James Thomas Patrick Walsh (September 28, 1943 – February 27, 1998) was an American actor known for his roles as "quietly sinister white-collar sleazeballs" (quote from Leonard Maltin) in numerous feature films and "everybody's favorite scumbag" from Playboy Magazine.
Walsh was born in San Francisco, California. He had three siblings, Christopher, Patricia, and Mary. After returning from studying at Clongowes Wood College in the Republic of Ireland, Walsh attended the University of Rhode Island, where he starred in many college theater productions. In 1974, he was discovered by a director and began working in off-Broadway shows.
Walsh did not start appearing in feature films until 1983, when he had a minor role in Eddy Macon's Run. Over the next 15 years, he played in over 50 feature films, increasingly taking the bad guy role for which he is so well known, e.g. the loudly irascible Sgt. Maj. Dickerson in Good Morning, Vietnam. Walsh had one of his best roles as Wayne in Red Rock West (1992). In his last year, he starred in Hidden Agenda, Pleasantville, and The Negotiator. All three of those movies were dedicated to his memory, after he died from a heart attack on February 27, 1998. In addition, Jack Nicholson dedicated his Academy Award for As Good as It Gets to the memory of Walsh, with whom he had starred in A Few Good Men and Hoffa in 1992. The 1997 thriller Breakdown featured Walsh as the villainous truck driver, which raised his profile to movie audiences. Sadly, it was said that Walsh wanted to show his range as an actor and play good guy parts, which proved slim, although the actor did get to play but a few decent people like the White House Chief of Staff in Outbreak in an inspired cameo, and Chester Van Damme in Sniper but even those roles had Walsh putting an amoral streak within his characters. Walsh played a member of Majestic-12 in the 1996-1997 sci-fi/drama television series Dark Skies.
Walsh died from a heart attack in La Mesa, California on February 27, 1998. Walsh, father of actor John West, was the inspiration for Fametracker's The J.T. Walsh Memorial "Hey! It's That Guy!" feature on character actors.
