Jack Nance

I was watching Eraserhead the other night (now that you can get it on DVD from davidlynch.com) and I wondered if the main actor had ever done anything else. The iconic image if his face with his tall, bushy hair backlit and expressionless should be familiar to most film fans, even if they are unaware of who Jack Nance was. Was? Yes. Jack Nance was killed (?) after he mouthed of to a couple street toughs. He told friends that he was punched in the face (he did have a bruise) and was found dead in his apartment the next day. He apparently died from injuried related to this assault.

But why didn't he make any other movies? Actually he did. He was in most of David Lynch's films. His appearance changed pretty drastically from the Eraserhead look. He sported a grey mustache and thinning gray hair. He was short and had a gravely voice. He was part of Frank's Gang in Blue Velvet and he was one of the standees in Big Tuna in Wild at Heart. He spoke of his dog and how, "My dog barks some." and that Lula was picturing, "Toto from the Wizard of Oz". That is Jack Nance.

Jack had serious serious substance abuse problems. He cleaned up once with the aid of Dennis Hopper, but was back on the bottle again. He would need to be picked up and driven to the movie set and was showing up drunk at 11:00 AM. He really didn't seek out roles and only would act when someone went out of their way to track him down. Lynch tracked him down for a role in most all of his films except for Dune and Elephant Man. Jack Nance was one of the stranger characters to show up in Lynch films and it is a shame his life was such a wreck. I learned all of this after wondering, "What ever happened to the Eraserhead guy?"Š