Actor George Dickerson, perhaps best known for his role as Detective John Williams in David Lynch’s cult classic Blue Velvet, succumbed to a long-fought illness on Saturday January 10th at the age of 81. His son, filmmaker Dome Karukoski, announced his father’s passing on Facebook.
Dickerson began his career as a poet, magazine writer, playwright, and editor, before a case of writer’s block ended with him appearing in off-Broadway plays. Beyond his role in Blue Velvet, Dickerson was also beloved for his role as Police Commander Swanson on the first season of Hill Street Blues. He made appearances in many other classic TV series, including The Incredible Hulk, Charlie’s Angels, Threes Company, and The Greatest American Hero. His other film roles included parts in Psycho II and Jean Claude Van Damme’s Death Warrant.
Dickerson’s son, Karukoski, followed his father into filmmaking. His film Heart of a Lion recently screened at the Palm Springs International Film Spring, and his latest feature The Grump showed in September at the Toronto Film Festival. The latter work was made in tribute to Dickerson, as Karukoski writes on Facebook:
[The Gump is] starting it’s festival round attending numerous and numerous festivals. First I thought I’ll cancel my festival appearances. -That it would be too heavy to talk about him when introducing the film again and again.
But he would’ve not liked that. He was a man who had a willpower I hope to have inherited. And he had a backbone. -You do the things you’re supposed to do.
And you live the life when you have the chance.”
