Please Rewind Talent Wall

Charles Napier

Charles Napier built a prolific career from the kind of presence casting directors rarely overlook: a square jaw, a commanding voice and an easy authority that could read as respectable, threatening or comically overblown. Frequently cast as corrupt cops, soldiers, businessmen and other hard-edged figures, he became a familiar character actor across film and television without being confined to one genre. Born on April 12, 1936, in Mount Union, Kentucky, in Allen County, Napier took an indirect route to the screen. He served in the United States Army, rising to sergeant, before studying art and physical education at Western Kentucky University. He initially wanted to coach basketball and later taught art, but encouragement from instructor D. Russell Miller and experience in community theater moved him toward acting. After time in New York and Florida, Napier headed to California. A bit part in Mission: Impossible earned him a union card, while his film debut came unexpectedly when Russ Meyer cast him as the male lead in Cherry, Harry & Raquel! Napier did more than act on the production, also helping with cameras, stunts, makeup and driving. The road ahead was not immediately secure, but a meeting with Alfred Hitchcock eventually brought him a one-year Universal Studios contract. Napier’s screen work made good use of his forceful energy. He played Tucker McElroy, the irritable leader of the Good Ol’ Boys, in The Blues Brothers and the bureaucratic CIA officer Marshall Murdock in Rambo: First Blood Part II. Jonathan Demme cast him in several films, including The Silence of the Lambs and Philadelphia; Napier considered his role as a judge in Philadelphia his career favorite. His television appearances ranged from The Oregon Trail and The A-Team to Knight Rider and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Star Trek viewers knew him both as Adam in “The Way to Eden” and General Denning in Deep Space Nine’s “Little Green Men.” He also had an extensive voice career, with work in Superman: The Animated Series, Justice League, Men in Black: The Series, Squidbillies and The Simpsons. Before his death in 2011, Napier published a book about his life in Hollywood, Square Jaw and Big Heart—a title well matched to the screen persona he spent decades putting to work.