Michael Parks was an actor you knew well, even if you didn’t spot him immediately. Having worked for decades in movies, TV, and music, Parks was a chameleonic performer who often turned up in eccentric supporting roles, usually as doctors or sheriffs, chewing into exposition with the aplomb of a true Hollywood professional. He was so talented and so devoted to transforming himself, it took me over a dozen films to realize that I was watching the same actor. He was a kindly grandfather, a stern cop, a believable cult leader, and, in what might be his best performance, a scary kook with dark walrus fantasies (yes, that was him in Kevin Smith’s Tusk).
Parks worked frequently with Smith, also having starred in his 2011 horror film Red State as the leader of a violence-minded religious cult that strongly resembled The Westboro Baptist Church, a group that infamously picketed – among other things – Smith’s own Dogma. Parks was also a favorite of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, having appeared in several of their films, including their famous team-up flick Grindhouse.
Also: The Many Incredible Films of Jonathan Demme (1944-2017)
Michael Parks, however, had been working for decades before his late-career renaissance. He appeared in many, many TV shows and B-movies as early as the 1960s. His breakout role was 1960’s Wild Seed, a classier-than-most juvenile delinquency film produced by Marlon Brando. He popped up in several notable film roles thereafter. He can be seen rising from the mud as Adam in The Bible: In the Beginning, for instance.
Perhaps most notably, Parks played the title character in the celebrated 1969 cult TV series Then Came Bronson. As he was rising as an actor, Parks also had a notable – and surprisingly prolific – music career. He released seven studio records sporadically from 1969 to 1998.
Michael Parks has sadly passed away at the age of 77. These are the roles we will never forget, even if – due to the transformative acting of Michael Parks – we didn’t know it was him at the time. He was just that good.
The Greatest Roles of Michael Parks
Top Image: Lionsgate
Witney Seibold is a longtime contributor to the CraveOnline Film Channel, and the co-host of The B-Movies Podcast and the TV podcast Canceled Too Soon. He also contributes to Legion of Leia, Nerdist, and Blumhouse. You can follow him on “The Twitter” at @WitneySeibold, where he is slowly losing his mind.
The Greatest Roles of Michael Parks
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Closing the Gap (1960)
Parks sang tender, country-informed ballads. Listen to one of them with footage from Then Came Bronson underneath.
Image: MGM Records
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Wild Seed (1965)
Parks' big break was in a moody J.D. film about two young kids on the road, finding their way in a world that doesn't understand them.
Image: Universal
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The Bible: In the Beginning (1966)
Parks was young when this overblown all-Bible-all-the-time film came out, and he was hunky enough to play a mostly-nude Adam.
Image: 20th Century Fox
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Then Came Bronson (1969 - 1970)
The famed cult series Then Came Bronson followed the adventures of a newspaper man who, upon the suicide of a friend, takes to the road looking for meaning. The series ran for one full 26-episode season with Parks in the title role.
Image: MGM Television
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The Return of Josey Wales (1986)
Being a fan of Clint Eastwood's 1976 classic The Outlaw Josey Wales, Parks elected to make this sequel ten years later, the only film he ever directed. He played the lead role himself.
Image: Magnum Entertainment
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From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter (2000)
Parks had a notable role in the original From Dusk Till Dawn, but really had a chance to shine as Ambrose Bierce in this straight-to-video sequel.
Image: Miramax
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Kill Bill, Vol. 1 (2003)
With shades, a thick accent, and a small role, you may have missed Parks as the gruff sheriff in the church scene in the first volume of Kill Bill...
Image: Miramax
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Kill Bill, Vol. 2 (2004)
...although more notable is the fact that Parks played a second role in Kill Bill, having appeared as an aging South American gangster in Vol 2.
Image: Miramax
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Red State (2011)
In Kevin Smith's low-budget indie horror film, Parks evokes Fred Phelps, the hateful founder of the Westboro Baptist Church. Parks is perfectly earnest as a death-minded cult leader, and turns in one of his best performances.
Image: Lionsgate
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Tusk (2014)
Although Tusk is easily one of the worst films of 2014, it also contains what may be Parks best performance, playing a mad maniac who dreams of surgically transforming a person into a walrus. Parks sells his role with such gusto, despite the weirdo material, one cannot help but be impressed.
Image: A24
