Variety reports that character actor Michael Pataki died at the age of 72 on Thursday of cancer.
Pataki had roles in many films of the last thirty years, most notably as the villains in Grave of the Vampire and Airport '77. He also acted in The Onion Field, The Dirt Gang, The Baby and The Bat People. Pataki also made a guest appearance on the original Star Trek TV series, where was the first to speak Klingonese.
But Pataki is probably best known to animation fans for providing the voice of the cartoon character, George Liquor (American). Liquor made his debut in an episode of The Ren & Stimpy Show, where the character was considered so over-the-top that Nickelodeon shelved the episode indefinitely. He found new life in a series of web cartoons produced by Spumco, in which the character was always voiced by Pataki.
"Mike was a one of a kind, a totally unique character and actor," wrote John Kricfalusi, creator of George Liquor, on his blog. "He could act, sing, punch and do just about anything you could imagine. The guy had true star quality. Whenever we did recordings together we'd all be in stitches just listening to him ad lib his lines. The more we laughed, the more energy he seemed to get. And he always wanted to do it one more time."