It’s been a rough couple of days for horror genre geeks. First Steve Dash, the actor who first portrayed an adult Jason Voorhees in 1981’s Friday the 13th Part 2 passed away at the age of 74. Now we’ve got word that he’s been joined by The Thing actor Donald Moffat, who had a long, distinguished career in Hollywood and the theatrical stage. Moffat passed away at 87, due to complications from a recent stroke.
To us horror geeks, Moffat is of course best known for playing M.T. Garry, the base commander of the arctic research station in John Carpenter’s masterful 1982 remake of The Thing From Another World. As the de facto leader of the group, his authority is slowly usurped as The Thing runs wild through the base, until characters such as helicopter pilot MacReady (Kurt Russell) are calling the shots. Memorably, Garry famously yells at MacReady and co. after the infamous “blood test” scene that he’d prefer not to spend all winter “TIED TO THIS F***ING COUCH!” Watch that classic scene below.
Moffat was born in 1930 in Plymouth, Devon, England. His best-remembered role outside of The Thing was as the U.S. president in Clear and Present Danger, although he also appeared in a number of films in various genres such as Logan’s Run, The Right Stuff and Bonfire of the Vanities. He was also a decorated stage actor, having been nominated twice in one year for the “Best Actor” Tony Award in 1967, for both Right You Are (If You Think You Are) and The Wild Duck.
RIP, Donald Moffat. Let’s hope he doesn’t end up forgotten in this year’s Oscars “In Memoriam.”