Charles Gunning

Charles Gunning was an actor born in Waxahachie, Texas, who grew up in Dallas. He trained in film and television at the University of Texas at Austin, then at the American Film Institute's conservatory in Hollywood. Joel and Ethan Coen discovered him and cast him in his first major movie, Miller's Crossing (1990). He became a cult hero for his role in Richard Linklater's Slacker (1991), and he also appeared in Walter Hill's Wild Bill (1995). He co-starred as Slim in Linklater's The Newton Boys (1998) and acted in the television movie Bonanza: The Return (1993). His television work included High Incident, Lois & Clark, ER, Cybill, Murder, She Wrote, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. Known for bad-guy parts, he played psychopaths, gangsters, hitmen, aliens, and cops, and he specialized in dark comedies. He died in 2002.