Gunnar Hansen
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| Gunnar Hansen | |
|---|---|
| File:Gunnar Hansen photographed by Ryota Nakanishi (cropped).jpg
Hansen at Days of the Dead in Indianapolis, Indiana, 2012
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| Born | Gunnar Milton Hansen March 4, 1947 Reykjavík, Iceland |
| Died | Error: Need valid death date (first date): year, month, day Northeast Harbor, Maine, United States[1] |
| Cause of death | Pancreatic cancer |
| Alma mater | University of Texas at Austin |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1973–2014 |
Gunnar Milton Hansen (March 4, 1947 – November 7, 2015) was an Icelandic-born American actor and author best known for playing the mentally impaired cannibal Leatherface in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974).
Contents
Early life
Hansen was born in Reykjavík, Iceland, and moved to the United States when he was five years old. He lived in Maine until age eleven, when his family moved to Austin, Texas, where he attended both Austin High School and the University of Texas at Austin. He majored in English and mathematics as an undergraduate and then went to graduate school in Scandinavian Studies and English.
Career
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. His first job out of high school was as a computer operator before he began theater work during college. He was also a football player during high school and for a while a bar bouncer. In 1973, just after finishing graduate school, Hansen heard that The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was being filmed in Austin and decided to try out. He got the part of Leatherface, the masked killer in the movie. Hansen apparently visited and studied children with special needs to determine mannerisms for Leatherface.
After the success of the movie, Hansen co-starred in Demon Lover, but after the experience he decided not to continue acting, instead pursuing a writing career. In 1975, after one extra year of graduate school, Hansen moved back to Maine and started writing. During this time he rejected a part he was offered in the cult horror film The Hills Have Eyes.
After writing (and occasionally editing) for magazines and writing books, Hansen returned to acting in 1988, appearing in the horror spoof Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers, and appeared in 20 films since. He considered his later acting as a side project and continued to write books. He also wrote film scripts and wrote and directed documentary films.
Hansen was also an author; his nonfiction travel memoir, Islands at the Edge of Time, A journey to America's Barrier Islands, was published in 1993. In 2013 he wrote the nonfiction book Chain Saw Confidential, which focuses on the making and reception for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. In addition, he taught college as an adjunct instructor.
Death
His agent stated Hansen died at his home in Northeast Harbor, Maine from pancreatic cancer on November 7, 2015 at the age of 68.[2][3]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | The Texas Chain Saw Massacre | Leatherface | |
| 1977 | The Demon Lover | Prof. Peckinpah | |
| 1988 | Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers | The Stranger | |
| 1991 | Campfire Tales | Ralph | |
| 1995 | Mosquito | Earl | |
| Freakshow | Freakmaster | Direct-to-video | |
| Exploding Angel | Walter | ||
| 1996 | Repligator | Dr. Kildare | |
| 1999 | Hellblock 13 | The Executioner | Direct-to-video |
| 2002 | Hatred of a Minute | Barry | |
| Witchunter | Michael Jones | Direct-to-video | |
| Rachel's Attic | Ronald | ||
| Sinister | The Piper | Short film | |
| 2003 | Next Victim | Doctor Howard | (segment "rehabilitation Center") |
| 2004 | The Business | Grandfather | Short film, direct-to-video |
| Chainsaw Sally | Daddy | ||
| Murder-Set-Pieces | Mechanic | ||
| 2005 | Wolfsbayne | The Elder | |
| Apocalypse and the Beauty Queen | Reggie | ||
| 2006 | Swarm of the Snakehead | Gunner | |
| The Deepening | Dr. Chambers | ||
| 2007 | Brutal Massacre: A Comedy | Krenshaw | |
| Shudder | Direct-to-video | ||
| Gimme Skelter | Porter Sandford | ||
| 2009 | Won Ton Baby! | Dr. Kurt Severson | |
| It Came from Trafalgar | Tex Ghoul | ||
| Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre | Captain Pétur | ||
| 2013 | Texas Chainsaw 3D | Boss Sawyer; Leatherface (archive footage) | Cameo, final role |
As self
- Terror in the Aisles (1984) – archival footage
- Texas Chainsaw Massacre: A Family Portrait (1988)
- Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Shocking Truth (2000)
- Leatherface Speaks: An Informal Interview with Gunnar Hansen (2001)
- Behind the Attic Door: The Making of "Rachel's Attic" (2002)
- UnConventional (2004)
- Flesh Wounds: Seven Stories of the Saw (2006)
See also
References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gunnar Hansen (actor). |
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- ↑ Associated Press "Gunnar Hansen, killer of 'Texas Chain Saw Massacre,' dies" Associated Press via The State Columbia, SC November 8, 2015. Thestate.com[permanent dead link]
- ↑ 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' Actor Gunnar Hansen Dies at 68
- ↑ Associated Press staff, "Gunnar Hansen, killer of 'Texas Chain Saw Massacre,' dies," Associated Press via Waco Tribune-Herald (Waco, Tx) accessed at 3:56 am November 8, 2015.[1][permanent dead link]
- Pages with reference errors
- Use mdy dates from June 2013
- Pages with broken file links
- Age error
- Articles with hCards
- Commons category link is locally defined
- 1947 births
- 2015 deaths
- People from Reykjavík
- American male film actors
- American people of Icelandic descent
- Austin High School (Austin, Texas) alumni
- Icelandic emigrants to the United States
- Deaths from pancreatic cancer
- Deaths from cancer in Maine
- 20th-century American writers
- 21st-century American writers
- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
- People from Northeast Harbor, Maine
- Articles with dead external links from November 2017
- Articles with permanently dead external links
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