Following word of the passing of actress Susan Tyrrell comes more sad news from the realm of character stars: genre favorite Richard Lynch has died at age 76.

Fox News reports that Lynch was found by his friend, actress Carol Vogel, after she hadn’t heard from him in several days and went to his house yesterday. The door was ajar, and “When she entered, she discovered him lying on the kitchen floor,” Mike Baronas, who represented Lynch for convention appearances, told the site. “She proceeded to call 911 although his body was cold and lifeless. From what I currently understand, no investigation into the cause of his death will be made as his body was sent directly to a funeral home.”

Rob Zombie, who directed Lynch in HALLOWEEN and the upcoming THE LORDS OF SALEM (which the actor recently discussed with us here), wrote on his Facebook page, “I woke up this morning to the news that our friend Richard Lynch has passed away. Richard was great to work with and really gave it his all. I will never forget the way he scared the crap out of the kid actors in HALLOWEEN. As soon as I said action! He dove right into his role of Principle Chambers at top volume. He will be missed.”

Following his film debut in the 1973 Gene Hackman/Al Pacino drama SCARECROW, Lynch appeared in a string of genre features and TV movies, generally in villainous roles, most notably as cult leader Harris in Andrew Fleming’s BAD DREAMS (1988), the evil Cromwell in Albert Pyun’s THE SWORD AND THE SORCERER (1982) and the titular Prince Anton Voytek in E.W. Swackhamer’s well-regarded telefilm VAMPIRE (1979). His horror credits also include Robert Allen Schnitzer’s THE PREMONITION (1976), Larry Cohen’s GOD TOLD ME TO (1977), William Peter Blatty’s THE NINTH CONFIGURATION (1980), Jon Hess’ ALLIGATOR II: THE MUTATION (1991), David DeCoteau’s PUPPET MASTER III (1991), Christophe Gans’ segment of the H.P. Lovecraft anthology NECRONOMICON: BOOK OF THE DEAD (1993), Pierre David’s SCANNER COP (1994), Tony Zarindast’s WEREWOLF (1997), John Carl Buechler’s MINER’S MASSACRE, a.k.a. CURSE OF THE FORTY-NINER (2003), Jose Prendes’ CORPSES ARE FOREVER (2003), Donald F. Glut’s THE MUMMY’S KISS (2003), Robert Hall’s LAID TO REST (2009) and Douglas Schulze’s DARK FIELDS (2009). He was an iconic presence on the genre screen, and will be deeply missed.

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