Charles Napier

At 75 years old, Charles Napier has this physical status:

Charles Lewis Napier (April 12, 1936 - October 5, 2011) was an American character actor known for his prolific supporting and leading roles in genre cinema, often in the role of a cop, soldier, or authority figure. He graduated from college and spent time as a sports coach and art instructor before settling on teaching as a career after leaving his Kentucky hometown to serve in the army.

Napier began acting in roles and continued to do so for the next 35 years.

He worked on several projects with director Jonathan Demme, including roles in the critically acclaimed drama Philadelphia, comedy Beloved, the political-thriller remake The Manchurian Candidate, and Best Picture-winning psychological horror film adaptation The Silence of the Lambs. Tucker McElroy of The Shorts, the short-tempered country singer, gruff army Commander Gilmour of Austin Powers, and bureaucratic CIA officer Marshall Murdock in Rambo: Part II.

He appeared on television, most notable on the prime time animated sitcom The Critic and Agent Zed on Men in Black: The Series.

Early life

Napier was born in Mt. Near Scottsville, Kentucky, Union, Kentucky. Sara Lena (née Loafman, 1897–1974) and Linus Pitts Napier (1888–1991) were his parents. He joined the United States Army in 1954, rising to sergeant rank after graduating from high school.

He attended Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, graduating in 1961 with a major in art and a minor in physical education, owing to his service. He aspired to be a basketball coach, and his first job was as an assistant coach at his old high school in Allen County, teaching under Allen County legend James Bazzell. He quit teaching, spent time with a bridge company and an advertising firm before he migrated to Clearwater, Florida, to teach art at John F. Kennedy Junior High School.

In 1964, he returned to Western Kentucky to attend graduate school, where he was encouraged to pursue acting by instructor D. Russell Miller. Following some success in the local Alley Playhouse, Napier returned to Florida and began to teach as well as perform in community theater, eventually moving to Little Theatre in Clearwater as its live-in caretaker. He also did painting at this time.

Personal life

Napier has been married twice. Delores Wilson, his first wife, was born in Delores Wilson. He married Dee Napier after his divorce. In 2003, Napier and his wife appeared on the Dr. Phil show to address his obsession with being famous. "Despite being in close to 100 films and countless hit TV shows, Charles Napier has expressed sadness that he is not a major actor," the Dr. Phil Show website claims." Instead of being angry when he is refused for a role, Charles should be grateful and proud of his 35-year career, says his wife, Dee. She also believes that making the family rather than the pursuit of fame, not the search for fame, should come first."

Napier and his second wife had two children, son Hunter, and daughter Meghan Saralena. Charles Lewis "Chuck" Napier Jr., Napier's uncle, died at the age of 18 from his previous marriage.

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Career

After a spell in New York, Napier moved to California. He acquired an agent and a union card (for a bit part in Mission: Impossible). His movie debut came about by accident. A girlfriend took Napier along when she went to audition for Russ Meyer, who cast Napier as the male lead in Cherry, Harry & Raquel!. In addition to acting and helping with the cameras when setting up shots, he did stunts, make up and driving on the film. After the low budget Moonfire, he worked as a journalist and photographer for Overdrive magazine for a few years; a strike sent him back to Hollywood in 1975 where, at age 39, he was reduced to living in his car in the parking lot of Meyer's office with no money, work or agent. He was summoned to Universal Studios to meet Alfred Hitchcock (who had just seen a print of Supervixens) and Napier was given a one-year contract.

Napier became a prolific character actor, appearing regularly in TV series of the time, and a number of pilots. Frequently cast as a heavy, he often portrayed corrupt cops, soldiers, businessmen and other authority figures. In 1977, he was cast as frontier scout Luther Sprague in the six-episode NBC western television series, The Oregon Trail. He appeared in three episodes of the 1980s hit TV series The A-Team as Col. Briggs. Also a bit part as Jarret in Labour Pains He also co-starred in two The Rockford Files episodes, and played Hammer in the series B.J. and the Bear in the 1970s. Napier as Wolfson Lucas was teamed with Rod Taylor again for the series Outlaws. He is known among Star Trek fans for appearing on both Star Trek: The Original Series episode "The Way to Eden" as musically inclined space hippie Adam, and the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Little Green Men" as General Denning. He also appeared in the pilot episode of Knight Rider in 1982.

The director of Citizen's Band, Jonathan Demme, was laudatory about Napier's abilities, and went on to cast him in several of his films including The Silence of the Lambs and, in what was Napier's favourite role of his career, a judge in Philadelphia. He played the bureaucratic CIA officer Marshall Murdock in Rambo: First Blood Part II. For the 1980 musical-comedy, The Blues Brothers, he portrayed the apoplectic Tucker McElroy, "lead singer of and driver of the Winnebago" for "The Good Ol' Boys."

Napier was in many advertisements. He performed a great deal of voice-over work in Superman: The Animated Series, Justice League, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, The Critic, Men in Black: The Series, Squidbillies, and some of the Hulk's growls on the series The Incredible Hulk. He also provided several guest voices for episodes of The Simpsons.

He had a small role during the sixth season of Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2008 as a barber who assaults and drives Larry David from his shop after David offends him. Napier appeared in the 2009 horror film Murder World alongside Scout Taylor-Compton. His last film role was in the 2009 comedy The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard opposite Jeremy Piven and James Brolin.

Prior to his death in October 2011, Napier published a book about his life and experiences in Hollywood, titled Square Jaw and Big Heart, with Dante W. Renzulli Jr. as co-author. The publisher of the book is BearManor Media of Albany, Georgia (ISBN 978-1-59393-624-2).

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