Anna Daniels
Sadly (or perhaps fittingly), Dean Stockwell’s 2014 appearance on Bakula’s NCIS: New Orleans would prove to be one of his last. The beloved actor hasn’t gone on to the gig in the sky just yet, but it was reported in 2017 that Dean Stockwell had suffered a stroke not long after appearing in Rick Alverson’s Entertainment in 2015. While he has reportedly recovered from that tragic event, he ultimately decided it was time to to call it a career shortly after.
Stockwell’s retirement brought to an end a career spanning seven decades, and while he never quite earned superstar status as an actor, he was perpetually on the fringe of the big time in Hollywood, having shared the screen with icons like Orson Welles, Gene Kelly, Katherine Hepburn, and Frank Sinatra, and having worked with lauded filmmakers like Sydney Lumet (Long Day’s Journey Into Night), Wim Wenders (Paris, Texas), Francis Ford Coppola (The Rainmaker), Robert Altman (The Player), and David Lynch (Dune, Blue Velvet). He even earned himself an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his brilliant work in Jonathan Demme’s 1988 crime comedy Married to the Mob … though he probably should’ve earned another for his scene-stealing crooning in Blue Velvet.
As much as we sincerely hope the not-quite-legendary actor is enjoying his retirement and continuing to create art in his golden years, we also can’t help but feel his retirement has left a hole in the cinematic landscape that will likely never be filled. We’re pretty sure Ziggy would back us up on that.
Written by: Looper
