You were virile at the core, a guy could sometimes be funny, sometimes damn dark, a diverse actor, in this respect, who held his own with only the exceptional.
Action and edgy melodrama were among your queue, with long-term work on The Virginian (as Emmett Ryker) and The Tall Man (as Billy the Kid), plus effectual appearances in The Last Picture Show; Summer Heat; The Other Side of Midnight; The Killers '64; McQ; Molly and Lawless John; Houston, We've Got a Problem; Chattanooga Choo Choo; Winning; The Glass House; Smile, Jenny, You're Dead; A Force of One; My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys; Gunfighter; Prime Risk; Living Proof: The Hank Williams Jr. Story; In the Line of Duty: Ambush in Waco; Hit Lady; Gangsterfilman; Kenny Rogers as The Gambler; and the irreverent Into the Night.
Ah, but in the realm of horror and the supernatural, you were a late-bloomer staple and an exceptional one at that, with roles in Return of the Living Dead; A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge; The Hidden; Bridge Across Time; Uninvited; Teen Vamp; The Willies; Puppetmaster 5; From a Whisper to a Scream (aka The Offspring); Children of the Corn: Runaway; Hunter's Blood; and the ultra-gruesome Piranha 3DD and Feast trilogy, directed by your amazing son, John.
You were easy to admire, Mr. Gulager, easy to identify with: an actor with a good-guy image even when you weren't playing good. Because of that, you gained a helluva lot of fans, and I, for one, will always be proud to be one.
