ululate!

David Warner, a huge fixture from my childhood, youth, and young adulthood, has died of "a cancer-related illness" at age 80. 

While Warner's performance in "Titanic" barely registered with me, I remember him as a hilarious personification of evil in "Time Bandits" and in at least two different roles in the Star Trek franchise (Chancellor Gorkon in 1991's "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" and as Gul Madred in a 1992 episode of TV's "Star Trek: The Next Generation"—a two-part episode titled "Chain of Command"). Warner was also in 1979's "Time After Time" as a time-traveling Jack the Ripper—a movie directed by Nicholas Meyer, who would go on to direct the most beloved Star Trek movie of them all: "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan." 

I was a bit too young, in 1976, to appreciate Warner's turn as the ill-fated photographer Keith Jennings in "The Omen," but as a little tyke, I loved hanging round bookstores and reading the novelized versions of books, so I did actually know of Jennings's awful fate (beheading by glass pane). I've seen Warner in "Tron," "Star Trek V" (in a minor role), and in the uproarious "The Man with Two Brains." Also, and quite significantly for me, he played the role of Bob Cratchit opposite George C. Scott's Scrooge in a TV production of "A Christmas Carol" that not only became a renowned classic but also became something of a religious tradition at Christmas in our household. Warner could do it all, from the serious to the silly, and he never seemed to take himself all that seriously.

Despite all the movies and shows I've seen Warner in, I doubt I've seen even a tenth of his total oeuvre. The world will be a sadder place without him, and I for one am sorry to learn of his passing. RIP, Mr. Warner. You will definitely be missed.