Excuse the gloom, but I had to share.
Cuba linked the Daggerfall intro recently, which owns, and that got us wondering who this actor was that made the sequence so good.
Cubes’ initial guess was “some local stage actor” which was of course almost exactly correct:
https://www.seattlepi.com/ae/article/John-Gilbert-1939-2006-Actor-played-legendary-1219650.php
As soon as he graduated in 1963, Gilbert became a regular in Seattle Repertory Theatre productions. The company was just beginning. It pioneered work that eventually would turn Seattle into a celebrated focal point in the U.S. regional theater scene.
He passed away in 2006, but this dude sounds like an absolute king:
When Intiman Theatre was experiencing financial problems in the 1980s, he pitched in to help with fundraising.
“We’re going to raise money the good old-fashioned way,” he told reporters at a press conference. “We’re going to beg for it.”
To help pay his bills, Gilbert did voice-over work for commercials and CD-ROMs. His resonant, authoritative baritone promoted, among other enterprises, The Bon Marche and Blake Island.
He was an admirer of Fidel Castro and said: “Even though Fidel loves cigars, he has decided never to smoke where children could see him. He thinks he should set an example, and I can go along with that.”
Gilbert was a staunch socialist. One rarely saw him in public without political buttons on his shirts and jackets. He often performed with the Seattle Labor Chorus.
In the 1980s, he concentrated on opposition to U.S. interventions in Central America. In 1985, he was arrested during a sit-in at the Federal Building here. He and his co-demonstrators, who were protesting a $1 billion appropriation for military aid to Central America, received deferred sentences.
Jo Leffingwell, a friend of Gilbert’s during 40 years, said Sunday: “John wasn’t sure whether or not he had lived a good life. But he knew he wanted to die a good death. He did. At the end he was radiant.”
