Character actor Louis Perryman was found dead in his South Austin home on April 2; he was 67 years old. The circumstances of his demise are bizarre and saddening. According to a report on the Fox Austin website, a troubled young man named Seth Tatum, reportedly “bi-polar, off his meds and drinking” went on a rampage, attacking his stepfather with a pair of hedge clippers and fleeing on foot. He travelled three miles and happened to end up at the home of Perryman. “Witnesses there say he struck up a conversation with the homeowner and went inside. A few minutes later, from across the street, Henry Barta, says he spotted his neighbor's car pull away.” The next morning Tatum turned himself in at the Travis County Courthouse, announcing that the car he’d arrived in was stolen and that he was pretty sure he’d killed the owner. When police arrived at Perryman’s home, they determined the story was true: “Perryman was dead. Investigators say his body was covered with multiple slash marks.”
Perryman was a familiar face in movies ranging from The Blues Brothers to Poltergeist to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, but he did his finest work in three films by the late Eagle Pennell: A Hell of a Note, The Whole Shootin’ Match (recently issued for the first time on DVD) and Last Night at the Alamo.
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