I definitely should record the passing of actor Frederic Forrest on June 23 at the age of 86.
For purposes of the Mean Streets, he claims the honor for portraying Dashiell Hammett in the 1982 film Hammett directed by Wim Wenders. I’m not a big fan of that flick — think I’ve only seen it once upon release. But Forrest did his best with the material, I’ll admit. (I might rewatch it someday to see David Patrick Kelly in the role of the Wilmer Cookish punk — it was great to see Kelly surface in John Wick as the undertaker.)
Plus Forrest played Hammett again a decade later in 1992’s Citizen Cohn, about the Communist witch hunts. One a made-up Hammett from a crime novel, the other Hammett from real life.
If you’re into trivia, the Forrest-as-Hammett-twice is something to keep in your pocket. Not as spectacular as one-time standup comic Richard Belzer in his role as John Munch, playing that character across something like eleven TV shows, but worth knowing about in case it comes up.
The fictional and real angles give Forrest an edge.
