List of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Characters - The Sawyer Family - Drayton Sawyer (Old Man / The Cook)

Drayton Sawyer (Old Man / The Cook)

Drayton Sawyer, is portrayed by Jim Siedow in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 and by Bill Moseley in Texas Chainsaw 3D.

In all of his appearances, Drayton is an antagonist and appears to be the head of the Sawyer Family. He is the older brother (the father in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D) of Leatherface and the rest of the family. A mentally unstable and murderous cannibal, Drayton, along with his family of fellow cannibals and serial killers, lives in the backwoods of Texas, preying upon travelers, whom he and his relatives capture and devour, selling some of their meat to unwary people in chili at his restaurant/gas station. He also gets mad at Leatherface for ruining the house. Drayton's name wasn't mentioned until the second film, the first simply referred to him as "the Cook" and "the Old Man". Like his son Nubbins, Drayton seems to be suffering from a mental disorder, probably schizophrenia or multiple personalities, as he is seen enjoying the torture of his family's victims, but at one point he flips personalities and is disgusted by the torment as his more empathic side surfaces. His personality disorder has been discussed by Tobe Hooper several times, like on the audio commentary for Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. Drayton often bickers with the rest of his children and is abusive towards them. Although Drayton appears to be the head of the household, his sons often mock and antagonize him and his authority.

Drayton Sawyer makes his debut appearance in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, in which he first appears as the middle-aged proprietor of the Last Chance Gas Station, a Gulf gas station and barbecue shop (with an unnamed car door window washer as an employee), where a group of teenagers stop while passing through the area. Drayton's malevolent nature is revealed later in the film, when he beats Sally Hardesty (Marilyn Burns) unconscious and captures her after she approaches him seeking help when her friends disappear and her brother Franklin (Paul A. Partain) gets killed by Leatherface. Having been chased by Leatherface previously, she is highly hysterical after her shocking experience. Taking Sally to his home, Drayton torments her alongside his sons, Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen) and Nubbins (Edwin Neal), before deciding to let the family patriarch, Grandpa (John Dugan), kill her. When Grandpa proves too decrepit to kill Sally with a hammer, Drayton, Nubbins and Leatherface attempt to aid him, but only succeed in losing grasp on Sally, who flees out a window, he is the only one of the three members who does not pursue her choosing instead to stay behind with Grandpa. The more humane side of Drayton is revealed when he states "I just can't take no pleasure in killing" after Nubbins accuses him of doing nothing but cooking for the family while he and Leatherface do all the killing, which explains why Drayton beat and captured Sally rather than killing her.

In The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Drayton reappears, now he and his family are living in an abandoned amusement park in Dallas (called Texas Battle Land), due to the intense police investigation sparked by the events of the first film, with what remains of his family, Leatherface (Bill Johnson), Chop Top (Bill Moseley) and Grandpa (Ken Evert). Now a two time award-winning chili cook selling his meat at a Chilli Cook-off (dismissing the bones and teeth as peppercorns), Drayton appears far more unhinged than in the previous film, happily joining in on his family's murderous frenzies, which previously disturbed him somewhat. In public, Drayton displays a very happy people person personality he did the same in the first film in order to lure the young adults to their deaths and most likely others but his mental disease shows up once he's back with his family as an angry man. Drayton presumably dies, off-screen, at the end of the film, when, during the fight between Leatherface and Lieutenant "Lefty" Enright (Dennis Hopper), he is accidentally struck by Leatherface and the hand grenade he is holding (planning to commit suicide and destroy the hideout with) explodes prematurely. In this film, Drayton also rambles about the plight of the small business man and how crooks, politicians and movie stars don't pay taxes, yet he and his poor family have to.

The only reference of Drayton made in Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III was when Sawyer brother Tinker gives a large chromed chainsaw he crafted to Leatherface as a gift, on the saw's blade he engraved a quote of Drayton's from the second film ("The saw is family"). In this film, it says that a man by the name of W.E. Sawyer took the blame for Leatherface's crimes, and was executed in 1981. Many believe that in this alternate universe, W.E. Sawyer is the Cook, as originally intended in the first film. The sign at the gas station says "W.E. Slaughter", W.E being the Cook's first name and Slaughter being last. The name was intended to hint at his involvement in the killings, 'WE Slaughter'.

Drayton was originally set to be the grandfather in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre 4, but when Jim Siedow turned down the role, director Kim Henkel replaced Drayton as the grandfather and turned the character into Grandpa from the earlier films, though the character is still referred to as "Grandfather".

In Topps Comics' 1995 comic miniseries Jason vs. Leatherface, Drayton, only identified by the name Cook Slaughter, appears as a main character. After Leatherface and the Hitchhiker bring Jason Voorhees, the main antagonist of the Friday the 13th franchise home, Drayton befriends him and inducts him in as an unofficial member of the Sawyer family.

The comics expand on Drayton's back story, revealing that, though he aspires to gain fame and fortune using his culinary skills in the city, he stays in the Texan backwoods due to a vow he made to his younger sister Velma on her deathbed, promising he would always look after her children, the Hitchhiker and Leatherface. The comics imply that he is both their father and uncle and they were merely adopted and treated by him as brothers: they suggest that Leatherface and Hitchhiker were born of incest between Drayton and Velma Sawyer as they refer to Velma as having been both their sister and mother. The comics also portray Drayton as much more apathetic and lax towards his relatives murdering of people, with him, at one point, stating that he wishes the Hitchhiker and Jason, who had just delivered to him a freshly killed couple, had brought him some children as well ("their meat's so much more tender..."). At one point in the comics Drayton even attacks Jason with a meat cleaver and helps dispose of his body, which the Sawyer brothers dump into a lake. Drayton is also seen wearing an apron which reads "Kiss the Cook" throughout the series.

Bill Moseley, the actor who portrayed Chop Top, portrayed Drayton in the opening scene of Texas Chainsaw 3D. When Sheriff Hooper arrives at the Sawyer house from which Sally escaped earlier that day, Drayton comes out with a shotgun and tries justifying his family's actions by arguing that the characters from the first film were trespassing. Drayton is accompanied by Grandpa, two older male relatives named Boss Sawyer and Bear Sawyer, four unidentified gunmen and a younger woman named Loretta, who holds a baby named Edith-Rose Sawyer. Boss tries convincing Drayton to give Leatherface, whose real name is Jedidiah, to Hooper. Drayton argues that Jed is family, but Boss retorts that "the boy is simple," to which Bear agrees. Drayton gives in, and Boss informs Hooper that they are bringing out Jed. Drayton goes to Leatherface's room and scolds him for attracting the police. Before he can be brought out, local residents of Newt led by Burt Hartman, arrive and burn down the house. Drayton is apparently shot to death. In 2012, Edith-Rose, who survived, was adopted, and renamed Heather Miller, walks through the Sawyer cemetery at her grandma Verna's house, and one of the gravestones has Drayton's name on it.