Tom Noonan dies: ‘Manhunter', ‘RoboCop 2', ‘Heat' star was 74

Tom Noonan, the actor and director best known for playing some of cinema’s most unsettling villains, has died aged 74.

The death of Tom Noonan was confirmed on social media by longtime friend and collaborator Karen Sillas, as well as filmmaker Fred Dekker, who directed him in The Monster Squad. 

No cause of death has been announced. Noonan died on February 14.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Noonan built a distinctive career defined by his towering presence and ability to bring depth to outsiders and antagonists. 

After early theatre work off Broadway, including appearing in the original production of Sam Shepard’s Buried Child, he began landing film roles in the late 1970s and early 1980s. 

One of his earliest screen appearances was in Heaven’s Gate.

His breakout role came in Manhunter, directed by Michael Mann, where he portrayed serial killer Francis Dollarhyde in the first screen adaptation of Thomas Harris’ Red Dragon. 

The performance earned him lasting recognition and established him as a go-to character actor for complex and disturbing roles.

Noonan went on to embrace cult status with memorable turns as Frankenstein’s Monster in The Monster Squad and as Cain, the drug-fuelled cult leader who becomes the mechanised villain RoboCain in RoboCop 2. 

He also made a strong impression on younger audiences as The Ripper in Last Action Hero.

His long list of film credits included Heat, 12 Monkeys, The House of the Devil, The Pledge and Eight Legged Freaks. 

He later reunited with Mann for Heat and described the director’s work as deeply influential. 

“Terribly sad about Tom Noonan passing,” Mann wrote in a tribute following the news.

Beyond acting, Noonan was a respected playwright and filmmaker. He wrote, directed and starred in What Happened Was…, adapted from his off-Broadway play. 

The film won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 1994 and starred Karen Sillas, who called working with Noonan “a turning point in my life as an actor,” adding, “What a privilege, and crazy fun, it was to call him my friend to the end.”

On television, Noonan appeared in series including The X-Files, The Leftovers, Damages and The Blacklist. 

He also collaborated twice with Charlie Kaufman, appearing in Synecdoche, New York and voicing multiple characters in Anomalisa. 

His final big-screen role was in Wonderstruck.

Reflecting on his career, Noonan once said, “I’ve always been a very quiet person, and ironic, and subtle, and a lot of the parts that I get to play are these loudmouth maniacs who have something really wrong with them.”

Fred Dekker remembered him as “the proverbial gentleman and scholar,” adding that his performance in The Monster Squad remained one of the highlights of his career.

Noonan leaves behind a legacy as a singular screen presence, an actor who made villains human, frightening and unforgettable.