Tom Noonan, Actor Renowned for Onscreen Menace, Dies at 74

Tom Noonan, a 6-foot-8 character actor known for a string of memorable, often menacing roles, died on Feb. 14 in Englewood, N.J. He was 74. His daughter, Wanda Noonan, said he died in a hospital and did not provide a cause. On screen he was variously a psychopath in Manhunter, a serial killer in The Last Action Hero and a gentle Frankensteins monster in The Monster Squad.

His audition for Michael Manns Manhunter left an impression: after frightening the casting reader, Mr. Mann asked how he did it, and Mr. Noonan replied, "The secret to being scary is to be really scared. Because when youre really scared, people are really scared of you." Reviewers noted the combination of terror and pity in his work; Malcolm L.

Johnson wrote that he "makes the murderer terrifying and pitiful, a Frankensteins monster who dreams of being a god." He also played Cain in RoboCop 2, the Ripper in The Last Action Hero and, in a 2013 episode of The Blacklist, a dentist who dissolves bodies. Off stage and screen, Mr.

United States, Englewood, New Jersey

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