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M. Emmet Walsh, a paunchy and prolific character actor who was called \u201cthe poet of sleaze\u201d by the critic Roger Ebert for his naturalistic portrayals of repellent lowlifes and miscreants, died on Tuesday in St. Albans, a small city in northern Vermont. He was 88. <\/p>\n
His death, in a hospital, was announced by his manager, Sandy Joseph.<\/p>\n
The most enduring praise Mr. Walsh received also came from Mr. Ebert: He coined the Stanton-Walsh Rule, which asserted that \u201cno movie featuring either Harry Dean Stanton<\/a> or M. Emmet Walsh in a supporting role can be altogether bad.\u201d<\/p>\n In \u201cStraight Time,\u201d a 1978 film featuring both Mr. Stanton and Mr. Walsh, Mr. Walsh played a patronizing parole officer to Dustin Hoffman\u2019s teetering ex-con. Mr. Walsh\u2019s performance caught the eye of two brothers who aspired to be auteurs and were writing their first feature-film script.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The unknown Joel and Ethan Coen wrote the pivotal character of a detective in \u201cBlood Simple\u201d for Mr. Walsh. To their surprise, and despite offering little more in compensation than a per diem stipend, he accepted the role.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Reviewing \u201cBlood Simple\u201d<\/a> for The New York Times in 1984, Janet Maslin said that Mr. Walsh had captured \u201ca mischievousness that is perfect for the role.\u201d Writing in Salon on the occasion of the release of Janus Films\u2019 digital restoration in 2016, Andrew O\u2019Hehir praised Mr. Walsh\u2019s portrayal<\/a> of a \u201csleazy, giggly and profoundly disturbing private detective.\u201d<\/p>\n On the set, he took pleasure in hazing the neophyte directors. \u201cLet\u2019s cut this sophomoric stuff, it\u2019s not N.Y.U. anymore,\u201d Joel Coen recalled him saying, according to a Times article<\/a> in 1985. \u201cOne time I asked him to do something just to humor me, and he said, \u2018Joel, this whole damn movie is just to humor you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n After the film\u2019s critical success \u2014 Mr. Walsh won the first Independent Spirit Award for best performance by an actor \u2014 the Coen brothers brought Mr. Walsh back for a cameo in their second movie, \u201cRaising Arizona.\u201d<\/p>\n Also in that movie, in addition to Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter, was John Goodman, who went on to become a Coen Brothers regular \u2014 while Mr. Walsh did not. With Mr. Goodman on board, Mr. Walsh said in an interview for the Janus Films edition of \u201cBlood Simple,\u201d \u201ctheir casting needs didn\u2019t involve me anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Michael Emmet Walsh was born on March 22, 1935, in Ogdensburg, N.Y. His father, Harry Maurice Walsh Sr., was a customs agent on the Vermont-Quebec border; his mother, Agnes Katherine (Sullivan) Walsh, ran the household.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mr. Walsh was raised in rural Swanton, Vt., and attended nearby Clarkson University in northern New York State, earning a bachelor\u2019s degree in business administration while dabbling in stage productions.<\/p>\n \u201cI had a good faculty adviser up there who said, \u2018Why wait to be 40 to wonder whether you should have been an actor? Get rid of it now, or find out!\u2019\u201d Mr. Walsh said in a 2011 interview<\/a> at the Silent Movie Theater in Los Angeles. \u201cSo I went to New York.\u201d<\/p>\n He was schooled in acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and also, less formally, in New York theaters. Unable to afford tickets, he would slip in amid the crowd at intermission.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was always an empty seat. And you see everything!\u201d he said. \u201cI saw Annie Bancroft do \u2018Miracle Worker\u2019 with Patty Duke, probably 40 times; \u2018Raisin in the Sun\u2019 with Sidney Poitier. And I just watched them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Deaf in his left ear since a mastoid operation when he was 3 years old, and with a clipped Vermont accent, Mr. Walsh said, \u201cIt was obvious I wasn\u2019t going to do Shaw and Shakespeare and Moli\u00e8re \u2014 my speech was simply too bad.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPeople go and try to become the next Pacino,” he continued, \u201cor the next Meryl Streep or something \u2014 they don\u2019t want that. They want something new, something different \u2014 they want you! And actors have a hard time figuring that out. So I had to figure out who I was and what I could do, that no one else could do.\u201d<\/p>\n He performed in regional theaters throughout the Northeast for most of a decade, then made his Broadway debut in \u201cDoes a Tiger Wear a Necktie?\u201d (1969), starring Al Pacino.<\/p>\n A few parts in television commercials led to an uncredited role in \u201cMidnight Cowboy\u201d that same year. He then landed the part of the irate and incomprehensible Group G Army sergeant in Arthur Penn\u2019s screen adaptation of Arlo Guthrie\u2019s song \u201cAlice\u2019s Restaurant.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Then came about 120 movie roles over the next five decades, and even more television parts. The critics took notice: He was a \u201ccynical small-town sportswriter\u201d in \u201cSlap Shot\u201d (1977), a \u201cbonkers sniper\u201d in \u201cThe Jerk\u201d (1979), a \u201chard-drinking, sleazy and underhanded police veteran\u201d in \u201cBlade Runner\u201d (1982) and an \u201cunsympathetic swimming coach\u201d in \u201cOrdinary People\u201d (1980).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In a 2011 profile for L.A. Weekly, <\/em>the critic <\/em>Nicolas Rapold called Mr. Walsh \u201ca consummate old pro of the second-banana business.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMy job is to come in and move the story along,\u201d he said in the Silent Movie Theater interview. \u201cThe stars don\u2019t do the exposition \u2026 So I come on with Redford or Newman or Dustin or somebody, and I throw the ball to them, and they throw it back, and it starts to become that tennis match, back and forth, and that\u2019s what makes the dynamics of the whole thing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I\u2019m driving the movie forward,\u201d he added. \u201cThey don\u2019t want an Emmet Walsh. They want a bus driver. They want a cop. They don\u2019t want an Emmet Walsh cop. I just try to sublimate myself and get in there and do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Walsh had confidence in his ability to deliver, and he knew how valuable that was to harried filmmakers. \u201cYou\u2019re casting something, and you\u2019ve got 12 problems; if they\u2019ve got me, they only have 11 problems.\u201d<\/p>\n He said that directors sought him out for his ability to elevate subpar material. \u201cThey\u2019d say, \u2018This is terrible crap \u2014 get Walsh. At least he makes it believable.\u2019 And I got a lot of those jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n Reviews reflected that. Mr. Walsh was often singled out in otherwise forgettable films \u2014 for a \u201cgood individual performance\u201d in \u201cThe Fish That Saved Pittsburgh\u201d (1979), as a \u201cdependable talent\u201d in \u201cThe Best of Times\u201d (1986).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n That is not to say he never had a miss; his performance in \u201cWild, Wild West\u201d (1999) prompted Mr. Ebert to deem the Stanton-Walsh Rule \u201cinvalidated.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2018, Mr. Walsh\u2019s \u201cBlade Runner\u201d co-star, Harrison Ford, inducted him into the Character Actor Hall of Fame. At that same ceremony, he was honored with the Chairman\u2019s Lifetime Achievement award.<\/p>\n