Actor known for Animal House role
John Vernon gave young men across North America some of the best advice they may have ever received: “Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son.”
It was with those words (directed at Flounder in National Lampoon’s Animal House) that Vernon seared himself in the minds of many moviegoers even though he’d already built an impressive resume as one of Hollywood’s top character actors.
Vernon was born Adolphus Raymondus Vernon Agopsowicz in Zehner, northeast of Regina, in 1932 and grew up in the area, developing a taste for theatre in high school before moving on to the Banff School of Fine Arts.
After a time overseas in London (where he provided the voice of Big Brother in a 1954 film version of Orwell’s 1984) he returned to Canada and became a regular at the Stratford Shakespearean festival and doing cartoon voice work (even voicing a number of Marvel comics characters in the 1960s).
Vernon’s big break came in the form of the relatively shortlived drama Wojeck, in which he played the titular Toronto coroner Steve Wojeck.
From there, Hollywood beckoned and Vernon found himself in a number of bigger roles working with Lee Marvin in Point Blank and then going on to play the mayor of San Francisco in Dirty Harry and Fletcher in The Outlaw Josey Wales.
In 1978, he appeared as the evil Dean Wormer in Animal House, a departure from his typical dramatic roles, and one for which he would be become most recognized.
Through the 1980s and ’90s, Vernon appeared in everything from The A-Team to Murder She Wrote to Airplane II: The Sequel and, sticking to his Canadian roots, The Littlest Hobo.
His deep voice kept him in demand for cartoon — and even video game — work well into his 60s.
Vernon died on Feb. 1, 2005, in Los Angeles as a result of complications from heart surgery. As we celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday in 2017, the Leader-Post and StarPhoenix are telling the stories of 150 Saskatchewan people who helped shape the nation. Send your suggestions or feedback to sask150@postmedia.com.