RIP, Tom Towles (1950-2015)

Chicago theatre and genre film actor Tom Towles has passed away at the age of 65.

Born in 1950 in Chicago, Towles worked for years in Chicago’s Organic and Goodman Theaters, often with Re-Animator director Stuart Gordon. Though the actor appears briefly in Dog Day Afternoon, his breakthrough role was that of Otis, the sleaze sidekick in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (directed by another Chicago theater mainstay, John McNaughton). Loosely based on real life serial killer Ottis Toole, Towles’ performance is a deranged, affecting one, integral to the immortality of McNaughton’s visceral work.

From there, Towles was a welcome, often intimidating, mad presence in the likes of Night of the Living Dead (1990), Gordon’s The Pit and the Pendulum, Blood In, Blood Out, Miami Vice and Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses, Halloween and Grindhouse trailer, “Werewolf Women of the SS.”

Remembrances have poured in from colleagues, painting Towles as a warm, talented gentleman. Our thoughts are with family and friends for actor and fan favorite. Rest in Peace, Tom Towles.

 

I just got word that our buddy Tom Towles has died. He was such a great guy and I am so grateful that we got to work together several times. He will be really missed.

Posted by Rob Zombie on Sunday, April 5, 2015

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