'Maniac Cop' Star Robert Z'Dar Passes Away At 64

Cult actor Robert Z’Dar passed away Monday night in Pensacola, Florida due to a heart attack. He was 64.

Many of you may not instantly recognize his name, but if you’re a fan of badass low-buget action, horror, sci-fi, and exploitation movies in the ‘80s and ‘90s, odds are you’ll recognize his legendary jaw. From his 1985 debut in Hellhole, he went on to appear (star might be a bit of a stretch in most cases) in 121 film and TV titles, including epics like Soultaker, Samurai Cop, Maniac Cop, and one of my all time favorite movies, Tango &Cash.

RIP Elmore Leonard: Take One Last Lesson From The Master

 

Like many people, I woke up this morning to the news that legendary crime and mystery writer Elmore Leonard has passed away at the age of 87. I started reading books like Get Shorty, Maximum Bob, and Rum Punch in junior high. While in the intervening years I moved away from his fiction for periods of time time, I always admired his prose. Along the way, I realized he also wrote films that were just as badass as his books.  Movies like 3:10 to Yuma, Joe Kidd, and Mr. Majestyk (who else beside Elmore Leonard and Charles Bronson could make melon farming kick so much ass?) are important works of the stern-faced, stoic, gritty genre that I hold very near and dear to my heart. Justified, a show not only based on Leonard’s work, but produced by him as well, is currently the reigning champion of gravelly crime dramas on TV.

There isn’t much that I can say about Leonard that hasn’t already been said with more eloquence elsewhere, so I think it’s best to let the man speak for himself. What follows are Elmore Leonard’s 10 rules forwriting. Not only to do they offer valuable advice to anyone looking to hone their craft, they provide a quick insight into the way his mind worked. Read them, learn them, love them. Enjoy.

RIP Rue McClanahan

You will be missed, dear friend.