John Vernon was a prolific stage-trained Canadian character player who made a career out of convincingly playing crafty villains, morally bankrupt officials and heartless authority figures in American films and TV since the 1960s. Vernon has been directed by some stellar filmmakers, including Alfred Hitchcock ("The Topaz (1969)"), George Cukor ("Justine (1969/I)"), Don Siegel ("Dirty Harry (1971 ...
show all John Vernon was a prolific stage-trained Canadian character player who made a career out of convincingly playing crafty villains, morally bankrupt officials and heartless authority figures in American films and TV since the 1960s. Vernon has been directed by some stellar filmmakers, including Alfred Hitchcock ("The Topaz (1969)"), George Cukor ("Justine (1969/I)"), Don Siegel ("Dirty Harry (1971)") and Clint Eastwood ("Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)"). After training at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and honing his skills in Canadian theater and TV, Vernon made his US film debut in John Boorman's noir/gangster classic "Point Blank (1967)" as a trusted friend who betrays Lee Marvin. He again failed to inspire confidence as the ineffectual mayor of San Francisco in "Dirty Harry (1971)". Vernon may be best remembered as the sinister Dean Wormer in John Landis ' "Animal House (1978)", a role he reprised for the TV spin-off "Delta House" (1979/I)". This led to more film comedy roles, a highlight being Mr. Big in the blaxploitation spoof "I'm Gonna Git You, Sucka (1988)".
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