If you’re a 50s Westerns fan, a soft spot for Hank Worden is pretty much a given. Came across this photo today of Hank with David Lynch on the set of Twin Peaks.
Worden’s goofy manner seemed like a perfect match for Lynch’s skewed vision of just about everything. Shame he wasn’t around to appear in Lynch’s The Straight Story (1999). That would’ve been perfect.
Regarding your first sentence: truer words were never spoken.
If a movie has Hank Worden in it, and you’ve got a box of Raisinets, it’s gonna be good!
Worden looked after Jim Beaver when he started his career–he’s been a very busy actor since then–it’s fun to hear him talk about Worden.
Jim commented on this blog a long time ago. It’d be cool to hear his Hank stories.
Totally agree about The Straight Story. He would have been perfect for that.
I imagine Worden’s appearances in Twin Peaks and in Wim Wenders’s Hammett represent those filmmakers paying homage to the classic Western, specifically The Searchers.
I count my blessings that I encountered the great Hank W. once and had a chance to talk to him. Wish I had a tape of that conversation. He couldn’t have been nicer and meant a lot to him that he had fans for those great movies. He was well aware that people especially cared about his role as Mose Harper.
Much as I admire him, I hope no one is suggesting he should have had Richard Farnsworth’s role in THE STRAIGHT STORY. For me, Farnsworth was brilliant in the role (he often was) and that was about as good as movie acting can be this side of a John Ford movie.
Farnsworth was perfect for that part, and nobody could’ve done as good a job.
Hank was born to play in a film like that, so full of kooky character parts.
It seems nuts to draw a link between Ford and Lynch, but they both are masters at long takes, which I love.
Blake, that’s so cool you got to meet him.
Aw. This picture is priceless. ❤