Walt Gorney(1912-2004)

Character actor Walt Gorney was born on April 12, 1912 in Vienna, Austria. He came to the United States when he was ten years old and lived with his family in Massachusetts. He had at least three younger sisters. In 1946, Gorney moved to an apartment in Greenwich Village in New York City. Walt appeared in a handful of movies in minor roles; he was usually cast as bums or average working class types. With his lean, stringy build, gaunt face, croaky voice, and intense off-center screen presence, Gorney was perfectly cast as local town eccentric and grim prophet of gloom 'n' doom Crazy Ralph in the horror classic Vendredi 13 (1980). He returned as Crazy Ralph in Le Tueur du vendredi (1981) and did the opening narration for Vendredi 13, chapitre VII : Un nouveau défi (1988). Outside of his regrettably sparse movie credits, Walt had a long and respectable career acting on stage. Gorney was a member of the theatrical group the Provincetown Players in the early 1950s. He portrayed the role of Juan in the world premiere of "If Five Years Pass" and the part of Allen in "The Male Animal". Gorney appeared in the Broadway plays "Scratch" and "Trelawny of the Wells". Moreover, he also acted in the Off-Broadway stage productions "The Misanthrope", "Measure for Measure" and "Crystal and the Fox". Walt Gorney died at age 91 after a long illness at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York City on March 5, 2004.