Pour one out for the best goddamn bartender from Timbuktu to Portland, Maine … or Portland, Oregon, for that matter. Joe Turkel, the actor known for his roles as the ghostly bartender Lloyd in The Shining and Dr. Eldon Tyrell in Blade Runner, died on June 27 at a hospital in California. A representative confirmed the news to Variety. He was 94.
Born in Brooklyn in 1927, Turkel moved to California to pursue acting after serving in World War II for the U.S. Army. He scored his first credited movie role in 1948’s City Across the River and went on to become a Stanley Kubrick favorite, starring in The Killing, Paths of Glory, and, of course, The Shining. Over the next few decades, the prolific character actor added more than 100 roles to his résumé, building the kind of career that is difficult to condense into an obituary. Still, here are some highlights: Turkel’s notable movie credits include King Rat, The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, and Village of the Giants, while he also appeared on numerous TV shows such as The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, Bonanza, The Untouchables, and The Andy Griffith Show. And he still has one more project coming. According to Variety, before his death, Turkel finished a memoir titled The Misery of Success, which his family plans to publish later this year.
