Michael Massee obit

Michael Massee, 64, Screen Villain Haunted by the Accidental Death of Brandon Lee, Dies

 

He was not on the list.

Michael Massee, the actor who unfortunately will forever be known as the man who accidentally shot and killed Brandon Lee on the set of the 1994 film The Crow, has died. He was 64.

Massee’s death was first announced by actor Anthony Delon and confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter by a representative of his agent at Greene & Associates in Los Angeles. He and Delon recently worked together on the French TV series Interventions.

His wife, Ellen, told The New York Times that Massee died Oct. 20 of stomach cancer in Los Angeles.

In just his second movie appearance, Massee was playing a character known as Funboy when he fired a revolver that had been improperly prepared by crewmembers at Brandon Lee, the son of famed martial arts star Bruce Lee. The round was live and struck Lee in the stomach, and he died after several hours of surgery on March 31, 1993. He was 28.

Massee was just following the script during filming at a studio in Wilmington, N.C. Shaken by the incident, he took a sabbatical from acting that lasted more than a year. “I don’t think you ever get over something like that,” he said.

Most of The Crow, directed by Alex Proyas, had been completed before the tragedy, and the film was released in May 1994. It grossed more than $50 million in the U.S.

Massee later played Ira Gaines, an American mercenary and former Navy SEAL, on the first season of the Fox drama 24 and portrayed Charles Hoyt, the scalpel-wielding killer known as the Surgeon, on the TNT crime drama Rizzoli & Isles.

He also appeared as Gustav Fiers, aka The Gentleman, in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) and its 2014 sequel.

A native of Kansas City, Mo., Massee worked opposite Bill Pullman in two films released in 1997, David Lynch’s Lost Highway and Wim Wenders‘ The End of Violence, and in the 2005 NBC miniseries Revelations.

His film résumé also included the David Fincher films Seven (1995) and The Game (1997) as well as One Fine Day (1996), Amistad (1997), The Florentine (1999), Corky Romano (2001), Catwoman (2004) and The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

On television, Massee also could be spotted on shows including The X-Files, Murder One, Alias, Cold Case, Supernatural, Flashforward, House and The Blacklist.

 

Filmography

 

Film

Year     Title            Role            Notes

1984    Sahara            Laroux

1991    My Father is Coming            Joe      

1994    The Crow   Funboy

Six Days Six Nights              Uncredited

Home of Angels            Detective Baines         

1995    The Low Life            Bartender        

Tales from the Hood            Newton         

Se7en   Man in Booth at Massage Parlor           

Burnzy's Last Call      Luke   

1996    Guy            Mark   

Mojave Moon            Fifth Guy     

One Fine Day            Eddie Parker 

1997    Lost Highway            Andy   

The End of Violence            Guy in Bar      

The Game            Airbag EMT Galliano  

Playing God            Gage   

Amistad            Prison Guard  

Jamaica Beat            Ian Benjamin         

1999    The Florentine            Nick    

Bad City Blues            Eugene Grimes

The White River Kid            Ralph Pines   

2001    Corky Romano            Angry Gunman           

The Theory of the Leisure Class            McMillon       

2004            Catwoman            Armando       

2006            Ultimate Avengers            Dr. Bruce Banner            Voice, Direct-to-video

Ultimate Avengers 2: Rise of the Panther

2007            Underdog            Supershep       Voice

2009            Pandemic       Federal Prisoner           

2011    The Resident            Security Tech 

2012    The Amazing Spider-Man            Gustav Fiers / Gentleman       

Reclamation            Lawrence Shiftlet            Short

2013    CBGB            Officer Stan    

2014    At the Devil's Door            Uncle Mike   

The Amazing Spider-Man 2            Gustav Fiers / Gentleman       

The Last Survivors            Walker

The Wolves of Savin Hill            Theo   

2016            Everlasting        Leor    

Last Man Club            John            Final film role

 

Television

Year     Title            Role            Notes

1995    The Marshal            Stanley            Episode: "Protection"

Sahara  Leroux            TV movie

1996    Picket Fences             Episode: "Bloodlines"

The X-Files            Vernon Ephesian            Episode: "The Field Where I Died"

Murder One            Donny McKee            Episode: "Chapter Five, Year Two"

"Chapter Six, Year Two"

1997    The Big Easy     Roland Sava            Episode: "Night Music"

1997-2001            Nash Bridges Gerard Marquette / Harley Corzine

1997    The Last Don            Jim Losey            Episodes #1.2 & #1.3

1998            Millennium        Purdue            Episode: "The Pest House"

1999    L.A. Doctors            Howard            Episode: "Where the Rubber Meets the Road"

2001-2002            24            Ira Gaines  12 episodes

2002    The Practice            Norman Tucker            Episode: "Fire Proof"

2003-2005            Carnivàle          Russian Soldier

Young Lucius Belyakov            5 episodes

2003    Threat Matrix            Campbell Prokop            Episode: "Patriot Acts"

Dragnet            Victor Hellman            Episode: "The Magic Bullet"

2005            Revelations       Isaiah Haden  6 episodes

The Batman            Spellbinder       Voice

2005-2006            Alias            Dr. Gonzalo Burris            Episodes: "The Horizon"

"There's Only One Sydney Bristow"

2006            Criminal Minds Jacob Dawes            Episode: "Riding the Lightning"

2007    Cold Case    Kiril            Episode: "Cargo"

Supernatural            Kubrick            Episodes: "Bad Day at Black Rock"

"Fresh Blood"

2008    Shark            Duncan Mercer            Episode: "Partners in Crime"

Law & Order: Criminal Intent            Jordie Black            Episode: "Reunion"

2009-2010            FlashForward D. Gibbons

Dyson Frost            8 episodes

2009    CSI: NY      Casey Steele            Episode: "Hammer Down"

2010-2013            Rizzoli & Isles Charles Hoyt     4 episodes

2010    Law & Order: LA            Denis Watson            Episode: "Echo Park"

2011    Human Target  Henry Claypool            Episode: "The Trouble with Harry"

House  Frank            Episode: "Twenty Vicodin"

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation            Stan Richardson            Episode: "Crime After Crime"

2012    Fringe            Anson Carr            Episode: "A Short Story About Love"

Dakota George            Episode: "Down $770"

2013            Ironside          Stan Nagy            Episode: "Pentimento"

2013    Law & Order: Special Victims Unit            Michael 'Pa' Williams            Episode: "Imprisoned Lives"

2014            Interventions   Jean-Francois Montfort          

2015    The Blacklist            Karakurt            Episodes: "Quon Zhang (No. 87)"

"Karakurt (No. 55)"

 

Video games

Year     Title            Role

2011    Star Wars: The Old Republic            Additional Voices