Gunnar Hansen, who played Leatherface in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, dies

Washington D.C., Nov 9: Actor Gunnar Hansen, who is known for his Leatherface role in ‘Texas Chain Saw Massacre, ‘ has passed away at the age of 68.

Hansen’s character is “a standout amongst the most notable malice figures ever and is a Sharp naturalist”, said specialists Mike Eisenstadt. The premise to the film is simple: hapless teenagers and police officers who wander too close to a dilapidated home are brutally murdered by a chainsaw wielding maniac dubbed “Leatherface”. In 2013, he wrote a book, Chain Saw Confidential, detailing the making of his most iconic film. He was also scheduled to appear in two upcoming horror films: The Gathering and Death House, the latter of which he’s credited with writing. He went to the USA and studied at the University of Texas, where he majored in English and Scandinavian studies. He is survived by his partner, Betty Tower. And that’s before you realize the physical disadvantages of the role, Hansen’s insistence on researching the speech and composure of the mentally handicapped, and how much of Leatherface’s physicality was improvised by Hansen himself. When The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was released in 1974, it made Gunnar a legend, and he reprised Leatherface in several forms throughout the years.

According to BBC, the Icelandic-born actor was 68 years old and suffered from pancreatic cancer. What Hansen does feels less like acting than going insane on screen; Wes Craven said it looked like “someone stole the camera and started killing people”. The film’s lead actress, Marilyn Burns, died in 2014. He also played Daddy in Chainsaw Sally in 2004. Hansen again used a chainsaw in all of the above films.

In the book, Hansen detailed how director Tobe Hooper pushed the cast and crew, including Hansen and Burns, to their breaking points during the non-stop shooting of the film’s iconically unsettling “dinner scene”.