User blog:ARTaylor/John Vernon's 87 Birthday

Today marks the eighty-seventh birthday of John Vernon. Born Adolphus Raymondus Vernon Agopsowicz, the actor got his start playing the voice of Big Brother in the 1956 adaptation of George Orwell's iconic Nineteen Eighty-Four. He rose to fame as the San Francisco mayor in the film Dirty Harry, loosely based on the real world Zodiac killings. Vernon gained prominence in numerous villain roles, most notably Dean Vernon Wormer in Animal House. He was also a noted voice actor. He was the first to play Namor, Iron Man, and Glenn Talbot in The Marvel Super Heroes. He went on to play Doctor Strange on Spider-Man and General Thaddeus Ross on The Incredible Hulk. He is also known to comic fans as mob boss Rupert Thorne on Batman: The Animated Series. He passed away on February 1st, 2005 of complications following heart surgery. He was almost seventy-three years old.