Tim Thomerson

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Joseph Timothy Thomerson (born April 8, 1946) is an American actor and comedian.^[1] He is best known for his role as Jack Deth in the Trancers^[2] film series and for his work in numerous low-budget features and for his comedic television roles.^[3]

Early life[]

Tim Thomerson was born in Coronado, California. He was brought up in both Hawaii and in San Diego. Following a stint in the Army National Guard, where he served as a cook in a tank company with actor Brion James, Thomerson chose to become an actor, while taking a job as a set builder and prop man at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre, famous for its Shakespearean productions.

Following college, Thomerson began a career as a stand-up comedian, honing his skills. He appeared in comedy clubs that included The Bitter End in Greenwich Village, The Improv in Los Angeles, and Catch a Rising Star in New York City.

Career[]

When Thomerson moved into comedy, he found himself in a boom period alongside the likes of David Letterman, Jay Leno, and Freddie Prinze. In Los Angeles, he became a regular at the Comedy Store and the Improv, as well as making numerous appearances on television variety shows and in Las Vegas.

Thomerson has had a very long career in television and appeared in scores of films since the 1970s; he had a memorable minor role in Car Wash and played criminal psychologist Jerry Moriarity in the slasher film Fade to Black (1980).

In 1985, Thomerson starred as the time-traveling future cop Jack Deth in the low-budget science fiction film Trancers, produced by Charles Band and Empire Pictures. The role made him an icon of the B-movie genre, and led to Thomerson building a working relationship with the Bands. He was supposed to appear in the feature Pulse Pounders, but it was ultimately never completed.

In 1986, Thomerson reunited with a few of his Trancers co-stars for the World War II science fiction film Zone Troopers; he also appeared in the vampire film Near Dark. He played a villain opposite Melanie Griffith's heroine in the science fiction film Cherry 2000. He also played Major Dan Hackett in the Disney made-for-TV movie, The B.R.A.T. Patrol, starring opposite Sean Astin, Nia Long, and Brian Keith.

When Charles Band started Full Moon Features in the late 1980s, one of his first projects was the sequel Trancers II (1991), in which he reunited Thomerson with much of the cast from the first film. Thomerson would later appear in each of the sequels except Trancers 6, it starred Zette Sullivan in her only lead role and used archive footage of Thomerson to enhance the film's storyline.

He appeared in NBC's television film The Incredible Hulk Returns (1988) as The Hulk's opponent, Jack LeBeau.

Another film role making Thomerson popular with science fiction fans was that of Brick Bardo in Dollman (1991), a Dirty Harry-like alien cop who is only 13 inches (33 cm) tall; he uses his blaster to take on gangsters and devil-possessed toys. The character also appeared briefly in Bad Channels.

Thomerson has had many memorable roles in feature films, including Uncommon Valor, Air America, Volunteers, Who's Harry Crumb?, Iron Eagle, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, as well as numerous television roles, including the series Tour of Duty and 21 Jump Street. He also played Colonel Savage of the Missouri Militia in The Young Riders (1989). In the 1990s, he was a series regular on the TV police drama Sirens, followed by a regular, co-starring role on the series Land's End starring Fred Dryer.

Initial success[]

One of Thomerson's early acting breaks came from director Robert Altman who, after seeing Thomerson's stand-up act, cast him in the film A Wedding. At this early stage of Thomerson's film career, he found himself surrounded by Vittorio Gassman, Carol Burnett, Geraldine Chaplin, and Dennis Franz.

Thomerson first came to prominence in the short-lived comedy science-fiction TV series Quark in 1977–78, as Gene/Jean, a character of dual gender who randomly switched from a macho to a feminine personality.

Feature film actor[]

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Thomerson's most famous film role is that of Jack Deth, the hero of Charles Band's Trancers science fiction series. Playing against his comedic roots, Thomerson played Deth as a hard-nosed epitome of machismo, like Clint Eastwood in the Dirty Harry cop films. The Jack Deth character continued in four more sequels throughout the 1990s. A fifth sequel, Trancers 6, was made and released in 2002 without Thomerson.

Other career highlights include Babo in the adventure film Air America with Mel Gibson and Robert Downey, Jr., grimy mercenary Rhodes in Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn, and a scruffy motorcyclist in Terry Gilliam's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Thomerson is a stock player in the films of actor/director Michael Worth (DUAL, Devil on the Mountain, ) and a favorite of director Albert Pyun (Dollman, Knights, Nemesis, Nemesis 3: Prey Harder).

In addition, Thomerson has made guest appearances on TV shows The Golden Girls, Walker, Texas Ranger, The Young Riders, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Xena, Warrior Princess, Viper, The District, and Silk Stalkings.

He also was the Voice of Freedom for the John Milius-written video game Homefront and Cyrus Temple in Saints Row: The Third.

Filmography[]

Video games[]

References[]

External links[]

• Tim Thomerson at IMDb
• Tim Thomerson at AllMovie