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Gunnar Hansen

Highest Rated: 84% The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

Lowest Rated: 30% Murder-Set-Pieces (2004)

Birthday: Mar 4, 1947

Birthplace: Reykjavik, Iceland

Gunnar Hansen created one of the most iconic roles in the history of horror as the terrifying Leatherface in Tobe Hooper's "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" (1974). As it happened, this was the Icelandic native's first film role: he had auditioned for the film un a whim while he was attending graduate school at the University of Texas in Austin. Although Hansen appeared in one more horror film in the '70s, the comparatively little-known "The Demon Lover" (1977), his academic career took precedence. It wasn't until he appeared in the tongue-in-cheek genre parody "Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers" (1988) over a decade later that Hansen began appearing in films regularly. Throughout the '90s and early 2000s, Hansen appeared in a couple dozen low-budget horror films, many of which went directly to video. Throughout, he considered acting a sideline to his calling as a writer, editor and teacher. Gunnar Hansen died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 68 at his home in Northeast Harbor, Maine on November 7, 2015. At the time of his death, Hansen was working on the film "Death House" (2016), starring Danny Trejo and Robert Englund; it was the first film on which he had a screenwriting credit.

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Highest-Rated Movies

84% 82% The Texas Chain Saw Massacre Watchlist
60% 38% Mosquito
Watchlist
33% 38% Death House Watchlist
30% 25% Murder-Set-Pieces
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Swarm of the Snakehead
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0% Hatred of a Minute
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Won Ton Baby!
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Witchunter
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The Demon Lover
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25% Gimme Skelter
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Filmography

Movies TV Shows
Death Breed 2021 Actor Death House 33% 38% 2017 Screenwriter Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre 20% 2009 Captain Pétur Actor Won Ton Baby! 2009 Dr. Kurt Severson Actor Brutal Massacre: A Comedy 42% 2007 Krenshaw Actor Gimme Skelter 25% 2007 Porter Sandford Actor Swarm of the Snakehead 2006 Gunner Actor The Deepening 2006 Dr. Chambers Actor Apocalypse and the Beauty Queen 22% 2005 Reggie Actor Murder-Set-Pieces 30% 25% 2004 Mechanic Actor Hatred of a Minute 0% 2002 Barry Actor Witchunter 2002 Michael Jones Actor Hellblock 13 33% 1999 The Executioner Actor Repligator 1996 Dr. Kildare (male) Actor Mosquito 60% 38% 1995 Earl Actor Freakshow 60% 1995 Freakmaster Actor Campfire Tales 11% 1991 Ralph Actor Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers 45% 1988 The Stranger Actor The Demon Lover 1976 Prof. Peckinpah Actor The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 84% 82% 1974 Leatherface/Bubba Sawyer, Jr. Actor
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