Pollack’s best impression, though, is his Shatner.
Every single impression I’ve heard of Walken has sounded grating, screechy and weirdly-paced - I think I’m the only person in the world who doesn’t think he sounds anything but perfectly normal (if slightly clipped) in his speech.
That said, Kevin Pollack does some of the best impressions I’ve ever seen, but nobody can do Fred Munster as well as Brad Garrett.
I mixed Walken (or as I call him, Ronald) reading The Raven into Bela Lugosi is Dead. Now that is creepy.
Just for the record, I may have been the only schoolgirl who had a dreamy poster of him in my locker, and that was not so long ago.
Your post made me realize something - Walken is just filling the niche left by the deaths of Vincent Price and James Mason. See, Hollywood needs a prolific character actor with a unique speaking voice to play the role of urbane, slightly insane villains, and Walken fits to the T. I’m surprised I hadn’t noticed the parallel before.
Incidentally, Alan Rickman is another heir to Mason & Price.
I gotta go with the Oxyclean guy.
Weird, I saw this thread then the next day I saw the episode of The Simpson’s that was mentioned, then I fell asleep later in the evening with the TV on and woke up in time for Conan who had Kevin Pollack on who of course talked about Walken and did his impression of him. Does discussing Walken work the same as a summoning?
By the way, a nice thing about Walken, I believe I heard he’s been married to the same woman for something like 35 years. Isn’t that sweet? I wonder what his wife is like?
Wile E*
I wonder what his wife is like?*
Didn’t you know? Christopher Walken keeps her chained up in the dungeon of his castle.
BWA-HA-HA !!!
Years ago, I shot a Viagra spoof for Saturday Night Live. Mr. Walken appeared in the spoof. So, I got to spend a few hours in the room with him, watching him be extremely hilarious take, after take, after take.
Unless he is staying " in character " nonstop when the cameras are not rolling, that is indeed his speech pattern.
A quiet gentleman, he was. Softspoken with a fast wit. That day was a real treat…
Cartooniverse
I hear Walken is also a cat lover and was either writing a book about cats or the introduction to such a book; and that he’s quite a good cook and there was talk of him getting a cooking show. With all due respect to Alton Brown and the lovely Rachael Ray, that would be the Best. Cooking show. Ever.
Sarah, Plain and Tall. Heard Glenn Close (probably on Fresh Air; is listening to that a requirement on this board?) tell of when her daughter’s class was reading the book she and Walken came to class and answered questions. To the the best of my knowledge none of the kids were permanently scarred by the experience.
I never want to actually meet any of the celebrities I admire for fear that I would be let down but I would make an exception when it comes to Walken. I have a feeling that IRL he is an amazing and polite man. Best. actor. ever
Is it weird that I find him attractive?
Scotland, PA. It’s a retelling of MacBeth, and he plays MacDuff.
(Okay, he scares the hell out of the MacBeth character, but with obvious good reason.)
“I’m going on an aeroplane!”
Geez - what was all that about? Context I’m missing? Just Hopper madness?
Columbo, no contest.
Don’t get me wrong, his Columbo’s great.
Okay…maybe Shatner and Columbo are 1 and 1A.
I actually saw that episode! A description can’t do it justice. It doesn’t help that Hollywood Squares isn’t exactly the most intellectually taxing game show on TV.
Around the same time, I saw Gilbert Gottfried on Rendez-View; which was a short-lived Blind Date type dating show hosted by Greg Proops. Gilbert was hilarious once again, taking the piss out of the snobby guy who thought his date didn’t have “class”.
Whoever wondered if talking about Christopher Walken is liek a summoning…
I left work early today, and watched Two Guys and a Girl. That’s not why I left work early, but that’s not the point, anyway. One of the guys did a bad impersonation of Walken. When asked what he was doing, the conversation went something like this:
Guy 1: That was me doing Larry doing his Christopher Walken impersonation.
Guy 2: That was awful!
Guy 1: No. Larry’s impersonation of Walken is awful. My impersonation of Larry doing Walken is dead on.
Dunno. Letterman was asking him about the people he used to run around with and mentioned that Hopper was about the only one left. Hopper started naming off people and how they died, then when he got to Natalie, he said, “And Natalie. Natalie fell off a boat.” and burst out laughing. He did, however, quickly regain his composure and apologize profusely for laughing. I’ve never understood it either. I suppose that’s one of the reasons why the memory has stuck with me.
Well, maybe he was thinking of that old joke:
What kind of wood doesn’t float?
Natalie.
(It was a very popular, poor taste joke shortly after her death.)