Nightmare On Elm Street Actor John Saxon Dies At 83
John Saxon, ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ Star, Dies At 83, Enter the Dragon star leaves behind vast body of work.
Actor John Saxon Dies At 83
John Saxon, character actor known for his roles in Westerns and horror films, died Saturday. His career spanned more than sixty years tallying more than 200 film credits. He co-starred with Bruce Lee in Enter The Dragon and starred in Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street in 1984. He was 83.
His wife stated he passed from pneumonia in his Murfreesboro, Tennessee in a statement to THR.
Saxon was born as Carmine Orrico in Brooklyn, New York in 1935. After graduating high school he studied with famous acting coach Stella Adler. Soon after Universal Studios contracted him and requested he be renamed to John Saxon. He was also notably skilled in judo and karate.
The mid to late 50s saw Saxon work as a teen idol with credits in films Rock, Pretty Baby, Summer Love, The Reluctant Debutante, This Happy Feeling, and Cry Tough. He won a Golden Globe in 1958 as Most Promising Newcomer Male.
In 1960 Saxon worked with director John Huston in The Unforgiven. He played an Indian in support of Burt Lancaster and Audrey Hepburn. He was nominated for the 1966 Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe opposite Marlon Brando in The Appaloosa.
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Saxon said in an interview with the Chicago Daily Tribune in 1960 that he “wanted to do all sorts of character parts.”
Among his major Hollywood feature roles was playing a martial artist alongside Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon. He also starred in Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street in 1984 as the heroine’s father. He later reprised his role in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.
He was married three times. He was married to Mary Ann Murphy from 1967 to 1979, Elizabeth Saxon from 1987 to 1992 and, since 2008, to Gloria Martel. Survivors also include his son, Antonio, and his sister, Dolores.
Born Carmine Orrico in Brooklyn, New York, he was discovered at age 17 by famed talent agent Henry Willson and rechristened John Saxon. His breakthrough came in 1956, when his starring roles in the film noir The Unguarded Moment and the musical Rock, Pretty Baby made him a teen idol and brought in some 3000 fan letters a week. At the 1958 Golden Globes, he won Most Promising Newcomer – Male.
For the next three decades Saxon would appear in dozens of films and television series as both a charismatic leading man and reliable supporting player. His turn as an unstable Mexican bandito opposite Marlon Brando in the 1966 Western The Appaloosa brought him a second Golden Globe nomination, and he played Dr. Theodore Stuart on the NBC drama The Bold Ones: The New Doctors for three seasons. During this time he also began appearing in European films, starring in Mario Bava’s seminal giallo horror The Girl Who Knew Too Much (released stateside as Evil Eye), and several poliziotteschi (crime) films.
One of his most well-remembered parts would come in 1973, when he starred opposite martial arts icon Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon. Saxon, who was practiced in judo and Shotokan karate, played sleazy American gambler Roper, on the run from loan sharks and participating in a martial arts tournament with Lee and fellow martial artist Jim Kelly. Saxon was meant to die in the film’s second act, but his agent insisted that he live through the end and had the script rewritten to accommodate the change.
Though no stranger to horror films, Saxon would become forever etched in the minds of horror fans when he starred as Lt. Donald Thompson, father of Heather Langenkamp’s Nancy Thompson, in Wes Craven’s iconic 1984 supernatural slasher A Nightmare on Elm Street. As a well-meaning but overbearing and ultimately-useless police officer, Saxon came to define the impotent authority figure that would be a central part of the series and the horror genre as a whole. He would later reprise his role in the 1987 sequel Dream Warriors, and play himself in the 1994 metasequel New Nightmare.
Saxon continued acting well into his seventies. His last credited role was in the 2017 indie film The Extra, and he’s still listed as part of Bring Me the Head of Lance Henriksen, which is in post-production. At the time of his death, he had appeared in 200 film and television projects over 60 years. He was married three times, to screenwriter Mary Ann Murphy, airline attendant turned actress Elizabeth Saxon and, since 2008, cosmetician Gloria Martel. He is survived by his sons, Antonio and Lance; grandson Mitchell; great-grandson John; and sister Dolores.
