Who did Kenneth Welsh play in 'Twin Peaks?' Tributes pour in as actor passes away at 80

Actor Kenneth Welsh recently passed away at the age of 80. He died on May 5 at his home outside Toronto and was surrounded by his loved ones.

Welsh’s cause of death has not been revealed until now. ACTRA, the union of Canadian actors, paid tribute to Welsh on May 6 via social media and wrote:

Kenneth Welsh’s character in Twin Peaks

Welsh gained recognition for his performance as Windom Earle in Twin Peaks. The character is a former FBI agent and former partner of Agent Dale Cooper.

Earle appeared in the later half of the second season and is an evil genius and a master of disguise. He has a lot of knowledge about Dugpas, ancient Tibetan sorcerers dedicated to pure evil.

Earle claims to have killed his wife Caroline and is fascinated with Black Lodge, whose secrets he tries to unlock alongside black magic. Major Garland Biggs also said that he and Earle were involved in Project Blue Book and that their investigation into Earle’s involvement was linked to Twin Peaks and not the usual UFO investigations.

Windom is obsessed with chess and it plays an important role in all the episodes. Earle kills a victim for every chess piece he wins during a correspondence game with Agent Cooper. Cooper took the help of Pete Martell, a local chess expert, to force a stalemate with as little loss of pieces as possible.

Everything known about Kenneth Welsh

Born on March 30, 1942, Kenneth Welsh played the role of historical figures and made guest appearances on TV series like Due South and Slings & Arrows.

Kenneth’s father worked for the Canadian National Railway and grew up in Alberta. He studied drama at school and shifted to Montreal, attending the National Theatre School.

He was nominated twice for the Genie Award for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor and was made a member of the Order of Canada in 2003.

Welsh played the role of the vice-president of the United States in the 2004 environmental disaster film, The Day After Tomorrow. However, his appearance in the film led to some controversy due to his physical resemblance to Dick Cheney, the real-life vice-president at the time.

He was a follower of the American spiritual teacher, Adi Da. He also narrated Da’s audiobook, What, Where, When, How, Why, and Who to Remember to Be Happy, in 2000.

Fans pay tribute on Twitter

Kenneth Welsh became famous all these years for his flawless performances in film and television. Twitter was flooded with tributes when people heard about his death.

About the author

Anupal is a pop culture writer at Sportskeeda with a degree in Political Science. He developed a keen interest in the lives of celebrities, films, TV shows, and box office collections since an early age. After accumulating significant experience as a content writer across varied fields at companies such as The Indian Wire, DigiStatement, and QuirkyByte Media, he eventually settled on writing about his favorite genre - pop culture.

Anupal believes in conducting in-depth research while writing about any topic and relies on varied sources to ensure he produces holistic articles. He also often glances through content that was published in the 80s and 90s to gain a better understanding of the subject he is covering.

Anupal admires Robert Downey Jr., who played one of his favorite Marvel superheroes, Iron Man. He is inspired by the actor's resilience and the determination in overcoming past struggles to building a successful Hollywood career and admires the way he articulates his thoughts while speaking in interviews.

If Anupal could travel back in time, he would love to experience James Cameron's 2009 film 'Avatar' in a theatre full of fans. When he's not busy working, he binges on the latest OTT titles across languages.

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