Richard Lynch – Character Actor Dead at 72

His scarred countenance was the result of setting himself on fire during a late ’60s acid trip, but that disfigured look led to a ton of villain roles in a career that spanned four decades and over 100 films. I first took notice of Richard Lynch in the 1972 film SCARECROW when he played a scary prisoner who rapes Al Pacino. It was his first film and after that he almost always played bad guys in movies such as THE SEVEN-UPS, OPEN SEASON, GOD TOLD ME TO, DEATHSPORT, and THE NINTH CONFIGURATION. He battled Chuck Norris as the head baddie in INVASION USA and attempted his own Freddy Kruger spin-off in 1988 starring in BAD DREAMS. His performance as the evil “King Cromwell” in the hit fantasy film THE SWORD AND THE SORCEROR won Lynch the Saturn Award for Best Actor from the Academy of Science Fiction and Fantasy in 1982. In 2007 he was cast as the President of the United States in the spoof MIL MASCARAS VS THE AZTEC MUMMY. The IMDB lists his age as 72 but other sources have him at 76. I don’t know the cause of death but will update this story when those details become available.

Update: A day later and the cause of death has still not been determined. Here’s a tidbit from Fox News.com:

Lynch’s body was found by actress Carol Vogel, Baronas said. After not hearing from Lynch for several days, she stopped by his home Tuesday to find the door ajar.

“When she entered, she discovered him lying on the kitchen floor. She proceeded to call 911 although his body was cold and lifeless,” Baronas said.

“From what I currently understand, no investigation into the cause of his death will be made as his body was sent directly to a funeral home,” he said.