Brad Dourif Net Worth

Brad Dourif's Quotes

• [on if he prefers to play edgier twisted characters] Well, I've been cast as them... and I like to work, so I take those roles. You know, you try to be diverse, and try to have fun and round things out.
• I'm formally trained, I don't know what classically trained really means. I've worked with Sanford Meisner. And I've worked at Circle Rep with Marshall W. Mason and Lanford Wilson and some really good people. I was lucky. I had a lot of really good influences.
• I prefer film to the stage. I always like the rehearsal better than I like performing.
• I'm a whore. If they have a check and camera and a script and stuff for me to say, I am mostly there, unless I just can't take it. No, really, I do like to work. It just depends on whether there is a whole lot of stuff for me to choose from, because if there is I am choosy. If there's not a lot of work, then I try to find some redeeming value in the parts being offered. If it is awful, then, of course, I can't do it. But I have to say, I am pretty lucky in that there are usually things coming in. That said, sometimes it is slow.
• I am good when there is something central about the character. There is always a human theme I attach myself to. I am really looking for something that is moving or enlightening or something with depth as an actor. I look for these kinds of roles.

Interesting Facts about Brad Dourif

1. Has heard his own movie Dune (1984) described as "science fiction's answer to Heaven's Gate (1980)" (which Dourif also starred in), and he agrees totally with this summation.
2. He was initially cast as the Scarecrow in Batman Forever (1995) while Tim Burton was attached to the project (Burton had also wanted to cast Dourif as The Joker in Batman (1989), but the studio refused). However, Joel Schumacher eventually took over the project and instead cast Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face and Jim Carrey as the Riddler.
3. In 2012, he contributed spoken word vocals to three songs on the album Misery Together by the Norwegian duo Thinguma*jigSaw.
4. Has two daughters: Fiona Dourif and Kristina Dourif Tanoue.
5. Grandchild: Caden Kalani Kahalewai Dourif-Tanoue (born 2001).
6. Many of his co-stars in the Lord of the Rings trilogy were under the impression that he was actually English because of the British accent he used as Grima Wormtongue throughout filming. As a method actor, he kept the accent even when he was not filming. They were shocked to hear him speak in an American accent after filming was complete. Bernard Hill believed Dourif was speaking in the worst American accent he "had ever heard in his life".
7. He was considered for the role of Max Cady in the remake Cape Fear (1991), which went to Robert De Niro.
8. Has appeared with Samuel L. Jackson in four films: Ragtime (1981), The Exorcist III (1990), Jungle Fever (1991) and Amos & Andrew (1993).
9. Made five trips to New Zealand while the Lord of the Rings trilogy was being filmed. He had to shave off his eyebrows each time for his role as Grima Wormtongue.
10. His father, who owned and operated a dye factory, died when Brad was three.
11. Attended and graduated from Fountain Valley School in Colorado Springs, Colorado (1968).
12. Attended Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia but dropped out (1969).
13. Has taught acting and directing classes at Columbia University in the City of New York.
14. Moved to New York City at age 19 and worked with the Circle Repertory Company, appearing in many off-Broadway and Woodstock, New York productions. Moved to Los Angeles, California (1988).
15. His father, Jean Henri Dourif, was born in France, and was of three quarters French and one quarter English-Irish ancestry. His mother, Joan Mavis Felton (Bradford), was born in New York, to parents from Virginia, who also had English ancestry (including deep colonial American roots).
16. Has worked with director Werner Herzog in four films: Cerro Torre: Schrei aus Stein (1991), The Wild Blue Yonder (2005), Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) and My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (2009).
17. Has appeared in two Best Picture Academy Award winners: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).
18. Is one of four cast members of David Lynch's Dune (1984) who have appeared on the Star Trek series: Sir Patrick Stewart played Captain Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), Brad Dourif and Virginia Madsen have appeared on Star Trek: Voyager (1995), and Dean Stockwell has appeared on Star Trek: Enterprise (2001).
19. Though Dourif had not been on stage in nearly three decades, he chose to star alongside Amanda Plummer in the Off-Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams' The Two-Character Play that played to critical acclaim at the New World Stages. He explained, in a filmed interview released by the producers, why he broke his 29-year hiatus from acting in live theater: "I hated the stage, did not want to do it. And then somebody said, 'Will you do a play? It's with Amanda Plummer', and I said, 'Oh shit! No. Oh God, I'm gonna have to do this...'". It opened on June 10, 2013 and closed on September 29, 2013. The play was subject to a number of performance cancellations, one relating to Dourif's absence, due to a death in the family. Plummer refused to perform without Dourif, notwithstanding the presence of an understudy.
20. He played the role of Stephen in a stage production of the play "When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder". Dourif was asked to reprise the role for the film version, but turned said offer down because he didn't want to work with Marjoe Gortner. The role went to Peter Firth.