http://www.playbill.com/news/article/153515-John-Wood-Tony-Winning-British-Actor-Dies-at-81
He had a lot more on his resume, but I suspect that for a fair many of us, his role as Joshua’s father is his best-known.
I have no idea who Professor Falken was, but if you’d just have said John Wood I’d have known instantly. I saw him on the Broadway stage as Sherlock Holmes in the 1970s revival of Gillette’s play, and I saw him in WarGames and LadyHawke (where he played the evil Archbishop), as well, and in a great many other roles.
Professor Falken was his character in War Games.
I’m getting old. I immediately recognized the name “Professor Falken”.
It’s OK. I’m young and I still know Professor Falken. That movie holds up better than many from that era.
Well, he’s gone, and the casting directors can try again. Maybe with the bees.
Do you want to play a game?
It was “Shall we play a game?”
Now I have to watch WarGames.
Well that falken sucks.
The scene where they’re rushing to catch the last ferry to go see Professor Falken was shot just a few miles from where I grew up.
You and me both, I never would have known who he was with his real name, yet from the tread title I knew right away. Time for some Tic-Tac-Toe.
When Wargames came out, many reviews singled out his performance as bad. I didn’t agree.
So you were as puzzled as I about why they thought they were on an island? The Canby Ferry just goes from one side of the Willamette to the other. No island.
Wood’s IMDb resume is typical for a British actor. Several top UK films like The Madness of King George and Shadowlands and then there’s 4th rate American crap like Jumpin’ Jack Flash. Sometimes you need a check. I wonder if he thought Wargames was just a check.
Yeah, I thought he did a good job. Saw it again just a few years ago and it holds up pretty well.
May he rest in peace.
His New York Times obit doesn’t even mention WarGames. Lots of pish-posh Shakespeare and Stoppard stuff. Hmmph.
I also remember Dabney Coleman being pretty good in that flick.
Yeah, and the guy who went on to play the grumpy ex-astronaut on Northern Exposure as the top Air Force general.
I’m sorry to hear of his passing. I have a taste for nuclear war/doomsday movies and I hate to say it, but WarGames never made the cut for me. It just seemed less than the classics of that genre (Dr Strangelove, Fail Safe, even Threads).
RIP Mr Wood.
Bri2k
Hmm, I thought that scene was supposed to take place out on the Oregon coast somewhere. It was filmed at the Steilacoom ferry terminal on Puget Sound, between Tacoma and Olympia. Ferries there go to McNeil Island, site of a recently closed federal penitentiary.
I guess he’s gone to DeadCon 1.