Joe Don Baker
May. 16th, 2025 06:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
setsuledJoe Don Baker has died. He was 89. Like most people of my generation, I know him best, perhaps unfortunately, as the star of Mitchell and that film's appearance on Mystery Science Theater 3000 in 1993. It's widely considered one of the very best episodes of MST3k, in no small part due to the endless jokes made at Baker's expense.
I remember reading an interview with Trace Beaulieu, who voiced Crow T. Robot at the time, where he said he felt kind of bad about riffing so much on Baker, saying that he was actually a fan of Baker's work. And Joe Don Baker was indeed a good actor in quality, pulp films of the '70s like Charley Varrick and The Outfit with Robert Duvall which Quentin Tarantino praised in his book Cinematic Speculations, commending Baker's performance.
Joe Don Baker had a long career that shifted between cheesy and classy. He had roles in Scorsese's Cape Fear and in multiple James Bond movies. His last film was 2012's Mud. Farewell, Mr. Baker. I promise I'll remember you for the right reasons.
I remember reading an interview with Trace Beaulieu, who voiced Crow T. Robot at the time, where he said he felt kind of bad about riffing so much on Baker, saying that he was actually a fan of Baker's work. And Joe Don Baker was indeed a good actor in quality, pulp films of the '70s like Charley Varrick and The Outfit with Robert Duvall which Quentin Tarantino praised in his book Cinematic Speculations, commending Baker's performance.
Joe Don Baker had a long career that shifted between cheesy and classy. He had roles in Scorsese's Cape Fear and in multiple James Bond movies. His last film was 2012's Mud. Farewell, Mr. Baker. I promise I'll remember you for the right reasons.
