RIP Gunnar Hansen

I just found out that Gunnar Hansen, the actor famous for playing Leatherface in the first Texas Chainsaw Massacre, died from pancreatic cancer yesterday.  He was 68.  Hansen had made a bit of a comeback in the past 15 years playing in B-grade horror movies and appearing at fan festivals, and he was written up in the Wall Street Journal for his successes in continuing to carve out an interesting side career so long after that film.

In spite of his recent film appearances, he remained most famous for Chainsaw, and for his refusals to appear in any of the sequels (he always claimed the money they offered was an insult, though it's hard to believe he was getting paid much better for his appearances in flicks with knock-off parody titles like Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers and Chainsaw Sally).

Back in the 1990s, I was lucky enough to have dinner with Hansen, through the introduction of a mutual friend. I found him to be a charming and gracious man, and we mostly talked about writing. He autographed my copy of Islands on the Edge of Time, his excellent travel memoir that details his exploration and research of United States barrier islands. 

Hansen also worked as a screenwriter, wrote a memoir, and wrote many magazine articles.  He had an undergraduate degree in English and a very interesting master's degree in Scandinavian studies, and he worked as an adjunct college teacher in his younger years.  He was an all-around Renaissance man with a wide range of interests, serious intellectual acumen, and a natural ability, because of his size and physical charisma, to be scary on screen.  

I know he will be missed by his friends, family, and fans, but he will also be well remembered by this writer, who was inspired by his depth of character and gentlemanly demeanor that so humorously contrasted with his on-screen persona.