Tom Noonan, actor known for Heat and Manhunter, dies aged 74

Tom Noonan, the actor known for his Michael Mann collaborations, has died at the age of 74.

His death was confirmed by Fred Dekker, the director of 80s comedy horror The Monster Squad which saw Noonan play Frankenstein’s Monster.

“It’s with great sadness that I share the passing of Tom Noonan,” he wrote on Facebook. “Tom’s indelible performance as Frankenstein in The Monster Squad is a highlight of my modest filmography … he was the proverbial gentleman and scholar, and the world has lost a great talent.”

Karen Sillas, who starred with Noonan in What Happened Was …, a film Noonan wrote, directed and acted in, based on his play, also paid tribute on social media. “What a privilege and crazy fun it was working with this man and calling him my friend to the end,” she wrote.

The film won the Grand Jury prize at Sundance in 1994.

Noonan started his career in off-Broadway theatre, a stretch that saw him star in the original production of Sam Shepard’s Buried Child, before he began working in film in the 1980s. One of his first roles was in Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate and he then appeared in the Tom Hanks comedy The Man with One Red Shoe and action thriller F/X.

In 1986, he worked with Mann on the Thomas Harris adaptation Manhunter, playing serial killer Francis Dolarhyde.

“I was making a little bit from my acting, but I was really poor and desperate, and this is a real part,” Noonan later said in an interview. “I proceeded then to turn it down about five times. I just wanted to get paid more than they were willing to pay me. They wanted to pay me like $35,000 to do this whole movie. That was money back in 1985, but I said: ‘I’m not doing it for under $100,000.’ My agent said, ‘You’re crazy.’ Somehow, they ended up giving me that amount of money.”

Noonan would later reunite with Mann for 1995’s Heat.

His credits also included RoboCop 2, Last Action Hero, The Astronaut’s Wife, The Pledge, The House of the Devil and Eight Legged Freaks. He also made two films with Charlie Kaufman: Synecdoche, New York and Anomalisa, where he voiced all of the supporting characters. Noonan’s last big-screen credit was the Todd Haynes fantasy Wonderstruck alongside Michelle Williams.

On the small screen, Noonan appeared in shows including The X Files, The Leftovers, Damages and The Blacklist.

“I’ve always been a very quiet person, and ironic, and subtle, and a lot of the parts that I get to play are these loudmouth maniacs who have something really wrong with them,” Noonan said in 1994.

As well as What Happened Was …, Noonan also wrote a play called Wifey which he later turned into a movie called The Wife.