Seymour Cassel, Wes Anderson and John Cassavetes Actor, Dead at 84

Seymour Cassel, the veteran character actor known for his work with directors John Cassavetes and Wes Anderson, has died at the age of 84.

Cassel died Sunday in Los Angeles, Variety reported, adding that the actor suffered from Alzheimers disease in recent years.

A longtime character actor with over 200 credits on his resume, Cassel first appeared onscreen in Cassavetes 1958 directorial debut Shadows, with Cassel serving as both actor and crewmember on the independent production.

The film was the first in a nearly 30-year-long collaboration and friendship between Cassavetes and Cassel, who also appeared in the directors 1968 film Faces a role that scored Cassel a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination as well as 1971s Minnie and Moskowitz, 1974s The Killing of a Chinese Bookie and 1984s Love Streams.

Cassels career waned in the early 1980s following an arrest and six-month imprisonment on cocaine charges, but the actor continued to accumulate bit parts over the next two decades, including roles in 1988s Colors, 1990s Dick Tracy, 1992s Honeymoon in Vegas and 1993s Indecent Proposal.

The character actors can have the fun, while the leading men think they have to be this object. I mean, thats boring, Cassel once said (via The Hollywood Reporter). The fun is in filling out a part and making it a little crazy, because everyone has a little craziness in them anyway.

It was Cassels role in Alexandre Rockwells 1992 indie film In the Soup that put the actor on the radar of Wes Anderson, who cast Cassel as the father of Jason Schwartzmanns character in 1998s Rushmore. Cassel would appear in two more Anderson films, The Royal Tenenbaumsand The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou. Cassel continued to appear in a handful of small roles every year until 2014.

As Rolling Stone Contributing Editor Rob Sheffield noted on Twitter, Guns N Roses Slash credited Cassel with coining the guitarist born Saul Hudsons famed nickname; Hudson was a friend of Cassels son Matt:

RIP Seymour Cassel, the man who named Slash pic.twitter.com/8xUf91eeYA

rob sheffield (@robsheff) April 8, 2019