FATHER GEEK salutes the replicant LEON, aka BRION JAMES!

Yet again ol FATHER GEEK is here to write about the passing of an all too familiar face. BRION JAMES, born in 1945 in Beaumont, California (your writer was born in 1945 in Beaumont, Texas), who played the scoundrel in a long chain of successful Hollywood shockers has died way too soon at the age of 54. Brion, who characterized evil incarnate as the blood-thirsty replicant Leon in persuit of Harrison Ford in "Blade Runner" and greed personified as a self-serving studio honcho in "The Player", suffered a fatal heart attack at his home in Malibu this past week.

James, who had emerged into the public pop culture consciousness through hard work in around a 100 motion pictures since the 70s, had most often played a bad guy and sadly many of his films were relegated to the obscurity of the video rental shelves of America’s suburban strip malls without ever gracing a theater screen. However, James was a versatile actor whose 1992 role in Robert Altman's "The Player", starring Tim Robbins, helped him break out of the oblivion of his smaller roles. Although he was relatively famous for his chiller-villainesque parts, he was actually an actor who had a broad range of talent that was far too often not utilized correctly by the people incharge of his career. He handled comedy very well in films like “Silverado”, "Cabin Boy", and “The Wrong Guys”. One of FATHER GEEKS favorite characters created by Brion was that of the laughable redneck mob leader in the Amazing Stories TV episode “Mummy Dearest” where he uttered the unforgettable line, “Hanging’s for everybody!”

His big screen credits include a role in Luc Besson's science fiction adventure "The Fifth Element", starring Bruce Willis (1997), "Tango & Cash”(89), “Red Heat”(88), “DOA”(88), “Dead Man Out”(87), “The Postman Always Rings Twice”(81), “KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park”(78), “Southern Comfort”, “Enemy Mine”, and several other movies that were under the guidance of explotation director and close friend Philippe Mora, including ``A Breed Apart'' with Kathleen Turner (1984) and a hilarious comic turn in ``Pterodactyl Woman from Beverly Hills” which he also produced. He also appeared with Nolte and Murphy in the action crime-comedy films ``48 Hours'' (1982) and ``Another 48 Hours'' (1990).

``This is the first sequel I've ever been in because I rarely live througha film,'' he facetiously told the L A Times about his part in the the second of the highly successful films. ``I've been boiled in oil; I've had my head ripped off by a freeway overpass; I've been thrown off a cliff. ... I've killed a lot of people, too.''

Brion did tons of Television work also, including roles on “Highlander”, “Millennium”, “The Magnificent Seven”, “M.A.N.T.I.S.”, “Tales from the Crypt”, and several appearances on “Chips”. He did voice work in animation also. Like in the “Spawn” TV series, the “Feeding Time” episode of Superman, and the “Joker’s Wild” episode of Batman.

In most fans minds, however, he is best remembered as the nervous replicant Leon, who issued forth the chilling line: "Wake up ... time to die" in the futuristic detective thriller "Blade Runner" . To many of us that's one of the most memorable moments in sci-fi filmdom. Farewell, Brion; your fans are going to really miss you. I know that the Knowles household and the Headquarter's staff of AICN will for sure!