Timothy Carey (Timothy Agoglia Carey)

Timothy Carey

Timothy Agoglia Carey (March 11, 1929 – May 11, 1994) was an American film and television character actor. He was born in Brooklyn, New York. Carey was best known for portraying manic or violent characters who are driven to extremes.  One of his best remembered early roles was in the Stanley Kubrick film The Killing (1956), in which he portrayed a gunman hired to shoot a horse during a race, as a diversion from a racetrack robbery underway. Because of the impression Carey made in this small part, Kubrick cast him in the World War I drama Paths of Glory (1957), as one of three soldiers accused of cowardice. During the filming of Paths Of Glory, Carey was apparently disruptive, trying to draw more attention to his character during the filming. A scene where Carey and the other actors were brought a duck dinner as their final meal before execution took 57 takes due to his behavior. The final straw occurred when he faked his own kidnapping for personal publicity, causing Kubrick and Producer James B. Harris to fire him. Because of this, they were unable to show the three condemned soldiers during the battle scene, and a double was used during the scene when a priest was hearing his character’s confession. The scene was filmed with the double’s back to the camera.

The 1957 film Bayou (retitled Poor White Trash) featured one of Carey’s few leading roles, as a Cajun shopkeeper named Ulysses.  Carey wrote, produced, directed, and starred in the 1962 feature The World’s Greatest Sinner, which was scored by Frank Zappa. Although it did not have wide commercial release, the film achieved cult status through repeated screenings at the “midnight movies” in Los Angeles in the 1960s. This movie established Carey as an important figure in independent film. He had roles in East of Eden, The Wild One, One-Eyed Jacks, The Boy and the Pirates, Beach Blanket Bingo. and in the John Cassavetes-directed films Minnie and Moskowitz and The Killing of a Chinese Bookie. He played a minor role as the Angel of Death in the comedy film D.C. Cab, and appeared in the Monkees vehicle Head. His final appearance was in the 1986 movie Echo Park. Carey also did a select amount of acting on TV from the 1950s through the 1980s.  Carey’s face (from the movie The Killing) is positioned behind George Harrison on the cover of the Beatles album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Although Carey’s image is not seen on the commercially released version of the cover, it can be seen on outtake photos from the Sgt. Pepper session.  According to director Quentin Tarantino, Carey auditioned for his film Reservoir Dogs, for the role of Joe Cabot. Although Carey did not get the role, the screenplay of the film was dedicated to him, among others.  He died of a stroke in 1994 at the age of 65 in Los Angeles, and was buried at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, California.

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Born

  • March, 11, 1929
  • USA
  • Brooklyn, New York

Died

  • May, 11, 1994
  • USA
  • Los Angeles, California

Cause of Death

  • stroke

Cemetery

  • Rose Hills Memorial Park
  • Whittier, California
  • USA

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