Icelandic-born actor Gunnar Hansen, star of the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre, has passed away at his home in Maine after a battle with pancreatic cancer, aged 68.
Hansen made his screen debut in Tobe Hooper’s horror classic, portraying the chainsaw-wielding Leatherface, one of the genre’s most iconic characters.
Opting to pursue a writing career after The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Hansen returned to the screen for the 1988 spoof Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers and appeared in numerous straight-to-video horrors throughout the next two decades, as well as cameoing as Boss Sawyer in 2013’s Texas Chainsaw 3D.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=W04aXcyQ0NQ
Originally published November 8, 2015. Updated April 15, 2018.
