2 Dollar Productions

As if returning to work after a long weekend wasn't depressing enough, I sat down at my desk and discovered that actor Paul Gleason had died.

Gleason was 67, and died at a local hospital Saturday of mesothelioma, a rare form of lung cancer linked to asbestos.

Gleason was a phenomenally hilarious character actor, and I still remember the first time I saw him as a high school principal from hell in "The Breakfast Club."



If he would have known what cinematic horrors the cast of that movie would perpetuate on the public over the next decade, I'm sure Gleason would have kept them in detention for the rest of the 80s.



Gleason continued to appear in roles that played to his strengths of being sarcastic and hilarious and quite often a bit of an asshole.

In addition to "The Breakfast Club," some of my other favorites include "Trading Places," "Die Hard" and "Johnny Be Good."

I often miss character actors more than "stars" because I think there is something about the regular guy roles that makes them less removed from the audience.

Actors like Gleason could be your uncle or your friend or some guy off the street who happens to make movies for a living.

Anytime he was onscreen, Gleason could usually be counted on for a laugh and he was always an interesting character who I will miss now that he's gone.

-BDS