Remembering Tom Noonan's roles in horror
- Jonathan
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
The late character actor left behind a worthy impact on the horror genre.
Tom Noonan, a prolific actor with over 28 years of experience in film and television, passed away on February 14th. His cause of death is not yet public, but it was confirmed that he passed on peacefully.
Standing at 6 ft 5 in, Noonan was known for playing villainous roles: The Ripper in Last Action Hero, Cain in Robocop 2. This made him a natural fit for horror that extended to both film and television.
In The X-Files episode “Paper Hearts,” he portrayed serial killer John Lee Roche to critical acclaim. His character, who cut heart shapes out of his victims' clothing, was implied to be behind the disappearance of Mulder’s sister Samantha. This challenges Mulder's belief that she was abducted by aliens.
The X Files was one of Noonan’s first television roles, and “Paper Hearts” was written specifically with him in mind to portray Roche. Noonan would recount the experience as rewarding and fun. In his introductory scene he is playing basketball at a prison recreation yard. Having been a passionate basketball player in his youth, he was instructed to not display the full extent of his athleticism.
His most prominent role was Francis Dollarhyde in Manhunter, Michael Man’s 1986 adaptation of Thomas Harris’ novel Red Dragon, and the first film to feature the character Hannibal Lecter (spelled “Lecktor in the film).
Dollarhyde is a vulnerable and psychotic serial killer who kills families in their homes, believing that he is somehow “freeing” them. Noonan reportedly nailed the audition by simply being scared, a trait that shaped Dollarhyde’s character in both the film and the novel.
My personal favorite role of Noonan’s was Frankenstein's Monster in the 1987 horror comedy The Monster Squad. The film centers on a group of school friends in their own private “Monster Club” who go up against Dracula and his band of creatures (who are all based off the classic Universal Monsters). Noonan’s performance was humorous and surprisingly wholesome, and the character he plays is one that is traditionally sympathetic in many of the adaptations, and re-imaginings, of Mary Shelley’s novel. In meta fashion, the characters acknowledge that Frankenstein is not the name of the monster, but its creator. Despite this, they still refer to him as "Frankenstein" or "Frank."
On another personal note, the first film that I saw Noonan in was Eight Legged Freaks. It featured him in an uncredited cameo as Joshua, the owner of a spider farm outside a small Arizona town. His role is pivotal, but short-lived, as early on he is consumed by the rapidly enlarging spiders that break out of their confines; their mutations caused by eating crickets that drank from a chemically tainted pond. The spiders then grow to colossal sizes and attack the town. Noonan’s tall and imposing presence combined with his character’s ill-regarded passion for collecting spiders made for an effective characterization in such a short time.
In addition to acting, Tom Noonan also had a strong presence behind the camera, having written and directed several episodes of the late-1980s horror anthology series Monsters. He also wrote and directed the films The Wife and What Happened Was… the latter being based off a stage play that he also wrote and directed.
He leaves behind a son and daughter.
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