Film and Television
Despite his attempts to avoid typecasting, Dourif frequently plays eccentric or disturbed characters, starting in Eyes of Laura Mars (1978), John Huston's Wise Blood (1979), Forman's Ragtime (1981) and Marc Didden's Istanbul. Dourif then teamed up with director David Lynch for Dune (1984) and Blue Velvet (1986). He also appears in the 1984 music video for Toto's single "Stranger in Town".
Dourif has appeared in a number of horror films, notably as the voice of the evil killer doll Chucky in 1988's Child's Play (Dourif also appeared onscreen as Chucky's human progenitor, serial killer Charles Lee Ray). Dourif voiced Chucky in the four Child's Play sequels, and is going to reprise the role in both an upcoming sequel and a reboot of the series. Dourif played the Gemini Killer in The Exorcist III (1990), but he has broken from the horror genre with roles in Fatal Beauty (1987), Mississippi Burning (1988), Hidden Agenda (1990), and London Kills Me (1991). He also played Gríma Wormtongue in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
On television, Dourif appeared in The X-Files episode "Beyond the Sea" as the psychic serial killer Luther Lee Boggs. He also played Lon Suder, a murderous psychopath who eventually redeems himself, in a three-episode story arc on Star Trek: Voyager, and has guest-appeared in shows such as Babylon 5. In 1984, he played a suspected serial killer in the episode "Number Eight" of the British TV series Tales of the Unexpected.
He played a role as a bad guy by the name of Wyatt in the Miami Vice episode titled "Theresa" which aired February 13, 1987 (Season 3 - Episode 16).
He is a fan of video games and appeared as Saavedro in Myst III: Exile (2001), the third game in the popular Myst franchise, and as the sadistic preacher Reed in GUN (2005).
Dourif was cast as The Scarecrow in Batman Forever, while Tim Burton was attached to the project. However, Joel Schumacher eventually took over the project, and instead cast Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face and Jim Carrey as The Riddler.
Other roles Dourif has played are Doc Cochran in the HBO series Deadwood, receiving a 2004 Emmy nomination for "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series". He also appeared in the film Sinner, and played Sheriff Brackett in 2007 in Rob Zombie's version of Halloween and its sequel in 2009, Halloween II.
Dourif guest starred in the third-season finale of Fringe.
Read more about this topic: Brad Dourif
Famous quotes by film and television:
“The obvious parallels between Star Wars and The Wizard of Oz have frequently been noted: in both there is the orphan hero who is raised on a farm by an aunt and uncle and yearns to escape to adventure. Obi-wan Kenobi resembles the Wizard; the loyal, plucky little robot R2D2 is Toto; C3PO is the Tin Man; and Chewbacca is the Cowardly Lion. Darth Vader replaces the Wicked Witch: this is a patriarchy rather than a matriarchy.”
—Andrew Gordon, U.S. educator, critic. ‘The Inescapable Family in American Science Fiction and Fantasy Films,’ Journal of Popular Film and Television (Summer 1992)