Some actors are simply suited to playing bad men, and while Robert Patrick isn’t a heavy every time out, the films for which he’s best known for feature him giving good guys a hellaciously hard time. The one-time athletic standout at Bowling Green State University got his start taking bit parts in exploitation films directed by the famed Filipino filmmaker Cirio H. Santiago (his 1976 actioner “The Muthers” is a must-watch), and eventually found his way to Hollywood where he landed his breakout role as the liquid metal T-1000 in James Cameron’s 1991 action movie classic “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.”
Patrick demonstrated real range in ’90s films like “Fire in the Sky,” “The Cool Surface,” and “Striptease,” but for the most part Hollywood knew he could deliver the sneering goods as a villain, and he took these roles without hesitation. (He’s especially nasty as the white supremacist DC supervillain August “Auggie” Smith aka the White Dragon in Max’s “Peacemaker” series.) In doing so, Patrick often found himself pitted against some of the most renowned action heroes in the history of the movies, which means his characters rarely made it to the end credits with a pulse. But that’s the job, and Patrick is more than good with this situation. In fact, he’s actually proud of his many on-screen deaths, especially when he gets dispatched by one of Hollywood’s big guns.
Robert Patrick will see your 3 iconic action stars, and raise you one fab leading lady
In a 2008 interview with Den of Geek, Robert Patrick was asked how he felt about getting offed by the holy havoc-wreaking trinity of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, and Bruce Willis (find out where those three ranked on /Film’s 18 Best Action Movie Actors list). He elaborated by adding a fourth star to his list of on-screen assailants. Per Patrick:
“It is [a badge of honor], but let me give you a little extra badge of honor. Ready for this? First I was killed by Bruce Willis, Schwarzenegger, then Stallone. And in ‘Charlie’s Angels 2,’ I was killed by the former Mrs. Bruce Willis [aka Demi Moore].”
That’s a prestigious list of slayers. For those of you keeping score, here’s how Patrick bids farewell to the living in each of these movies:
- In “Die Hard 2” (which was directed by Renny Harlin and released in 1990), he’s shot repeatedly through a dislodged air vent in an under-construction airport terminal by Willis’ John McClane.
- In “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” (which, again, was directed by James Cameron and came out in 1991), he gets blasted in the tummy with a grenade by Schwarzenegger as a T-800 and plummets into a pool of molten metal (where he desperately tries to reshape himself before dissolving into oblivion).
- In “Cop Land” (which was directed by James Mangold and debuted in 1997), he comes running out of his house, draws down on a shotgun-wielding Freddy Heflin (Stallone), and comes out on the wrong end of an exchange of bullets (much to his surprise, given the amusingly stunned expression on his character’s face as he dies).
- In “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle” (which was directed by McG and hit theaters in 2003), Patrick’s corrupt U.S. marshal gets blown away by Demi Moore’s former Angel turned villainess Madison Lee at the Griffith Park Observatory.
Last (and circling back around a bit), although John Cena’s not an iconic action movie star just yet, it’s worth noting that Patrick’s White Dragon gets taken out by a bullet to the head fired by his own son, Cena’s titular character, in “Peacemaker.” That’s some primo big-screen dying from Mr. Patrick, and we thank the once-and-future T-1000 for his lights-out service.
