J. T. Walsh Movies and Career Information

James Thomas Patrick "J. T." Walsh (September 28, 1943 – February 27, 1998) was an American character actor. He appeared in many well-known films, including Nixon, Hoffa, A Few Good Men, Backdraft, Miracle on 34th Street (1994), and Breakdown. Walsh was known for his roles as "quietly sinister white-collar sleazeballs" (quote from Leonard Maltin) in numerous feature films, and was described as "everybody's favorite scumbag" by Playboy magazine. Walsh was born in San Francisco, California. He had three siblings, Christopher, Patricia and Mary. After studying at Clongowes Wood College in Ireland, Walsh attended the University of Rhode Island, where he starred in many college theater productions. In 1974, he was discovered by a director and began working in off-Broadway shows. Walsh did not appear in feature films until 1983, when he had a minor role in Eddie Macon's Run. Over the next 15 years, he played in over 50 feature films, increasingly taking the bad guy role for which he is well known, such as the loudly irascible Sergeant Major Dickerson in Good Morning, Vietnam. On television, Walsh again portrayed a consummately evil character, prison Warden Brodeur on The X Files episode,