Joe Turkel, a character actor best known for his numerous appearances in the films ‘Blade Runner’ by Ridley Scott and iconic director Stanley Kubrick, has passed away at the age of 94.
He passed away on Monday at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, California, a spokesman told Variety.
Turkel probably had his most well-known screen portrayal in Stanley Kubrick’s version of Stephen King’s ‘The Shining.’ Jack Torrance, the unstable main character played by Jack Nicholson, is drawn back to booze by the ghostly bartender Lloyd, who is played by Turkel.
Turkel, a former US Army soldier who was born to Polish-Jewish immigrants in Brooklyn, New York, served in World War II. He made his acting debut in the noir crime film ‘City Across the River,’ directed by Maxwell Shane, in 1949.
The Killing, a 1956 film, marked their debut collaboration. The anti-war movie ‘Paths of Glory’ from 1957 was his next project under Kubrick’s direction.
Turkel portrayed Eldon Tyrell, the head of Tyrell Corporation and the designer of replicants—a bioengineered humanoid used as slaves in the sci-fi movie’s dystopian future—in 1982’s classic ‘Blade Runner.’
Michael McKean, a seasoned actor and star of ‘Better Call Saul,’ paid tribute to Turkel on Twitter. ‘In a cast full of excellent actors, Joe Turkel was usually very outstanding, but his performance in Paths of Glory stands out as a subtle and magnificent highlight. RIP, ‘He composed.
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