Nordling here.
I watched the first Wrestlemania on pay-per-view back in the day, and I remember rooting for Hulk Hogan and Mr. T against the nefarious Paul Orndorff and Rowdy Roddy Piper. I remember loathing Roddy Piper to the core of my being, having seriously bought into believing wrestling was as real as it gets. Hey, I was a kid. Even so, I loved the spectacle of wrestling back then, and although I haven't kept up with it through the years, I remember many hours of entertainment from it. Piper was a charismatic bad guy wrestler, and fun as hell to watch.
So when John Carpenter cast him in THEY LIVE, even though I was older and knew that wrestling was by-and-large scripted, some of that residual bad-guyness stuck with me and even though Carpenter was a filmmaker I loved, I didn't know if I could make the leap into watching Mr. Piper be the action hero. I needn't have worried. Rowdy Roddy Piper's Nada is one of the most iconic roles in science fiction action, probably right next to Kurt Russell's work with Carpenter. The fight between Piper and Keith David is seriously one for the ages - brutal, ridiculous, funny as hell. Piper just oozes cool right off the screen, and it's one of those performances that people remember fondly for years to come.
Roddy Piper's been in a bunch of action films, like HELL COMES TO FROGTOWN, and tons of television work outside of wrestling. He returned to the ring several times over the years, and his fans are legion. By all accounts he was a pleasure to work with, and although he suffered from Hodgkin's lymphoma and injuries sustained in a car crash in 2005, he continued to meet and greet fans all over the world. He was recently here in Houston for Comicpalooza, and I very much regret now not stopping by his booth just to thank the man for all the pleasure and entertainment he's given me personally through the years.
On July 30th, Rowdy Roddy Piper suffered a heart attack, and he is survived by his wife and four children. We here at Ain't It Cool give our sincere condolences to his family, friends, and loved ones. And somewhere in Heaven, they just ran out of bubblegum.
Nordling, out.
