Baseball Toaster: Cardboard Gods : Glenn Abbott

Glenn Abbott

2007-11-20 04:53

by Josh Wilker

There's an actor that Glenn Abbott resembles, a guy who showed up periodically throughout my youth and adolescene on the fringes of Westerns and cop shows and the stray episode of the Incredible Hulk. I can't remember any specific role, or even come up with a movie he was definitely in so as to seek him out on the Internet. He was never a leading man, never saved the day, never rode off into the sunset with the beautiful girl. If he ever had any time in the spotlight at all in anything it was a brief, shadow-tinged spotlight. Maybe he uttered a slightly ominous albeit forgettable line of dialogue. Maybe he got thrown into a pile of hay bails by a greened-up Lou Ferrigno. Whatever he did he's gone now, as far as I know. But then again it wouldn't surprise me if he showed up in something again. He was one of those guys who was never quite here and never quite not here either.

Comments

2007-11-20 06:57:32

1. Jeb

Kind of a Syd Barrett character actor (not quite all there), huh?

I wonder if Abbott ever showed up at Mariners Spring Training 6 years after his release, bald and fat, "to do my part" like Syd did.

2007-11-20 07:57:34

2. chiros13

Funny, he looks like one of those computer-aided aging shots of Matthew Modine to me.

2007-11-20 08:00:09

3. JL25and3

Reminds me a little of Scott Glenn, especially in the eyes.

2007-11-20 09:16:39

4. Monkey Head

He looks like somebody who would yell in the town meetings on Little House on the Prairie whenever a black person moved into town.

2007-11-20 11:20:28

5. Joe Romano

I remember the exact same guy. Someone I probably saw on Kojak, Starsky & Hutch or Barretta. Maybe even Emergency. Damned if I remember his name.

2007-11-20 11:24:14

6. MC Safety

Or how about on Hunter maybe Airwolf?

2007-11-20 11:38:02

7. Ken Arneson

I don't know the guy you are referring to, but here's a site full of such actors:

http://www.fametracker.com/hey_its_that_guy/

2007-11-20 12:55:54

8. Catfish326

Is it David Soul, "Hutch" himself? There are some similarities. See:

http://www.davidsoul.com/images/10x8bwphotorage1r.jpg

2007-11-20 13:56:59

9. philthyrat

Looks kind of like Mike Farrell who played BJ Hunnicutt on M*A*S*H (pre-mustache, of course).

2007-11-20 15:50:31

10. Jeb

Actually he looks like Ronnie Cox from "Deliverance" and "Beverly Hills Cop" fame.

2007-11-20 18:35:55

11. Ennui Willie Keeler

Glenn Abbott was the Jack Elam of the four man nohitter that the A's pitched on 9/28/75. I'm happy that they got that out of their system that week instead of the noext.

2007-11-21 01:56:55

12. Basilisc

Willem Dafoe?

2007-11-21 06:49:56

13. Catfish326

Glenn Abbott pitched for the '73 A's (a little) and the '74 A's championship teams, AND the '84 Tigers. I did not recall that he was part of the '84 Tigers. Poor guy never appeared in the post-season for any of those championship teams.

2007-11-21 11:16:34

14. GatesFan

First time posting, long time fan of your writing. Had to chime in here because as soon as I saw where you were going with this post, I know that you were thinking about Clu Gulager.
Here's the best photo I could find of him, relatively close to his vintage, "Glenn Abbott evoking" glory days:

http://www.psychotronicvideo.com/wow/inner_views/gulager/gulager6.html

2007-11-22 16:08:54

15. Pedro

Can't find the guy's name, but in addition to the Hulk episode, he was in the original Salem's Lot, and was a bad guy in one of the Clint Eastwood westerns. Maybe the one where he takes over the town and paints it red? Help, please?

2007-11-25 05:59:09

16. Josh Wilker

15 : Pedro's got it! According to IMDB he was in the original Salem's Lot and I do vaguely remember him in High Plains Drifter, too. He was in a ton of other things and apparently continues to get roles (such as "old man" and "crazy old man"), but never actually appeared in the Incredible Hulk: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0507212/

GatesFan's astute suggestion of Clu Gulager 14 , who actually does look more like Glenn Abbott than the guy I was thinking of, may have figured in blurrily to my Glenn Abbott 1970s character actor thoughts. Interestingly, he was never in the Incredible Hulk either. So who the hell was getting tossed around by Lou Ferrigno? Glenn Abbott?

2007-11-25 20:54:41

17. Hugh Jorgan

15,16 the guy you are thinking of plays the ring leader of 3 thugs who whip the sheriff to death in High Plains Drifter. Its Clint Eastwood that actually paints the town red as he returns like an avenging angel and of course rids the town of the 3 baddies.
I have no idea what the actor's name is.

2007-12-26 15:45:53

18. Rider11

The actor you seem to be referring to is Geoffrey Lewis, a longtime actor-stuntman who also happens to be the father of Juliette Lewis.

However, Lewis was 5-9 and Abbott was 6-6 (if memory of the back of his card serves). I'd cast a vote for Ronny Cox (6-2), although I can't fight the feeling that there is another actor he resembles from that era that I can't quite put my finger on.