Ron Dean, a prolific character actor with memorable roles in films like “The Fugitive” and “The Breakfast Club,” has died at age 87.
Director Andrew Davis, who cast Dean in “The Fugitive” and six other films, said the Chicago-native died on Sunday but did not provide a cause of death.
“Ron Dean was my dear friend and a tremendous actor. He was the essence of what Chicago talent represented,” Davis said in a statement to Deadline. “Having a very troubled youth, Ron turned his life around to have a wonderful career as a loving, decent human being and respected talent.”
Maggie Neff, Ron’s partner of 40 years, told TMZ that Dean died at a hospital in Chicago following a long but unspecified illness.
Armed with a thick Chicago accent, Dean frequently played a cop, coach or other tough guy in projects filmed in and around the Windy City. He was “the go-to for casting directors whenever a production called for the real deal,” according to a Reel Chicago obituary.
Some of his earliest roles included the Tom Cruise flicks “Risky Business,” “The Color of Money,” and “Cocktail.” In John Hughes’ “The Breakfast Club,” he played the stern father of Brat Packer Emilio Estevez.
In “The Fugitive,” which was nominated for Best Picture at the 1994 Oscars, he unforgettably played one of Harrison Ford’s cynical interrogators.
Dean would later portray Detective Wuertz, a crooked cop who runs afoul of both The Joker and D.A. Harvey Dent (later Two-Face) in Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight.”
His other credits include the TV shows “Crime Story” with Dennis Farina and “Early Edition” with Kyle Chandler, as well as the film “Rudy,” in which he played one of the Notre Dame coaches. He also regularly appeared on the first two seasons of “Frasier” as one of Martin Crane’s (John Mahoney) poker buddies.
Dean continued working in the new millennium — typically in Illinois-based productions. He appeared in three episodes of “Chicago Fire” between 2012 and 2013, with a 2016 episode of “Chicago P.D.” serving as his final screen credit.
