Sydney Lassick

Sydney Lassick
Born	(1922-07-23)July 23, 1922 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died	April 12, 2003(2003-04-12) (aged 80) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting place	Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery
Other names	Sidney Lassick
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1958–2000
Notable work	Charlie Cheswick in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) Mr. Fromm in Stephen King's Carrie (1976) Ernest Keller in The Unseen (1980) Luke Gutchel in Alligator (1980) Roscoe in Cool as Ice (1991)

Sydney Lassick (July 23, 1922 – April 12, 2003) was an American character actor perhaps best known for his role as Charlie Cheswick in the feature film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Lassick's first name was sometimes spelled Sidney.

Biography

He was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Russian Jewish immigrants. Lassick, who served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, and afterwards studied drama at DePaul University, began acting in both films and TV shows in the late 1950s.

Lassick is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Charlie Cheswick, a whiny and childish manic depressive patient in the 1975 Academy Award-winning film One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Other memorable roles include a fey Fairy Godfather in the lowbrow Sinderella and the Golden Bra; Mr. Fromm, the spitefully sarcastic English teacher in the 1976 film adaptation of Stephen King's novel Carrie; the perverse and abusive innkeeper Ernest Keller in slasher horror The Unseen; the slimy Charlie P. in the cult film Sonny Boy; and the effeminate lackey Gopher in Deep Cover (1992). Lassick also was the voice of Straycatcher #2 in the 1992 animated feature film Tom and Jerry: The Movie.

In television, Lassick guest starred on such shows as Eight Is Enough, Baretta, Hawaii Five-O, Barney Miller, Matt Houston, Moonlighting, Night Court, Knots Landing, Dream On and The X-Files. While usually a supporting actor, he played the lead in an episode of Amazing Stories called "Remote Control Man".

Death

Lassick died of complications of diabetes at age 80 in Midway Hospital in Los Angeles, California. Lassick was buried at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. His grave marker is a simple small stone memorial showing only his name and the Star of David.

Filmography

Lassick's filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1958	The Bonnie Parker Story	Scout Master
1959	Paratroop Command	Interpreter
	Al Capone	Hot Dog Vendor	Uncredited
1964	Sinderella and the Golden Bra	Fairy Godfather	As Sid Lassick
1975	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest	Charlie Cheswick
1976	Carrie	Mr. Fromm
1977	The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington	Percy Bowlder
	The Billion Dollar Hobo	Mitchell
1978	China 9, Liberty 37	Sheriff's friend
1979	Hot Stuff	Hymie
	Skatetown, U.S.A.	Murray
	1941	Salesman	Uncredited
1980	Alligator	Luke Gutchel	As Sidney Lassick
	The Unseen	Ernest Keller
1981	History of the World: Part I	Applecore Vendor
1982	Pandemonium	Man in Bus Station
	Partners	Photo Shoot Assistant	Uncredited
	Fast-Walking	Ted
	Forty Days of Musa Dagh	Osman
1984	Silent Madness	Sheriff Liggett
	Night Patrol	Peeping Tom	As Sidney Lassick
	Monaco Forever	American Tourist
1985	Stitches	Sheldon Mendlebaum
1986	Ratboy	Lee 'Dial-A-Prayer'
1987	Body Slam	Shapiro
1988	Lady in White	Mr. Lowry
	The Further Adventures of Tennessee Buck	Wolfgang Meyer
1989	Sonny Boy	Charlie P.
	Out on Bail	Otis T. Smiley
	Curse II: The Bite	George
	Tale of Two Sisters	Dad
	Judgement	Dr. Henry Silver
1990	Pacific Palisades	Mr. Beer
	Smoothtalker	Mr. Nathan
	Wishful Thinking	Dr. Harding
1991	Committed	Gow
	Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead	Franklin
	The Art of Dying	Wallie
	Shakes the Clown	Peppy the Clown
	Cool as Ice	Roscoe
1992	Deep Cover	Gopher
	Judgement	Dr. Henry Silver
	Miracle Beach	Tooth Fairy
	Tom and Jerry: The Movie	Straycatcher #2	Voice
1993	Eye of the Stranger	Oli
	Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit	Competition Announcer
1994	Future Shock	Mr. Johnson
1996	Freeway	Woody Wilson
	Johns	Al
	Squanderers	Peter Chisholm
1997	American Vampire	Bruno
1999	Man on the Moon	Crystal Healer
2000	Something to Sing About	Elderly Man	Final film role

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1976	Serpico	Goldman	Episode: "The Deadly Game"
	Family	Benson Margotte	2 episodes
1977	Bunco		TV movie
	Man from Atlantis	Smith	Episode: "The Hawk of Mu"
	Eight Is Enough	Mr. Kaminsky	Episode: "Dark Horse"
	Baretta	Davey Scafali	"Who Can Make the Sun Shine?"
	Tabitha	Warlock	Episode: "What's Wrong with Mister Right?"
1978	Hawaii Five-O	Benilea	Episode: "Invitation to Murder"
	Kaz		Episode: "Which Side Are You On?"
	Greatest Heroes of the Bible	King Agadiz	Miniseries
1978-1980	Barney Miller	Mr. Cummings/Victor Carse	2 episodes
1979	The Cracker Factory	Ernie
1981	Archie Bunker's Place	Sid
1983	Gloria	Dr. Montego	Episode: "Class Struggle"
	Matt Houston	Brady	Episode: "Needle in a Haystack"
1984	Night Court	Leo	Episode: "Pick a Number"
1985	Amazing Stories	Walter Poindexter	Episode: "Remote Control Man"
1986	Moonlighting	Neighbor	Episode: "The Bride of Tupperman"
1991	Gabriel's Fire	Liebowitz	Episode: "One Flew Over the Bird's Nest"
1992	On the Air	Mr. Zoblotnick	2 episodes
1994	Dream On	Mr. Janovic	Episode: "Martin Tupper in 'Magnum Farce'"
1997	The X-Files	Chuck Forsch	Episode: "Elegy"

External links

• Sydney Lassick at IMDb
• Sydney Lassick at Find a Grave