John Vernon was a prolific stage-trained Canadian character player who
made a career out of convincingly playing crafty villains,
morally-bankrupt officials and heartless authority figures in American
films and television since the 1960s. Vernon was directed by some
stellar filmmakers, including
Alfred Hitchcock
(Topas (1969));
George Cukor
(Alexandria - Treibhaus der Sünde (1969));
Don Siegel
(Dirty Harry (1971)) and
Clint Eastwood
(Der Texaner (1976)).
After training at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and honing his
skills in Canadian theatre and television, Vernon made his US film
debut in John Boorman's noir/gangster
classic Point Blank - Keiner darf Überleben (1967) as a
trusted friend who betrays Lee Marvin. He
again failed to inspire confidence as the ineffectual mayor of San
Francisco in Dirty Harry (1971).
Vernon may be best remembered as the sinister Dean Vernon Wormer in
John Landis'
Ich glaub', mich tritt ein Pferd (1978), a role he
reprised for the TV spin-off
Delta House (1979). This led to
more film comedy roles, a highlight being Mr. Big in the blaxploitation
spoof
Ghettobusters (1988).
