Pillar of independent film always made an impression
CHARACTER actors are not often called largerthanlife, but Seymour Cassel was just that.
The livewire pillar of independent film known for his frequent collaborations with John Cassavetes and Wes Anderson died this week. He was 84.
With a thick head of hair, a distinctive voice — sly, squeaky and matteroffact — and a forehead lined with concern even as a young man, he always made an impression no matter how big the role, whether sharing top billing with Gena Rowlands as onehalf of a volatile couple in Minnie and Moskowitz or posing as a cancer doctor for Gene Hackman in The Royal Tenenbaums.
He even left legacies outside his own industry, as the man who coined the nickname Slash for the eventual Guns N’ Roses guitarist Saul Hudson, who was childhood friends with Cassel’s son.
Born in Detroit on January 22, 1935, Cassel travelled frequently with his burlesque dancer mother as a child, and never met his father.
‘‘I started performing when I was 3; I’d come out in a little checkered suit and pull down the clown’s pants — I loved that!’’ he told the
in 1992.
‘‘I was a little ham and was a very open kid, probably because I was around adults all the time.’’
He was an angry and rebellious teen, who started drinking at 13. His mother shipped him off to live with his godmother in Detroit, where he stayed until enlisting in the navy at 17.
He eventually made his way to New York in the 1950s to pursue acting, launching a 60year
career with appearances in more than 100 films. It was there he met Cassavetes, who he said ‘‘saved’’ his life, and made his film debut in his 1958 feature
Shadows, which he also associateproduced, almost by accident.
It was the beginning of a lifelong friendship. In 1959, he followed Cassavetes and Rowlands to Los Angeles, where he lived in their guest house.
He would go on to work for Cassavetes often, with roles in
Faces, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, Opening Night and Love Streams.
Working with Cassavetes got him on the radar of many and he got the chance to work with greats like Sam Peckinpah in
Convoy, Elia Kazan in The Last Tycoon and Nicolas Roeg in Track 29 and Cold Heaven.
His journey in Hollywood was not without issues, mostly the result of a hardpartying lifestyle with the likes of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones that took a toll on his health, marriage and family life. He even spent time in jail in 1982, and went into recovery in the mid’80s.
Cassel bounced back, however, and worked frequently in the 1990s, with roles in films including Dick Tracy, White Fang, In the Soup, Indecent Proposal, Honeymoon in Vegas and It Could Happen to You.
Then, in 1998 a new generation met him as a result of the beginnings of a fruitful collaboration with Anderson, as Bert Fischer in Rushmore.
He went on to work with Anderson twice more, playing the illfated Esteban in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and Dusty the lift operator in The Royal Tenenbaums.
He is survived by three children, seven grandchildren and three greatgrandchildren. —AP