10 Unsung Movie Heroes Of The Video Rental Era
7. Clu Gulager
Gulager worked extensively in television from as early as 1952, appearing for the most part in westerns. He became a popular supporting actor after his part in A Force of One with Chuck Norris in 1979, and later became known for his work specifically in horror movies.
And it's these latter efforts that made him a genre favourite, popping up throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The sorority-based slasher The Initiation, comedy zombie classic The Return of the Living dead and the criminally underrated A Nightmare in Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge serve as highlights of his work.
Often playing the level-headed authority figure, he seemed hilariously out of place with all the madness going on around him in his films. He was also in loveably terrible genre hits Teen Vamp, Hunter’s Blood and the Willies, three movies that seem to have been forgotten in the post-VHS world. He may not have been featured on the posters or the fronts of the VHS sleeves for these roles, but he is recognised by many as the serious face of the genre’s sillier side.
Culager lived a long, busy life and passed away in August 2022 at the age of 93. One of his last parts been a small role in Quintin Tarantino’s 2019 movie Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood.