M. Emmet Walsh, iconic actor and Ogdensburg native, dies at 88

Mar. 21—OGDENSBURG — An Ogdensburg native who starred in dozens of movies and television shows over a span of six decades has died.

M. Emmet Walsh died Tuesday at the age of 88 in St. Albans, Vermont.

Born Michael Emmet Walsh on March 22, 1935, in Ogdensburg, he was the son of Harry Maurice Walsh Sr. and Agnes Katherine (Sullivan) Walsh. He was later raised on Lake Champlain in Swanton, Vermont, where his grandfather, father and brother worked as customs officers, according to published reports.

Walsh attended Clarkson University, Potsdam, earning a bachelor's degree in business administration, and then enrolled in the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City.

In 2008, Walsh attended a 50-year reunion at Clarkson and told the Times that he had no plans on retiring from acting.

"I have to do as well as I can. Maybe that's from Clarkson, maybe that's from being Irish, maybe that's from anything in the world. But I don't want to keel over and say, 'I didn't try on that last take,'" he said.

After working on stage in New York City for a number of years, he made his Broadway debut in "Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?" in 1969, starring Al Pacino. After appearing in an uncredited role in "Midnight Cowboy," he landed a part in Arthur Penn's screen adaptation of Arlo Guthrie's song "Alice's Restaurant."

He played a sportswriter in the 1977 hit "Slap Shot," followed by a crazed sniper in Steve Martin's "The Jerk," a swimming coach in the 1980 film "Ordinary People. In 1982, he played a police supervisor in the 1982 sci-fi film "Blade Runner."

Dozens more films and television series appearances followed, with the total nearing 200.

Walsh was still working into his late 80s, including in the 2019 movie "Knives Out," and in a 2022 episode of the Showtime series "American Gigolo." He performed in a western, "Outlaw Posse" directed by Mario Van Peebles, that was released this year.

"The parts are all your children," Walsh said in a 1989 interview with the trade newspaper Drama-Logue. "They'll be my epitaph when they throw in that last shovelful of dirt."