Come Back, Jack

Amidst all the birthdays, December 30th is also a deathday.  Today, in 1996, actor Jack Nance died.  He had gotten into a fight at the local Winchell's Donuts in Pasadena on Fair Oaks (I've driven by it many times) the day before.  He was probably drunk, and the next day told his friends he'd mouthed off and gotten hit. He said he had a headache, went home and died alone in his apartment of a subdural hematoma.

His first big role was the lead, Henry X, in David Lynch's Eraserhead.  Much of his later work was also with Lynch, but if he'd only made that first film, he'd deserve to be remembered.

Here's Henry at his girlfriend's place for dinner.  It's atypical of the movie--a fair amount of dialogue and reasonably coherent action.  Really Eraserhead needs to be experienced all at once.