Earl Boen, a veteran character and voice actor best known for his role as the hapless Dr. Peter Silberman in The Terminator movies, has died at the age of 81.
The late performer’s family told Variety that Earl had been diagnosed with lung cancer last year. He died in Hawaii on Thursday.
In the first Terminator film, Earl played a criminal psychologist who was brought in to question Michael Biehn’s character, Kyle Reese.
Kyle had traveled back from the future in a bid to kill the terminator, a cyborg played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, in a desperate move to save the human race from machines in James Cameron’s popular 1984 sci-fi film.
Earl went on to appear in the sequels Terminator 2: Judgment Day – in which he discounts hero Sarah Connor’s (Linda Hamilton) cyborg warning – and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machine. He was also seen in archival footage in 2019’s Terminator: Dark Fate.
Actor Robert Patrick, who played an evil cyborg in Terminator 2 hailed Earl as a “wonderfully gifted actor, and a good guy” on Twitter.
Very sad to hear Earl Boen has passed away. He was a wonderfully gifted actor, and a good guy. My condolences to his family. R.I.P. Earl Boen. #terminator#terminator2 @ Hollywood Hills https://t.co/bBuyeOrZnQ
— Robert Patrick 🇺🇸 (@robertpatrickT2) January 6, 2023
Earl worked on several other films, TV series and video games in his career.
His film credits include 9 To 5, Living in Peril, The Prince, Sioux City, Marked For Death, Alien Nation, The Main Event, Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult and Nutty Professor II: The Klumps.
His voluminous TV work included roles on The Streets Of San Francisco, Hawaii Five-O, Wonder Woman, Police Woman, Barnaby Jones and The Dukes Of Hazzard.
He was voiced Mr. Bleakman in Clifford The Big Red Dog, Ghost Pirate LeChuck in the Monkey Island video games and of Charles “Rhino” Daly in the animated Batman series, among a number of other voice roles.
But his iconic role will always be Dr. Silberman, a slightly nerdy, well-intentioned doctor who doesn’t quite get what’s really going on.
He is survived by his wife, Cathy, daughter Ruby and two grandchildren.
RIP to the greatest criminal psychologist. Terminator franchise actor Earl Boen has passed away at the age of 81. How will you remember Earl? @Schwarzeneggerpic.twitter.com/JUMnrmmcR5
— The Arnold Fans (@TheArnoldFans) January 6, 2023
Was sorry to see that Earl Boen passed away at 81. Here’s one of the greatest VFX shots in existence from Terminator 2: Judgement Day, and Boen’s reaction as Dr Silberman is absolutely priceless. pic.twitter.com/fG17cmxqrr
— Kriegler (@Kriegler007) January 6, 2023
RIP Earl Boen pic.twitter.com/GBcUZvzByW
— Vanessinator 🤖 T-80085 (@ilovejohnkimble) January 6, 2023
Sad news. Earl Boen has passed away.. One of the many roles in his career was being the voice of Charles “Rhino” Daly on Batman: the animated series. Thank you for everything. You will be missed. https://t.co/aV7x17tBj9pic.twitter.com/a1J9DkjqUF
— Batman: TAS (@TheAnimatedBat) January 6, 2023
RIP American actor #EarlBoen who has sadly died aged 81. 4 decades of work in TV, film and video games made him a fan favourite. He will be best known for playing Dr Silberman in three ‘Terminator’ films. and as the voice of Ghost Pirate LeChuck in the ‘Monkey Island’ PC games.🌷 pic.twitter.com/RtwYD5PTE0
— Chris (@GelNerd) January 6, 2023
RIP Earl Boen. A great “That Guy” actor that brought a droll energy to every project he did. So it goes. pic.twitter.com/CMyhfan80J
— Rob Dean (@neuroticmonkey) January 6, 2023
Source: Huff Post