John Vernon, a stage-trained actor who played a series of villains and authority figures, never so well as in “National Lampoon’s Animal House,” in which he was the evil college dean, has died.
Mr. Vernon, who died Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles of complications from heart surgery, was 72.
Mr. Vernon played rugged, often treacherous figures in dozens of films and television shows. With sinister good looks and a surprising vulnerability, he was cast in such gritty fare as “Point Blank” (1967), “Dirty Harry” (1971), and “The Outlaw Josey Wales” (1976).
As Dean Vernon Wormer in “Animal House” (1978), he was the antithesis of a good time. He ignores his alcoholic wife, cuddles up to the repulsive mayor and disdains the fun-loving students.
Director John Landis kept Mr. Vernon unaware of ad-libbing he encouraged among the younger, rambunctious “Animal House” cast members. He wanted an unrehearsed reaction from Vernon when, for example, John Belushi stuffed pencils up his nose as the dean lectured him.
Vernon’s performance in “Animal House” led to a second career as a comic straight man. He reprised Wormer for the short-lived ABC television spinoff “Delta House” (1979) and appeared in several spoofs.
Citing his work in “Animal House,” he once said, “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked to record people’s answering-machine messages saying, `Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son.'”
His marriage to Nancy West Vernon ended in divorce. Survivors include three children, Kate Vernon, Nan Vernon and Chris Vernon, all of Los Angeles; two stepsons, Grant West of Toronto and Jim West of Vancouver; a brother; and a granddaughter.
