It’s 20 August 1947. Ray Wise is born! Run!!!

Wise has had a varied career. Hey, he’s a character actor! He played the good guy in Swamp Thing (at least until he was the swamp thing, when Dick Durock took over).

I was concerned when he showed up in God’s Not Dead 2. I didn’t want to see him turn into a “Christian actor” who is only ever in these pandering productions. And he has been in a number of other Pure Flix films. But this seems to be more a function of his willingness to do anything for a buck. I respect that! He is apparently a Christian but not a “Christian actor.”

Ray Wise works a lot. He usually appears in several films each year. IMDB lists over 250 credits for him. And this includes many single credits that represent multiple episodes. For example, he was in 18 episodes of Twin Peaks and has appeared in 91 episodes of as Ian Ward on The Young and the Restless over the last decade.

I’ve reviewed a few films he’s been in: RoboCop (1987), Dead End (2003), Suburban Gothic (2014), and Night of the Living Deb (2015). Of these films, I think people interested in Ray Wise should watch Dead End.

Other 20 August Anniversaries

Filmmakers

• HP Lovecraft (1890-1937): Author who inspired so many great films including Re-Animator and In the Mouth of Madness.
• André Morell (1909-1978): Star of The Plague of the Zombies and The Mummy’s Shroud.
• Isaac Hayes (1942-2008): Primarily a music producer, he had a notable career as an actor in a number of psychotronic films including Escape From New York and Oblivion.
• Sylvester McCoy (1943-): Seventh Doctor Who.

Films

• Nightmare Castle (1965): A woman and her lover are tortured to death by her husband. So their ghosts come back for revenge.
• Whatever Happened To Aunt Alice? (1969): A widow kills a bunch of people to make ends meet.
• The Return Of Count Yorga (1971): A vampire wants a bride and goes to great effort to get it.
• Kenny & Co (1976): Coming-of-age film by Don Coscarelli.
• The Beastmaster (1982): Sword-and-sorcery film by Don Coscarelli.
• Class of 1984 (1982): New high school teacher vs student punks.
• Teaching Mrs Tingle (1999): Ambitious student kidnaps the teacher who stands in her way.
• The Erotic Rites of Countess Dracula (2001): Female vampire wants to be mortal again. Another from Donald F Glut.
• Exorcist: The Beginning (2004): Prequel to the original film featuring the less-interesting priest.
• Mean Creek (2004): A boy’s older brother punishes his bully.
• Open Water (2004): Scuba divers are abandoned in shark-infested water.
• Jingles the Clown (2009): Killer clown movie. Remake of the filmmakers’ Mr Jingles released 3 years earlier.
• Piranha 3D (2010): Strangely, the fourth film in this series. Followed by Piranha 3DD.

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Ray Wise image via Wikipedia by Michael Koschinski under CC BY-SA 3.0.