
No Score Yet	Rich Hall	Actor	—	1986
77%	Fletch	Dr. Dolan	—	1985
94%	Blood Simple	Visser	—	1984
No Score Yet	Grandview U.S.A.	Mr. Clark	—	1984
90%	The Pope of Greenwich Village	Burns	—	1984
No Score Yet	Scandalous	Simon Reynolds	—	1984
20%	Missing in Action	Jack Tucker	—	1984
No Score Yet	Raw Courage	Colonel Crouse	—	1984
74%	Silkwood	Walt Yarborough	—	1983
No Score Yet	Night Partners	Actor	—	1983
No Score Yet	The Woman Who Willed a Miracle	Joe Lemke	—	1983
No Score Yet	Fast-Walking	Sgt. Sanger	—	1982
89%	Blade Runner	Bryant	—	1982
No Score Yet	The Escape Artist	Fritz	—	1982
83%	Cannery Row	Mack	—	1982
92%	Blade Runner (The Final Cut)	Bryant	$0.3M	1982
90%	Reds	Speaker at the Liberal Club	—	1981
40%	Back Roads	Arthur	—	1981
No Score Yet	High Noon, Part II: The Return of Will Kane	Harold Patton	—	1980
88%	Ordinary People	Swim Coach	—	1980
43%	Raise the Titanic	MCPO Vinnie Giordino	—	1980
75%	Brubaker	C.P. Woodward	—	1980
No Score Yet	City in Fear	Sheldon Lewis	—	1980
81%	The Jerk	Madman	—	1979
No Score Yet	The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh	Wally Cantrell	—	1979
No Score Yet	A Question of Guilt	Actor	—	1978
75%	Straight Time	Earl Frank	—	1978
No Score Yet	Tendre Poulet (Dear Detective) (Dear Inspector)	Actor	—	1978
33%	Airport '77	Dr. Williams	—	1977
85%	Slap Shot	Dickie Dunn	—	1977
No Score Yet	Red Alert	Actor	—	1977
11%	Nickelodeon	Logan	—	1976
86%	Bound for Glory	Actor	—	1976
No Score Yet	The Invasion of Johnson County	Actor	—	1976
84%	Mikey and Nicky	Bus Driver	—	1976
57%	The Prisoner of Second Avenue	Actor	—	1975
20%	At Long Last Love	Harold	—	1975
78%	The Gambler	Las Vegas Gambler	—	1974
90%	Serpico	Gallagher	—	1973
No Score Yet	Kid Blue	Barber	—	1973
No Score Yet	Get to Know Your Rabbit	Mr. Wendel	—	1972
90%	What's Up, Doc?	Arresting Officer	—	1972
73%	They Might Be Giants	Sanitation Man	—	1971
78%	Escape from the Planet of the Apes	Aide	—	1971
50%	Cold Turkey	Art	—	1971
96%	Little Big Man	Shotgun Guard	—	1970
No Score Yet	End of the Road	Actor	—	1970
No Score Yet	The Traveling Executioner	Warden Brodski	—	1970
63%	Alice's Restaurant	Group W Sergeant	—	1969
90%	Midnight Cowboy	Actor	—	1969
No Score Yet	Stiletto	Actor	—	1969

TV

		Credit
No Score Yet	Tim and Eric's Bedtime Stories 2014-2017		2014
No Score Yet	'Til Death 2006-2010	Uncle Rudolph	2010
18%	The Mind of the Married Man 2001-2002	Randall Evans Randall	2002 2001
94%	Frasier 1993-2004	Guest Rich	2001
No Score Yet	Night Visions 2001-2002	Gus	2001
50%	Gideon's Crossing 2000-2001	Dr. William Matthews	2000
84%	NYPD Blue 1993-2005	M.E. Joe Kroft	2000
74%	The X-Files 1993-2018	Arthur Dales	1999
No Score Yet	Early Edition 1996-2000		1996
No Score Yet	The Outer Limits 1995-2002		1996
No Score Yet	Home Improvement 1991-1999	Jill's Father	1994
No Score Yet	Ken Burns' Baseball 1994-2010	Voice	1994
82%	Tales from the Crypt 1989-1996	Guest	1991 1989
No Score Yet	The Twilight Zone 1985-1989		1985
No Score Yet	Little House on the Prairie 1974-1984	Callahan	1981
No Score Yet	East of Eden 1981	Sherriff Horace Quinn	1981
No Score Yet	Starsky & Hutch 1975-1979	Eckworth Freddie	1978 1976
No Score Yet	The Rockford Files 1974-1980	Edgar Burch	1975
No Score Yet	The Waltons 1972-1981	David Fletcher	1975
No Score Yet	The Bob Newhart Show 1972-1978	Jack Hoover	1972
No Score Yet	All in the Family 1971-1979	Billy	1971
No Score Yet	Bonanza 1959-1973	Mattheson	1971
No Score Yet	Ironside 1967-1975	Telegraph Clerk	1971
No Score Yet	The Hitchhiker 1983-1991

QUOTES FROM M. Emmet Walsh CHARACTERS

Uncle Bub says: Did you know I invented the peanut butter and jelly sandwich?

Timothy says: Did you know I'm a great fan of your work?

Harry Bryant says: You know the score,pal. If you're not a cop, you're little people!

Machine Shop Earbender says: So me and Bill were patrolling out 9 mile.

H.I. McDonnough says: Bill Roberts?

Machine Shop Earbender says: No not that mother scratcher, Bill Parker!

Visser says: What I know about is Texas, and down here, you're on your own.

Madman says: (aiming at Navin at the gas station) Die, gas pumper!

Madman says: [aiming at Navin at the gas station] Die, gas pumper!

Madman says: [Points to Navin's name in the phone book] Johnson, Navin R... sounds like a typical bastard.

Madman says: [points to Navin's name in the phone book] Johnson, Navin R... sounds like a typical bastard.

Shotgun Guard says: Goodby, Hello.

Visser says: Well, ma'am, if I see him, I'll sure give him the message.

Visser says: [laughing hysterically] Well, ma'am, if I see him, I' ll sure give him the message.

Visser says: The world is full o' complainers. An' the fact is, nothin' comes with a guarantee. Now I don't care if you're the pope of Rome, President of the United States or Man of the Year; somethin' can all go wrong. Now go on ahead, y'know, complain, tell your problems to your neighbor, ask for help, 'n watch him fly. Now, in Russia, they got it mapped out so that everyone pulls for everyone else... that's the theory, anyway. But what I know about is Texas, an' down here... you're on your own.

Harry Bryant says: I need ya, Decks. This is a bad one, the worst yet. I need the old blade runner, I need your magic.