Ray Walston

Ray Walston didn't have leading-man looks, and he knew it. He started out working at a print shop in New Orleans before theater pulled him away for good. By 1945, he was in New York City hustling on stages and waiting for a break that would take a decade to truly materialize.

He won the Tony Award in 1956 for playing the devil in the musical Damn Yankees. That was his one-way ticket to Hollywood, because producers wanted exactly that cynical energy for the film version of 1958. But movies didn't always know what to do with an actor of his intensity.

Billy Wilder saw in him the perfect supporting actor.

In The Apartment, shot in 1960, Walston plays one of the executives who uses Jack Lemmon's apartment for their affairs. It's a brief role, but it defines his acting style (dry, quick, and with a contained edge that jumped off the screen). He worked with Wilder again on Kiss Me, Stupid in 1964, after replacing Peter Sellers at the last minute.

The TV Antenna and the Stigma

Television brought him worldwide fame in 1963 with My Favorite Martian. He played Uncle Martin for three seasons and 107 episodes. But the success came at a high price. Walston felt trapped in a character he considered flat, one that kept him from landing more serious dramatic roles in the industry.

And the typecasting lasted for years.

Throughout the 1970s, he worked steadily but quietly in minor productions and one-off episodes of hit series. It wasn't until 1980 that Robert Altman rescued him to play Poopdeck Pappy in the film Popeye. That shoot in Malta was a budget and logistics disaster that nearly wore out the patience of the entire cast.

The teacher nobody wanted to have

In 1982, he landed the role that connected him with a new generation of viewers. He played the strict Mr. Hand in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. The chemistry with a young Sean Penn was real, because Walston couldn't stand the actor's constant improvising during takes. So the tension you see on screen wasn't faked.

He demanded absolute professionalism every minute on set.

His last major professional chapter came with the series Picket Fences. Between 1992 and 1996, he brought Judge Henry Bone to life. He won two consecutive Emmy Awards for this work. It was a late reward for a man who never stopped seeing himself as a working actor above the flashy stars.

He died on January 1, 2001 at his home in Beverly Hills at the age of 86.

His ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean.