ANGUS
SCRIMM - Dr. Vernon Quint
The evil screen villain Angus Scrimm well known
as "The Tall Man" in Don Coscarelli's "Phantasm"
(1979) and its sequels grew up in Kansas City, but in his teens moved
to California and studied drama at USC under William C. De Mille. The
very first film role for Angus was another "Tall Man" in the
history books. He played the role of Abraham Lincoln in an educational
film made by Encyclopaedia Brittanica which led him to a steady career
in theater, television and film. Scrimm made a foray into acting with
his big-screen debut in the 1976 feature Jim, The World's Greatest,
which was directed by then 18 years old Don Coscarelli. During this
time he was using his birth name -Lawrence Rory Guy. He adopted the
stage name "Angus Scrimm" three years later for his performance
in a Coscarelli's horror/sci-fi opus Phantasm (1979), which would mark
Scrimm's permanent impression upon modern cinema.
His role as the infamous Tall Man has earned him the praise of critics
world-wide, as well as a large following of fans. His success in the
'Phantasm' films has been parlayed into numerous other malevolent roles
including, the evil Dr. Sin Do in The Lost Empire (1983), Vlad the Vampire
King in Subspecies (1991), and as the nefarious Dr. Lyme opposite Nicolas
Cage and Charlie Sheen in Deadfall (1993). Scrimm did intriguing double
duty as the diabolical Seer and the angelic Systems Operator in Mindwarp
(1990), co-starring Bruce Campbell. He did a shock cameo in the Italian
film Fatal Frame (1996), opposite Christopher Lee and Donald Pleasence
and managed a gleeful parody of himself as hulking henchman in Transylvania
Twist (1990). But Scrimm has not limited his career efforts to simply
acting. As a journalist he has written and edited for TV Guide, Cinema
Magazine, the Los Angeles Herald Examiner and other publications.
He has also written liner notes for thousands of LPs and CDs for everyone
from classical music to jazz, from Frank Sinatra and the Beatles to
Arthur Rubinstein and Itzhak Perlman. He won a Grammy award for best
album liner notes..