In Remembrance: John Vernon

     John Vernon, the character actor best known as the unsympathetic Dean Wormer in the 1978 comedy Animal House, has passed away on Tuesday, February 1, 2004 in Los Angeles. He was 77.

     Born Adolphus Raymondus Vernon Agopsowicz on February 24, 1932 in Zehner, Saskatchewan, Canada, Vernon first began acting while still in high school. Following graduation he studied at the Banff School of Fine Arts and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. He further honed his craft working with theatre troupes in London and at the Stratford Festival of Canada.

     It was Vernon’s stage work that landed him a job at the newly formed Canadian Broadcasting Company appearing in a number of live productions. Vernon’s breakthrough at the CBC was in 1966 when he landed the title role in the series Wojeck, a crime drama based on real life exploits of Toronto coroner Dr. Morton Shulman. Although the show only ran for 20 episodes, Vernon’s screen presence was strong enough to get him noticed by Hollywood.

     In 1967, Vernon appeared in his first film Point Blank as the gangster friend of Lee Marvin who attempts to kill him and is ultimately thrown out a window to his death by Marvin. It was the first of many parts in which Vernon would play the heavy including the western One More Train To Rob (1971) and the John Wayne crime drama Brannigan (1975). In Dirty Harry (1971), Vernon played the overbearing, public relations conscious mayor of San Francisco. The Clint Eastwood western The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) Vernon appeared as a sadistic Confederate commander. In Chained Heat (1983) he portrayed the sleazy head of a woman’s prison.

     As Faber College President Dean Wormer, Vernon plotted to put a stop to the hard partying antics of the rowdy Delta fraternity in National Lampoon’s Animal House. Vernon was one of four cast members who would go on to star in the short lived television of the film Delta House.

     Vernon’s success with Animal House would allow him to spoof his stentorian persona in such films as Airplane II: The Sequel (1982) and the blaxploitation parody I’m Gonna Git You Sucka (1988).

     Vernon’s career in the `90s found him transitioning back to television work and lending his recognizable voice to cartoons and video games.