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M Emmet Walsh, the legendary actor of Blade Runner, Blood Simple, and Knives Out fame, died at the age of 88 on March 19. His longtime manager, Sandy Joseph, confirmed the news to Variety on Wednesday, revealing that the actor had died of a cardiac arrest at a hospital in St. Albans, Vermont.
M Emmet Walsh's career spanned over seven decades, with over 220 acting credits to his name. He landed his first credited film role in Arthur Penn's 1969 flick Alice’s Restaurant.
He also starred as Mr Proofroc, the elderly security guard of the Thrombey mansion, in Rian Johnson's highly-acclaimed 2019 family murder mystery Knives Out, starring Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, and Ana de Armas.
Exploring M Emmet Walsh's cameo in Knives Out
According to the Knives Out fandom wiki page, M Emmet Walsh appeared in a short cameo as the security guard Mr Proofroc in the film. The movie's premise is a classic whodunit mystery, where the patriarch of the eccentric Thrombey family, Harlan Thrombey, is found dead the morning after his 85th birthday.
The movie follows Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) on his quest to find the murderer, weeding through his list of suspects including Harlan's family and staff. M Emmet Walsh as the security guard, Mr Proofroc, played a small but vital role in the film, handing over a security tape that has incriminating evidence against Harlan's nurse, Marta (Ana de Armas).
As the scene plays out, Proofroc reveals that he has been guarding the Thrombey estate for fifty years, telling the police about how he used to patrol the grounds with a gun before security cameras appeared.
Blanc and the police wait for Proofroc to play the security tape on an old VHS VCR. The machine stops working, and Marta takes the tape as Blanc asks the police to digitize it for clearer footage.
The VHS tape proves to be a bust as Marta meddles with the tape before handing it over to the police, wiping it of its contents. While the family is suspicious of Marta killing Harlan for financial gain, the twist ending reveals that she was framed by Harlan's grandson, Ransom (Chris Evans).
M Emmet Walsh's last role will be in the 2024 movie Outlaw Posse
According to The Guardian, M Emmet Walsh never retired from acting and his last role was in Mario Van Peebles's 2024 Wester flick Outlaw Posse, starring Whoopi Goldberg and Cedric the Entertainer.
In 2018, his Blade Runner co-star, Harrison Ford, inducted the legendary actor into the Character Actor Hall of Fame, following which he was also honored with the Chairman's Lifetime Achievement award.
Knives Out director Rian Johnson paid tribute to the actor on X, calling him an "absolute legend."
According to TIME Magazine, M Emmet Walsh was born in New York in 1935 and raised in Vermont. He attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City and started his career in acting as a stage actor, before moving to the silver screen.
While his first breakout role was in the 1978’s Straight Time, Walsh's most critically acclaimed performance was in the Coen Brother's 1984 film Blood Simple, which earned him the first-ever Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead in 1986.
