“Come with me if you want to live…”
MICHAEL BIEHN
AS
KYLE REESE
Michael Biehn has become somewhat of a James Cameron regular over the years, appearing in no fewer than four Cameron films, although Biehn’s appearance as Kyle Reese in a dream sequence in TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY ended up on the cutting room floor, but was eventually included in the Director’s Cut of T2 on the DVD release.
Biehn’s film career began rather unspectacularly with an uncredited role in GREASE, which he followed up in the early eighties with the lame comedies COACH and HOG WILD. Whilst these films weren’t very good, or very funny, what they did do was feature Biehn in his first starring roles, which helped him land the role of the titular character in stalker thriller THE FAN in 1981, a role that would prove to be his big break. It was his role in THE TERMINATOR as time-travelling resistance soldier Kyle Reese that really put Michael Biehn on the Hollywood map though.
Two years later, Biehn reunited with James Cameron for his second big film; ALIENS playing Corporal Hicks, a role he stepped into after James Remar left due to those darn ‘creative differences’ that seem to plague so many film sets.
After starring in William Friedkin’s courtroom drama RAMPAGE in 1987, Biehn teamed up with Cameron for a third time on THE ABYSS playing Lieutenant Coffey. His next two films NAVY SEALS with Charlie Sheen and TIMEBOMB with the in-no-way-wooden Patsy Kensit weren’t massive hits and after his cut appearance in T2, Biehn recovered with the popular K2 and TOMBSTONE playing gunslinger Johnny Ringo.
Biehn’s next big screen role saw him work with William Friedkin again on JADE, the film that, along with KISS OF DEATH, managed to completely destroy David Caruso’s film career. After several inconsequential films, Biehn returned to what he seemed to do best; playing a Navy Seal in Michael Bay’s THE ROCK alongside his THE ABYSS co-star Ed Harris, in what would be best described as a cameo appearance.
Biehn’s career has faltered since the mid-nineties, with majority of his work coming in indies or straight to video garbage, his most notable roles coming in THE ART OF WAR with Wesley Snipes, the laughable horror CHERRY FALLS and CLOCKSTOPPERS in 2002.
As a big Michael Biehn fan, I’m hoping that his recent role in Tarantino and Rodriguez’s GRINDHOUSE can help to revive his career and rumours have been circulating that he could make an appearance in James Cameron’s upcoming AVATAR.
Tomorrow: LANCE HENRIKSEN
Sunday: ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER
Yesterday: LINDA HAMILTON
Previously: BEVERLY HILLS COP, BACK TO THE FUTURE
8 Comments
Fan of Michael, loved him in Aliens, and hope to see him in future movies.
I heard he was dead and was glad to hear it
I’ve seen just about every single one of Michael Biehn’s movies and I’m here to tell you, that man can act. And he’s not bad on the eyes either. So to the person who said he heard that MB was dead and glad of it, I think u need to get a life and get a reality check because ur nuts!!
I am a Michael Biehn fan and love to see him in anything – movies or TV. I now have the TV series Magnificent Seven that he did in 1998-2000, and really enjoyed that – both the first time when it was originally aired and again now on DVD. He’s also done TV shows Adventure, Inc. and Hawaii, which was short lived. I would love to see him in a TV series again. I think he’s a great actor. He is making a guest appearance on CBS’s Criminal Minds tomorrow night – Feb 11, 2009 – along with Cybil Sheppard. I will be watching. If you like his performance let CBS know – maybe something will come of it.
I unfortunately never got to see M7 or Hawaii when it was on TV but I did get to see Adventure Inc. (I now have the complete series of M7, Hawaii and Adventure Inc.). I’m definitely planning on taping Criminal Minds tonight because I’m definitely a big Michael Biehn Fan. I think he’s a fantastic actor who is definitely under appreciated.
Michael Biehn visited the sci-fi mass in Gothenburg, Sweden, 7-8 of march 2009. It was a chance of a lifetime for me to get to see one of the real big stars that you admire most. He has certanly enchanted me since long ago in Terminator and Aliens. Such a charisma he posess, and quality of acting. Really admirable both in good rolls aswell as being the bad guy, he certanly takes a picture and lifts it few steps in quality.
In person, today 52 years old i think, he looks like you would remember him from films but with quite a bit wilder looks, and very disciplined physically. Certanly a tall and good looking man.
It was an totally overwhelming experience to see him in real life since i so adore this actor. Cannot stop thinking about it. I have never been interested in autographs from anyone, but in this case i had to have one. Well took a foto with him and got me a signed picture aswell, and those i will charish forever. Will be bit extra pleasant to rewatch those classics, or se him furthermore on TV or films as remembering i saw him for real.
I wish I could meet Michael in person. I’ve heard that he is a very charismatic person and easy to talk to. I’m slowly rebuilding my MB movie collection (the original set I had, was stolen from me a few years ago and I’ve been working on trying to replace what was stolen – still trying to find the full version of Asteroid. Can’t believe that when the DVD came out, a bunch of scenes were cut which condensed the 4 hr tv mini-series into a 2 hr movie – I think that was just plain stupid). I just got done watching Stiletto and MB did a great job playing a bad guy but then again so did William Forsythe.
I’ve never posted before so I hope I do this right technically. I also wish I could meet Michael Biehn in person. I am a huge fan. I think he is a great and diversely talented actor in all types of roles, good guy or bad guy or funny guy roles. Criminal Minds is one of my favorite shows and was glad to see Michael in the recent February episode. I would have liked to record the episode but I am not good at setting the recorder. I hope to be seeing Michael regularly again either in that series or in his own series as he certainly deserves it and his many loyal fans out there want to see more of him and let him know how appreciated and loved he is by them. I am sorry to have missed him in all his earlier series but now have M7 complete series on dvd and have thoroughly enjoyed it and hope to find his other series as well. I had missed many of his movies but now I’m building my MB movie collection and enjoying them and admiring his tremendous talent. I especially like him in Terminator, Aliens, Navy Seals, The Fan, Mag7, K2, Tombstone, and Asteroid (the 2 hour version). Michaels’ enormous talent impressively enables him to play many diverse roles superbly.
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