Michael J. Pollard has died. A character acting veteran whose round cheeks and distinctively soft voice helped him project winning vulnerability in films stretching from Arthur Penn’s Bonnie And Clyde all the way up to Rob Zombie’s blood-soaked House Of 1000 Corpses, Pollard appeared (and, more often than not, stole scenes) in more than 100 films and TV shows across his 60-plus year career.

Source: R.I.P. character actor veteran Michael J. Pollard

 

Plus, he inspired one of the most inigmatic songs of 70’s rock —

Pollard and I would sit around writing lyrics all day, talking about Bob Dylan and the Band, thinking up ridiculous plots for the movie. Before I left Morocco, Pollard wrote in my book ‘The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys.’ For me, it summed him up. He had this tremendous rebel attitude. He walked around in his cowboy boots, his leather jacket. At the time he was a heavy little dude. It seemed to sum up all the people of that generation who were just rebels. The ‘Low Spark,’ for me, was the spirit, high-spirited. You know, standing on a street corner. The low rider. The ‘Low Spark’ meaning that strong undercurrent at the street level.

Jim Capaldi, talking about their time in Morocco