who is this actor?
anyone knows the name of the actor who drives the helicopter in the beginning of the movie (just next to Karen Black)???
shareyes his name is Carl Richards, he died a few years ago from a heart attack in a place called Dover in England. That was his only acting role.
sharethanks for your help
shareThis is weird.
I'm pretty certain that the helicopter pilot was played by an actor named Alan Fudge, who worked on contract for Universal in those years, and can also be seen with Karen Black in "Airport '75."
Neither Fudge nor this Carl person is listed in the "Family Plot" cast. nor is the helicopter pilot credited.
I'm going with Alan Fudge.
Look at his photo on his page here at imdb. It's a recent photo of the older man, but similar.
You're right it is Alan Fudge. I'm surprised he isn't listed in the cast. We shall correct that ASAP! Ed Lauter, of all people, told me last year. In fact, the original actor was replaced along with Roy Thinnes as Arthur Adamson early in the shoot. I don't know who Alan replaced (Ed never did find out) but he said that Peggy Robertson told him that "Hitch didn't like what he was getting from them."--whatever that means. Ed also told me that Hitch had promised to cast him as the second lead in "The Short Night"--they had gotten on so well.
alfie
Well, maybe the original actor was...Carl Franklin?
I saw a lot of movies in the 70's, and Alan Fudge -- usually in Universal movies and TV -- always sort of amused me. A classic "working actor," Fudge had pleasant but exceedingly bland features, with practically no edge at all. He sometimes played deceptively normal villains, if I recall. In "Airport '75," he played a control tower guy taking Black's inital reports of a mid-air collision. It looks like Alan Fudge (what a name) has been working steadily ever since, but obviously with little star power.
Black gets her best scene in "Family Plot" in that helicopter, I've always thought -- with Fudge able in support. The "idea" of the scene is smart: Black refuses to say a word; Fudge tries to needle her into saying SOMETHING. It's like a children's game. Black directs Fudge by pointing at the compass, making hand gestures. When Fudge says he believes the gun isn't loaded,Black makes a sophisticated facial expression and shoots a hole in Fudge's helicopter window ( a little bit of punishment.) Karen Black is quite funny and sly here -- maybe its her best scene because she never speaks with that flat voice of hers.
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So, alfiehitchie, you met/know Ed Lauter, huh? Good for you.
He was very good in "Family Plot." I understand that Hitchcock cast him because Hitchcock liked "The Longest Yard" (!) and Lauter's villainish turn in it.
I heard from Ernest Lehman (at a seminar) that Lauter's character -- brutish, street-wise Joe Maloney -- was Lehman's attempt to give a Hitchcock movie a tougher sort of bad guy, if only the henchman. It worked!
Would have Lauter gotten the VILLAIN role in "Short Night" -- that is, the turncoat spy who murders the woman early on? I'd heard Hitchcock wanted Walter Matthau for that role, but Lauter would have been more believably "rough and cold."
Thanks a lot !!!
Eric