Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Dig A Hole: Deranged Character Actor Roberts Blossom

Character actors seldom get a chance to command more than a few intermittent moments of screen time. Roberts Blossom didn't exactly fit the Jeff Chandler leading man type, but he did have his shot at a starring role. The cult horror film Deranged, later changed to Deranged: Confessions of a Necrophile, tells the story of Ezra Cobb, a rural farmer patterned after real-life Milwaukee serial killer, Ed Gein.

It may sound wrong to say this, particularly in light of the man's recent passing, but no one in Hollywood at that time was better suited to play a bedraggled, grave robbing necrophile who used the corpses of his victims to keep him company around the house than Roberts Blossom.

Roberts Scott Blossom, actor, poet, and founder of Filmstage, a multimedia avant-garde theatrical troupe, died on Friday in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 87.

Born in in New Haven, Connecticut, Blossom graduated from the prestigious Asheville School in 1941 and later attended Harvard University. He didn't come to movies until relatively late in life. His first feature, the impossible-to-see The Sin of Jesus (1961) was directed by influential still photographer-turned-filmmaker, Robert Frank.

It would be a decade before Blossom returned to movies as the near catatonic victim of medical malpractice (or was it murder?) opposite George C. Scott in The Hospital. He only appeared in 22 features, and then mostly in bit parts, but I gurantee if you've seen one, Roberts Blossom's performance left an impression.

He was Paul LeMat's crusty trailer-park father in Jonathan Demme's Handle with Care (a film in dire need of a home video release); "Doc" in Don Siegel's Escape From Alcatraz; the scary old coot who sold Keith Gordon Christine; the farmer in Close Encounters, and, as Marty saw fit, the "Aged Master" in The Last Temptation of Christ. He was also in Home Alone. a film I avoided like the plague.

The actor made his Off Broadway debut in 1955 and went on to win four Obie Awards. During the '50s and '60s Blossom helped to develop Filmstage, a concept that involved the simultaneous incorporation of live actors with film and/or slides. Blossom took home a Soapy Award for his work on the 1976-1977 season of Another World and continued to work regularly throughout the '80s, appearing in network roles.

Blossom was married twice and divorced once. His second marriage, to the former Marylin Orshan, ended when she died in 1982. He is survived by a daughter, Deborah, of Los Angeles, a son, Michael, of Chicago.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Gonzo Report: Bob Long played piano for Tina Turner and Ray Charles

And he got the crowd shaking at InZane Brewery
Next Article

Time’s up for Doubletime Recording Studio

Owner Jeff Forrest is trading El Cajon for Portugal

Character actors seldom get a chance to command more than a few intermittent moments of screen time. Roberts Blossom didn't exactly fit the Jeff Chandler leading man type, but he did have his shot at a starring role. The cult horror film Deranged, later changed to Deranged: Confessions of a Necrophile, tells the story of Ezra Cobb, a rural farmer patterned after real-life Milwaukee serial killer, Ed Gein.

It may sound wrong to say this, particularly in light of the man's recent passing, but no one in Hollywood at that time was better suited to play a bedraggled, grave robbing necrophile who used the corpses of his victims to keep him company around the house than Roberts Blossom.

Roberts Scott Blossom, actor, poet, and founder of Filmstage, a multimedia avant-garde theatrical troupe, died on Friday in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 87.

Born in in New Haven, Connecticut, Blossom graduated from the prestigious Asheville School in 1941 and later attended Harvard University. He didn't come to movies until relatively late in life. His first feature, the impossible-to-see The Sin of Jesus (1961) was directed by influential still photographer-turned-filmmaker, Robert Frank.

It would be a decade before Blossom returned to movies as the near catatonic victim of medical malpractice (or was it murder?) opposite George C. Scott in The Hospital. He only appeared in 22 features, and then mostly in bit parts, but I gurantee if you've seen one, Roberts Blossom's performance left an impression.

He was Paul LeMat's crusty trailer-park father in Jonathan Demme's Handle with Care (a film in dire need of a home video release); "Doc" in Don Siegel's Escape From Alcatraz; the scary old coot who sold Keith Gordon Christine; the farmer in Close Encounters, and, as Marty saw fit, the "Aged Master" in The Last Temptation of Christ. He was also in Home Alone. a film I avoided like the plague.

The actor made his Off Broadway debut in 1955 and went on to win four Obie Awards. During the '50s and '60s Blossom helped to develop Filmstage, a concept that involved the simultaneous incorporation of live actors with film and/or slides. Blossom took home a Soapy Award for his work on the 1976-1977 season of Another World and continued to work regularly throughout the '80s, appearing in network roles.

Blossom was married twice and divorced once. His second marriage, to the former Marylin Orshan, ended when she died in 1982. He is survived by a daughter, Deborah, of Los Angeles, a son, Michael, of Chicago.

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Dig a Hole: Frank Cady, Hooterville's Sam Drucker

Next Article

Review: Jeff, Who Lives at Home

Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader