Charles Napier

Charles Napier
Napier in April 2008
Born	April 12, 1936 (1936-04-12) (age 73) Scottsville, Kentucky, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1969–present

Charles L. Napier (born April 12, 1936) is an American actor, known for his portrayals of square-jawed tough guys and military types.

Biography

Personal life

Napier was born in Scottsville, Kentucky, the son of Liones Napier.^[1] He served in the military with the 11th Airborne Division before becoming an actor. He has been married twice, recently to Delores Wilson. Napier is currently divorced and has three children, Chuck Whitnel, Charles Hunter Napier (named after famed writer Hunter S. Thompson, an acquaintance of Charles'), and Meghan Saralena Chariece Susanna Napier. He currently resides in Bakersfield, California.

Career

Charles gave up a career as a teacher to move to Hollywood. Napier made his film debut in Russ Meyer's Cherry, Harry & Raquel! (1970). Napier went on to play roles in several Meyer movies, including the homicidal Harry Sledge in Supervixens (1975). In 1977, Napier was cast as frontier scout Luther Sprague in the 6-episode NBC western television series, The Oregon Trail, with co-stars Rod Taylor, Andrew Stevens, Tony Becker, and Darleen Carr.

Napier is a regular in Jonathan Demme-directed movies, including The Silence of the Lambs and Philadelphia. Some of Napier's memorable roles include Murdock, the intelligence officer commanding Rambo in Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) and Tucker McElroy, lead singer and driver of the Winnebago for "The Good Old Boys" in The Blues Brothers (1980). He also provided some of The Hulk's growls on 1970s television series The Incredible Hulk. (The others were done by Ted Cassidy.) He also guest starred on the series and in the 1989 telefilm The Incredible Hulk Returns. Charles appeared in 2 episodes of the 1980s hit TV series The A-Team as Col. Briggs.

He is well known among Star Trek fans for appearing on both Star Trek: The Original Series episode "The Way to Eden" and the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Little Green Men".

Napier also provided the voice for Duke Phillips, the Ted Turner-inspired network owner in the 1990s animated series The Critic. From 1997 through 2001, he provided the voice for Zed on Men in Black: The Series. He has also provided several guest voices for episodes of The Simpsons. He provided the voice for the Sheriff on Squidbillies for season one and episodes 201–203, though uncredited. He was replaced by like-sounding Bobby Ellerbee.

Napier also had a small role during the sixth season of Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2008 as a barber who assaulted Larry David in his shop after Larry offended him.

Napier will appear in the upcoming 2009 horror film Murder World alongside Scout Taylor-Compton.

Filmography

• Cherry, Harry & Raquel! (1970)
• Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970)
• The Seven Minutes (1971)
• Supervixens (1975)
• Citizen's Band (1977)
• The Blues Brothers (1980)
• Melvin and Howard (1980)
• The Blue and the Gray (1982) (miniseries)
• Knight Rider (1982) (TV)
• Swing Shift (1984)
• Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)
• Something Wild (1986)
• Married to the Mob (1988)
• Hit List (1989)
• Ernest Goes to Jail (1990)
• Miami Blues (1990)
• Maniac Cop 2 (1990)
• The Grifters (1990)
• The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
• Loaded Weapon 1 (1993)
• Philadelphia (1993)
• Body Bags (1993) (TV)
• Jury Duty (1995)
• 3 Ninjas Knuckle Up (1995)
• The Cable Guy (1996)
• Steel (1997)
• Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
• Beloved (1998)
• The Big Tease (1999)
• Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)
• Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000)
• Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002)
• The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
• Lords of Dogtown (2005)
• Annapolis (2006)
• One-Eyed Monster (2008)
• Murder World (2009)
• The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard (2009)

References

Bibliography

• Paul, Louis (2008). "Charles Napier". Tales From the Cult Film Trenches; Interviews with 36 Actors from Horror, Science Fiction and Exploitation Cinema. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. pp. 180–185. ISBN 978-0-7864-2994-3. 

External links

• Charles Napier (actor) at the Internet Movie Database