'Blood Simple,' 'Knives Out' actor M. Emmet Walsh dies at 88

March 20 (UPI) -- Actor M. Emmet Walsh died Tuesday. Deadline and Variety confirmed the news.

Walsh was 88 and died of cardiac arrest in a Vermont hospital.

With hundreds of credits since the '60s, Walsh played significant roles in many memorable movies in all different genres, often making a single scene stand out.

In the Coen Brothers' debut film Blood Simple, Walsh played a private detective blackmailing an adulterous couple. Walsh played Harrison Ford's boss in Blade Runner.

In the comedy The Jerk, Walsh played a killer who picks Steve Martin's character's name out of the phone book to target him for murder. Walsh played a doctor who examines an undercover Chevy Chase in Fletch and a security guard questioned by Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) in Knives Out.

In the drama Ordinary People, Walsh played the swim coach for a teenager (Timothy Hutton) traumatized by the death of his brother in a sailing accident. In A Time to Kill, Walsh played a psychologist discredited by the prosecution.

On television, Walsh recently guest-starred on The Righteous Gemstones, American Gigolo and Empire.