RIP Texas Chain Saw Massacre Star Gunnar Hansen, 1947-2015
One of the most iconic boogeymen of horror cinema, Gunnar Hansen of ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre,’ has died aged 68.
The 6 foot 4, Icelandic-born Hansen portrayed the unforgettable chainsaw-wielding, human skin-mask wearing colossus Leatherface in writer-director Tobe Hooper’s groundbreaking 1974 horror classic.
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His agent confirmed the actor’s passing, after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’ was Hansen’s first screen credit, and was a key component in the success of what is widely held up to this day as one of the greatest, most genuinely terrifying horror films ever made.
Coming in the wake of George Romero’s ‘The Night of the Living Dead’ and Wes Craven’s ‘The Last House on the Left,’ Tobe Hooper’s film played a vital role in rejuvenating the horror genre in the 1970s, bringing Gothic tropes bang up to date with a hitherto unseen level of intensity.
Hansen’s unhinged portrayal of Leatherface was pivotal to this, his frenzied, relentless pursuit of the final girl Sally (another magnificent performance from Marilyn Burns, who also sadly passed away in August 2014) providing many of the film’s most memorable, heart-pounding sequences.
However, while ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’ is rightly noted for its ferocity, it is not a graphically gory film, with almost no onscreen bloodshed. Even so, it was banned in the UK until 1999.
Despite this iconic breakthrough role, Hansen would shun acting in the years ahead (turning down roles in Hooper’s ‘Eaten Alive’ and Craven’s ‘The Hills Have Eyes’) in favour of pursuing his first passion of writing.
However, from the late 1980s onwards Hansen returned to take occasional acting roles, generally in independent horror movies - and often films which played humourously on his most famous role, such as ‘Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers’ and ‘Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre.’
Although he never reprised the role of Leatherface in any of the ‘Texas Chainsaw’ sequels, Hansen always remained synonymous with the maniacal hulk, whose personality reputedly could not have been further removed from his own.
Picture Credit: Bryanston Pictures
