MICHAEL PARKS
April 24, 1940 – May 9, 2017 (age 77)
Cause of Death: Unknown
Throughout his career, Michael Parks formed relationships with directors that would continue to bring him back throughout their films. Robert Rodriguez had him in From Dusk Til Dawn, Quentin Tarantino had him in Kill Bill Volumes 1 & 2, the Grindhouse films (Planet Terror & Death Proof) and Django Unchained, and Kevin Smith cast him as a villain in two of his films, Red State and Tusk. What I knew Parks most was from that latest film Tusk, just because he was on my radar in that particular film, but he also played a role in one of my favorite films, Andrew Dominik’s The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. He even had a run in the original television series of Twin Peaks.
MICHAEL PARKS’ FILMOGRAPHY
| 1965 | Wild Seed | Fargo |
| 1965 | Bus Riley’s Back in Town | Bus Riley |
| 1966 | The Bible: In the Beginning… | Adam |
| 1966 | The Idol | Marco |
| 1967 | The Happening | Sureshot |
| 1967 | Stranger on the Run | Vincent McKay |
| 1973 | Between Friends | Tony |
| 1976 | The Last Hard Men | Noel Nye |
| 1976 | The Savage Bees | Dr. Jeff DuRand |
| 1977 | Murder at the World Series | Larry Marshall |
| 1977 | Escape from Bogen County | Jack Kern |
| 1977 | Sidewinder 1 | J.W. Wyatt |
| 1977 | The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover | Robert F. Kennedy |
| 1978 | Love and the Midnight Auto Supply | Duke |
| 1978 | Rainbow | Roger Edens |
| 1979 | The Evictors | Ben Watkins |
| 1979 | Breakthrough | Sgt. Anderson |
| 1979 | North Sea Hijack | Harold Shulman |
| 1981 | Hard Country | Royce |
| 1982 | Savannah Smiles | Lt. Savage |
| 1986 | The Return of Josey Wales | Josey Wales (also Director) |
| 1988 | Arizona Heat | Larry Kapinski |
| 1989 | Nightmare Beach | Doc Willet |
| 1989 | Caged Fury | Mr. Collins |
| 1990 | The China Lake Murders | Officer Donnelly |
| 1991 | The Hitman | Det. Ronny “Del” Delany |
| 1994 | Death Wish V: The Face of Death | Tommy O’Shea |
| 1996 | From Dusk till Dawn | Earl McGraw |
| 1997 | Niagara, Niagara | Walter |
| 1997 | Deceiver | Dr. Banyard |
| 1998 | Wicked | Det. Boland |
| 1999 | Bullfighter | Cordobes |
| 2000 | From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman’s Daughter | Ambrose Bierce |
| 2003 | Kill Bill: Volume 1 | Earl McGraw |
| 2004 | Kill Bill: Volume 2 | Esteban Vihaio |
| 2006 | The Listening | James Wagley |
| 2007 | Grindhouse | Earl McGraw |
| 2007 | El Muerto | Sheriff Stone |
| 2007 | The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford | Henry Craig |
| 2008 | Noble Things | Pete Collins |
| 2010 | Smokin’ Aces 2: Assassins’ Ball | Fritz Tremor |
| 2011 | Red State | Pastor Abin Cooper |
| 2012 | Argo | Jack Kirby |
| 2012 | Django Unchained | LeQuint Dickey Mining Co. Employee |
| 2013 | We Are What We Are | Doc Barrow |
| 2014 | Tusk | Howard Howe |
| 2016 | Sex Me Up | n/a |
| 2016 | Blood Father | Preacher |
| 2016 | Greater | Leo |
| 2017 | Hostiles | n/a |
MICHAEL PARKS’ TELEVISION APPEARANCES
| 1958 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Skip Baxter | Episode: “The Cadaver” |
| 1960 | Dick Powell’s Zane Grey Theater | Juanito | Episode: “Ranson” |
| 1961 | Dick Powell’s Zane Grey Theater | The Younger Prisoner | Episode: “The Scar” |
| 1961 | The Law and Mr. Jones | Mike Enslow | Episode: “One by One” |
| 1961 | The Asphalt Jungle | Ty | Episode: “The Sniper” |
| 1961 | Straightaway | n/a | Episode: “Pledge a Nightmare” |
| 1961 | The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor | Johnny Blaine, Eddy Washburn, and Jimmy | 3 Episodes: “Beyond a Reasonable Doubt,” “Personal Enemy,” and “The Frightened Ones” |
| 1962 | Gunsmoke | Park | Episode: “The Boys” |
| 1962 | Target: The Corruptors! | Rocky Kustak | Episode: “Nobody Gets Hurt” |
| 1962 | Stoney Burke | Tack Reynolds | Episode: “The Mob Riders” |
| 1962 | The Real McCoys | Tom | Episode: “George’s Nephew” |
| 1962 | Bus Stop | n/a | Episode: “The Opposite Virtues” |
| 1962 | Sam Benedict | Larry Wilcox | Episode: “Too Many Strangers” |
| 1962 | The Gallant Men | Billy Ray Medford | Episode: “A Place to Die” |
| 1963 | The Alfred Hitchcock Hour | Dr. Daniel Dana | Episode: “Diagnosis: Danger” |
| 1963 | The Greatest Show on Earth | Cristos | Episode: “The Hanging Man” |
| 1963 | Perry Mason | Cal Leonard | Episode: “The Case of the Constant Doyle” |
| 1963 | Arrest and Trial | Gregory Wade | Episode: “We May Be Better Strangers” |
| 1963 | 77 Sunset Strip | Eddie Marco | Episode: “Crash Out!” |
| 1963-1964 | Channing | Dante Donati | 2 Episodes |
| 1963-1964 | Wagon Train | Hamish Browne and Michael Malone | 2 Episodes: “The Heather and Hamish Story” and “The Michael Malone Story” |
| 1964 | Route 66 | Tank | Episode: “Cries of Persons Close to One” |
| 1965 | Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre | Lieutenant Colonel Burt Engle | Episode: “A Time for Killing” |
| 1969–1970 | Then Came Bronson | Jim Bronson | 26 Episodes |
| 1973 | Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law | Ollie Gregson | Episode: “Sometimes Tough Is Good” |
| 1973 | Medical Center | Dr. Chris Wells | Episode: “Fatal Memory” |
| 1974 | Ironside | Professor Riley MacDane | Episode: “A Death in Academe” |
| 1976 | Ellery Queen | Terry Purvis | Episode: “The Adventure of the Wary Witness” |
| 1986–1988 | The Equalizer | n/a | 2 Episodes |
| 1990–1991 | Twin Peaks | Jean Renault | 5 Episodes |
| 1996-1999 | Walker, Texas Ranger | Major Caleb Hooks | 2 Episodes |
