Patrick Cranshaw, 86; Veteran Character Actor Gained Unlikely Fame as "Blue" in "Old School"
LA Times
Patrick Cranshaw, a veteran character actor who unexpectedly attained pop-culture status playing “Blue,” the elderly fraternity brother in the hit comedy “Old School,” has died. He was 86.
Cranshaw died of natural causes Wednesday at his home in Fort Worth, said his personal manager, Jeff Ross.
After launching his screen career in 1955 playing a bartender at a dance in the western “Texas Lady,” Cranshaw appeared in a variety of roles, including a bank teller in “Bonnie and Clyde” and the demolition derby owner in “Herbie: Fully Loaded.”
But he was well into his 80s when he was cast in the small part that gave him the kind of public recognition rarely afforded to a character actor: his scene-stealing role as white-haired and bearded Joseph “Blue” Palasky in “Old School,” directed by Todd Phillips and starring Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell and Vince Vaughn.
In one of his key scenes, a long-johns-clad Blue is supposed to wrestle with two topless girls, but he never gets a chance: He looks at them and is so excited that he keels over dead of an apparent heart attack.
Ferrell’s character delivers the eulogy for Blue, who is seen with angel wings during the closing credits playing a piano and singing “Dust in the Wind.”
After the movie’s release, Cranshaw was frequently recognized by fans of the film, who couldn’t resist calling out Ferrell’s signature line, “You’re my boy, Blue.”
