DADDY DEAREST: Ray Wise shares a moment with Sheryl Lee (a/k/a Laura Palmer) in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me |
I'll warn you right now: if you haven't seen Twin Peaks, but don’t want the fun spoiled when you do, just walk away right now. The same goes for those of you who missed the most recent season of 24.For the rest of you, we are here to pay tribute to Ray Wise, the man who played Leland Palmer, a character who oozed creepiness from every pore. No one should have been surprised to learn that Leland, sobbing specter of barely-suppressed rage, was responsible for Laura Palmer's death, even if he was just acting as a conduit for the spirit of BOB. We still get the creeps just thinking about his turn in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, David Lynch's film companion to the TV series. His performance has been permanently etched on the brains of many of those who saw it.
Even if Wise never dissociates himself from that role (he still looks as though he hasn't aged a day since 1990), he has nonetheless managed to carve out a niche as a fine character actor. He usually plays villainous types, or at the very least kind-of-shady types, with a side helping of tortured vulnerability, which he served up as the main course in 2005's Good Night and Good Luck. But his work has gone unheralded – so unheralded, in fact, that as of this writing he's not even listed on Fametracker's comprehensive "Hey, It's That Guy!" page, which specializes in such things. So, Ray Wise, since nobody else wants pay tribute to you, we will. Here are the 10 best roles of his career.
1.Leland Palmer
Twin Peaks (1990-1991) and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992)
Leland was possessed by BOB, who manipulated him into killing his daughter Laura. After Agent Dale Cooper cracked the case, Leland banged his head against the wall, killing himself and releasing BOB in the process.
2.Vice President Hal Gardener
24 (2006)
In season five of 24, Vice President Gardener appeared suddenly at the president's Los Angeles retreat during a time of crisis, bringing a lot of ideas that seemed to give the executive branch a lot of power – declaring martial law in LA and ceding control of CTU to the Department of Homeland Security, for starters. Many signs pointed to Gardener being the government official behind the day's events – not the least of which being that he was played by Ray Wise. This was a ruse: it was all President Logan. So presumably, depending on when season six takes place, Wise will be playing POTUS on television. This won’t be his first executive role: he also played the governor of California on an episode of The West Wing, and plays the President in, uh, Command and Conquer.
3. Leon Nash
Robocop (1987)
As one of Dick Jones's henchmen, he’s the character who, in a last-ditch effort to thwart Robocop, uses a crane to dump a bunch of scrap metal on Robocop's head before getting blown up by Anne Lews. (Three Robocop cast members turned up in season five of 24, including Paul McCrane and Robocop himself, Peter Weller.)
