Farewell to Dick Miller

Dick Miller has popped up in his share of movies that I’ve reviewed on this blog. And, as of January 30, 2019, he’s no longer with us.

Dick Miller was by no means a movie star, though he appeared in plenty of noteworthy movies. His parts were typically small. He was a true character actor, and he always mae the most of when he was on screen.

He got his start with Roger Corman, just as so many others, and moved on to bigger projects, though he never quite left the world of Roger Corman, either. In A Bucket of Blood, his best role in my opinion, he played the role of Walter Paisley, a starving artist who would kill people and display them as acclaimed artwork.

From then on, he’d often appear in small roles where he’d take the name Walter Paisley, sort of as a nod to his roots, I guess. These credits include Chopping Mall, and Joe Dante’s segment for Twilight Zone: The Movie, The Howling, and Hollywood Boulevard.

He had a natural likability to him, which can be essential for a good character actor. He could play a down-on-his-luck working man, or a xenophobic neighbor that gets his house bulldozed by Gremlins.

I feel pretty comfortable saying that he made virtually every movie he was in better. He certainly did for all the ones I’ve seen — Big Bad Mama, A Bucket of Blood, Gremlins, Piranha, The ‘Burbs, Twilight Zone: The Movie, Small Soldiers, The Premature Burial, The Howling, Matinee, The Terror, Little Shop of Horrors, and The Terminator. He will be missed.