Post by deezy on Oct 16, 2017 18:41:43 GMT -5
John Dunsworth, the actor best known for his portrayal of Jim Lahey on the cult hit series “Trailer Park Boys,” has died at the age of 71.
Dunsworth’s daughther Sarah, who is also a star of “Trailer Park Boys,” shared the news on Twitter. She wrote, “With heavy and broken hearts the family of John F. Dunsworth would like to let people know that our amazing husband, father and grandfather John Dunsworth has passed away. John left this world peacefully after a short and unexpected illness.”
Dunsworth was a Nova Scotia, Canada, native who was active in his local theater and acting community for decades. He first became part of what would become “Trailer Park Boys” when he played a version of the Jim Lahey character for the first time in the short film “One Last Shot.” He would go on to play the character–infamous for his drunken, bisexual escapades as a trailer park supervisor and police officer at different times in the series–throughout its initial seven season run in Canada and again when the show was revived by Netflix. The series is set to debut its twelfth season on Netflix in the coming year. He would also play the character in all of the “Trailer Park Boys” films and one-off specials.
Beyond his role as Lahey, Dunsworth was also known for playing Dave Teagues in the Syfy series “Haven,” which also filmed in Nova Scotia. The series, based on the Stephen King novel “The Colorado Kid,” aired on the network for five seasons. Dunsworth’s first credited role was in the 1978 short “So Long to Run,” per his IMDB page. His next onscreen role was in the 1987 film “Deep Sea Conspiracy.” He would go on to appear in “Lexx: The Dark Zone Stories” and the Canadian historical drama series “Pit Pony” among many other film and TV projects over his long career.
I thought the Lahey character was the absolute best drunk acting I've ever seen, and the fact he was openly gay and somehow that not even being a character trope and it not being a big deal was also big to me. It normalized homosexuality for me at an impressionable age where I could've been bred into an ignorant bigot and gave me a character I thought was funny.
RIP good sir....the shit blizzard will make us all just dust in the winds of shit.