in memoriam
For one group -- namely, the one I'm a part of -- actor Robert Carradine is likely best known as a comic actor who truly came into his own with a role aboard 1984's box office hit Revenge Of The Nerds, a college-based comedy about a group of social misfits who turn the tables on the institutional Greek scene. It was an Intellectual Property popular enough to warrant a sequel or two, but nothing matched the power of the original.
For another group -- one I sometimes struggle to relate to, as do a good number of my peers -- Carradine is best known as the screen father to none other than Lizzie McGuire (aka Hilary Duff), a tween who spent her formative years navigating those treacherous waters of fashion and friendship.
You see, this is what always impresses me about our shared cultures: a great talent can not only be known and appreciated by young and old but also he can mean things on a personal level to entirely different generations of the audience. Granted, I can't even begin to educate my readership on anything other than a Google.com summary of All Things Lizzie McGuire, and yet I'm still happy to point out that they -- like me and my generation -- formed a bond with a creative that transcends our age differences. That's always fascinating.
The truth is that -- across his storied career -- Carradine was definitely someone to watch in the realms of the Fantastic. While never, perhaps, having any big, breakout performance in anything entirely devoted to Science Fiction, Fantasy, or Horror, he still manages to rack up a good amount of screen time doing what he did as only he could. A rundown of the enterprises he can seen aboard includes:
- Massacre At Central High (1976)
- Orca (1977)
- Wavelength (1983)
- Alfred Hitchcock Presents
- The Twilight Zone
- Faerie Tale Theatre
- I Saw What You Did (1988)
- Clarence (1990)
- The Tommyknockers
- Body Bags (1993)
- Lois & Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman
- Escape From L.A. (1996)
- Humanoids From The Deep (1996)
- Dark Skies
- The Pretender
- Scorpio One (1998)
- The Effects Of Magic (1998)
- Lycanthrope (1999)
- The Kid With X-Ray Eyes (1999)
- Ghosts Of Mars (2001)
- Timecop: The Berlin Decision (2003)
- Attack Of The Sabertooth (2005)
- Hoboken Hollow (2006)
- Monster Night (2006)
- Tooth And Nail (2007)
- The 13th Alley (2008)
- The Terror Experiment (2010)
- Slumber Party Slaughter (2012)
- Sharktopus Vs Pteracuda (2014)
- Doomsday Device (2017)
- Human Zoo (2020)
- Medinah
- Skate To Hell (2026)
Our warmest prayers are extended to the family, friends, and fans of Robert Carradine.
May he rest in peace.
-- EZ
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