William Hootkins has died.

Star wars geeks might remember him best as Jek Porkins, the fat rebel pilot who died during the assault on the Death Star. He was a great character actor who had bit parts in lots of famous films such as Raiders of the Lost Ark (as one of the CIA agents who recruit Indy at the beginning), Flash Gordon (as Munson, Zarkov’s ill fated assistant), Batman (as sleazy Officer Eckhardt who snitches on Jack Napier) and, one of my all time favourites, Hardware (as the incredibly creepy Lincoln Wineberg Jr. All together now “We all walk, the wibbly wobbly walk…”)

Last year he appeared on the London stage in an acclaimed performance as Alfred Hitchcock in the play “Hitchcock Blonde” opposite one time Bond girl, Rosamund Pike. Games fans might be curious to know that he provided most of the generic male voices for Everquest 2 and also did work on other games including Evil Dead: A fistful of boomstick and Crash Bandicoot.

Always sad.