RIP Glenn Shadix (aka "the fat gay guy from Beetlejuice")

Charactor actor Glenn Shadix has died. He’s one of those “that guy” actors, specifically (as in the title) “that fat gay guy”, though in recent years he lost a LOT of weight through gastric bypass. (Fat pic/thin pic.)

His best known roles were in Tim Burton movies: Beetlejuice (the fat gay interior decorator) onscreen and as a voice in Nightmare Before Christmas and an orangutan senator in Planet of the Apes but he did a zillion TV and movie and stage appearances including Carnivale in recent (thin) years.

He was semi-retired for the past few years and living in his native Birmingham, AL (where his parents sent him for electroshock treatment when he was a college student to cure teh gay). He owned a beautiful Queen Anne home there for a while but it burned to the ground at Christmas a few years back. He died from a head injuries he suffered in an accident at his downtown B’ham condo. Apparently he had health problems as the obit says he was in a wheelchair.

Anyway, unique actor and worthy of mention.

Don’t forget Associate Bob in Demolition Man, although Otho was his best part overall.

I agree. Interesting actor, for sure. To bad, Glen. I enjoyed your work.

Wow, I **just **watched *Beetlejuice *again last night and wondered what “Otho” had been doing lately. He was great in that role.

Tremendous actor! I will miss him.

Also, let’s not forget his contribution to the always eminently quotable Heathers.

I believe he also appeared on a couple of Seinfeld episodes as the super of Jerry’s building, or maybe he was more of a resident helper to the landlord. Either way, he was always funny.

I met him a few years ago at our convention. Once of the nicest guys ever. He will be missed.

One of the best lines ever is when he calls out against the “MTV video games.”

This is almost my exact post, except we watched it Monday night.

Godspeed to him.

This is long but interesting: Glenndiscussing the electroshock therapy he had beginning at 17 to make him straight.

Man, that sucks. I never saw him in a show or movie where he didn’t pull off one of his rolls excellently.

On his blog he mentioned a recent trip to NYC to audition for a Christopher Woltz project for which they had tracked him down in Alabama (he was essentially retired). Nice to know he did not lack for quality work.

That is a really interesting interview.

I loved him! Definitely a “Hey, It’s That Guy!”

Well, when I posted that, last night was Monday night. :slight_smile:

He was great as prickly, shady Val Templeton in Carnivale. What a shame he died in such a way.

What a crappy way to go. He will be missed!

The early reports say “blunt head trauma” or something to that effect. If he was wheelchair bound (which me might not have been 100% of the time), it seems hard–but certainly not impossible–to imagine him falling out of it an getting so banged up that he died from the injury. So. . .

If he was having mobility problems, maybe he was trying walk without it? Or possibly he had a heart attack (or something) in his chair and bumped his head as he fell out of it. I had not seen a lot of detail in the reports, and since there’s no indication of foul play, there probably wasn’t an autopsy.

The guy’s dead, let’s lay off the fat jokes.

This will be the plot of Tim Burton’s Oliver Stone’s GLENN SHADIX. It’s kind of like JFK but with really bizarre shadows and angles.

My favorite Beetlejuice moment.