COLD TURKEL
Actor Joe Turkel has mixed his last drink aged 94. Highly active from the 50s on, he initially toiled about in B-movies when a role in one caught the eye of Stanley Kubrick. He appeared twice in 50s Kubrick films – a bit part in The Killing, and a more substantial role in Paths of Glory as one of three French WWI soldiers court-martialed to the firing squad as scapegoats for an unsuccessful offence, to deflect blame from the power-hungry general who willingly ordered the attack. The chilliness of a sham court making inhumane, predetermined decisions still resonates today, yet I can’t quite place my finger on why. In the 80s, his waxy complexion lent itself well to his two most iconic roles – the ghastly bartender in The Shining (rounding off the Kubrick hat trick) and eccentric replicants creator Dr. Eldon Tyrell in Blade Runner. Champion Funeral Home burns very, very brightly with a unique hit.
Joe Turkel
15 July 1927 – 27 June 2022, aged 94
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