Tom Towles(1950-2015)

Tom Towles was a character player, often cast as scumbags or obnoxious men, who worked for more than a decade in Chicago theatre, before establishing himself in films and TV beginning in the late 80s - often in lower-budget fare. Towles drifted into acting after serving in the Marine Corps. Although he made an isolated appearance in a bit role in Un après-midi de chien (1975) with Al Pacino, he returned to Chicago and became a member of the Organic Theatre Company appearing in numerous productions and often collaborating on the writing as well. Towles also acted with the prestigious Goodman Theatre there. It was 1985 before Towles was again in front of the cameras, this time as a lounge lizard in Pink Nights (1985). The next year, he was the despicable, loathsome Otis in Henry, portrait d'un serial killer (1986). In 1990, Towles played Harry Cooper, the guy everyone else trapped in the farmhouse would most like to sacrifice to the zombies in the remake of La Nuit des morts-vivants (1990). Towles' TV work has been ongoing since he appeared as J.J., the hunted killer in Pilot (1987), the two-hour pilot for a Robert Conrad series. He was Norman Stoneface, true to his name, in the 1994 Showtime movie Girls in Prison (1994), and also appeared in numerous TV episodes.

Other films includes Mad Dog and Glory (1993), Fortress (1992), Les princes de la ville (1993), Rock (1996), Dr. Dolittle (1998) and Rob Zombie's La Maison des 1000 morts (2003).