Whatever Happened To: The Cast of Hey Dude

Most of my "Whatever Happened To" ideas stem from TV shows I watched growing up, and I was recently thinking that there probably aren't too many left to cover. As I was contemplating what might be a good candidate, a friend happened to post on Facebook how it was the 29th anniversary of the debut of Hey Dude. The show premiered in 1989 and ran for five seasons, a total of 65 episodes.

This show was a bit of an outlier for Nickelodeon, marking only its second live-action series (a format which would prove successful for other shows, including Clarissa Explains It All). It followed the misadventures of the staff at the Bar None Dude Ranch near Tucson, Arizona. Fittingly enough, the show was also filmed near Tucson, and the ruins of the set can still be visited today.

I remember being somewhat underwhelmed by Hey Dude, maybe because it was geared toward more of an older audience. The comments on the YouTube video for the theme song suggest that this is a pretty common occurrence. The humor was fairly tame ("Ha ha, that guy got pushed into a trough!"), its characters and plot lines weren't too memorable, and the theme song was probably the best thing about it.

But it was still entertaining enough for a kid to while away a half-hour on a lazy summer day. And a surprisingly thorough recap site often has good things to say about the actors and episodes.

So what happened to these folks?

David Brisbin (Benjamin Ernst)

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Mr. Ernst was always a bit of a bumbling fool, so I was a bit surprised to read his origin story on Wikipedia. Apparently he was a high-powered New York City accountant who decided to change gears in middle age and buy a dude ranch in the West, supposedly to have a more relaxing profession. He was a divorcee whose son came to live on the ranch at the beginning of the series. Despite being a bit out of his element in running the ranch, he still cared about his workers and did his best to support them.

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David Brisbin, now 66, has continued to act since Hey Dude. He's had small roles in a number of popular TV shows, including Seinfeld, Home Improvement, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and The X-Files, as well as a recurring role as Dr. Alexander Babcock on ER. Brisbin has also scored credits on movies such as Forrest Gump and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and acted extensively in theatrical productions.

Kelly Brown (Brad Taylor)

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Hailing from a wealthy family in Michigan, Bradley was a riding instructor at the Bar None Ranch. The show moved away from the "snobby rich girl" persona by portraying her as competent and hardworking, even a little tomboyish (her nickname being short for Bradley), although she sometimes let a bit of haughtiness slip through. Brad was often at odds with Ted, though there was also a bit of romantic tension between the two.

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Hey Dude was Kelly Brown's only acting credit, although she worked in modeling before the show. She went on to marry her childhood sweetheart and have four kids. Brown now lives in Montauk, New York, and owns the clothing boutique store Kelly B.

David Lascher (Ted McGriff)

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A senior staffer at the ranch, Ted was usually hatching some scheme or another which usually wound up getting him and his fellow ranchers in trouble. He had a bit of a love-hate relationship with Brad which, if I remember correctly, leaned pretty heavy toward the "hate" end of the spectrum; still, Ted was a good-hearted fellow who earned a kiss from his rival after a surprisingly good date with her. Ted took a brief hiatus from the show when his character was required to attend summer school, but later returned to the ranch.

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David Lascher, now 46, had a successful career as a young actor in the 90s, including as the romantic interest of the title characters of both Blossom and Sabrina the Teenage Witch. He's been less active as an actor since then, having only a handful of credits in the 21st century, but also tried his hand at other roles by writing, directing, and producing the 2014 film Sister. He's active on Instagram and Twitter, where he describes himself as an actor/writer/director, but at this point he seems to be simply enjoying time with his family.

Jonathan Galkin (Jake Decker)

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Mr. Ernst's nephew, Jake Decker was introduced in the third season as a sarcastic surfer slacker who enjoyed playing the drums. He was portrayed as being fairly smart despite his spaced out persona, and aspired to be a writer.

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Aside from Hey Dude, Jonathan Galkin's only acting role was on another Nickelodeon show, Way Cool. After attending New York University, Galkin entered the business of music production. Now 46, he co-founded the label DFA Records in 2001 (originally entitled Death From Above before the 9/11 attacks quickly resulted in an abbreviated name) and continues to work there today. While the label represents a number of artists, LCD Soundsystem is arguably their biggest client.

Geoffrey Koy (Kyle)

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Introduced at the end of the third season, Kyle was the handsome if somewhat dimwitted son of Lucy's ex-boyfriend. He proved useful around the ranch and also wound up finding himself attracted to Brad, setting up a bit of a romantic rivalry with Ted once he returned. The good folks over at TV Tropes posit that Kyle was brought in for this reason after there wasn't too much chemistry between Brad and Jake.

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Geoffrey Coy was another cast member who opted out of acting after the show concluded. He attended business school at Baylor University and began a career in the medical and biopharmaceutical industry. According to his LinkedIn page, he has been working at the pharmaceutical company BTG International for the past five years and is the company's vice president of sales and marketing.

Debrah Kalman (Lucy)

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The only adult staffer seen at the Bar None Ranch other than Mr. Ernst, Lucy was portrayed as being much more knowledgeable about ranching and vastly more competent. She was something of a background character, though; in the episode guide, she's the main focus of only one plot (in which she's thinking about getting married).

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According to Debrah Kalman's IMDB page, she now goes by the name Debi and has branched out from acting a fair amount. In addition to opening a few restaurants with her husband, she became a teacher at age 53 and continued this career for eight years. Now living in Florida, she has started acting and modeling again. She most recently starred in the film At the End of the Day and will appear in the upcoming picture #Snapped.

Christine Taylor (Melody Hanson)

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Melody was the ranch's lifeguard and had a notably sunny personality. A few episode subplots even revolved around whether she'd be able to keep up this friendliness in the face of certain annoyances, or if people were taking advantage of her kindness. Despite this character trait, Melody and Brad often had a more contentious relationship and sparred over various issues.

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Perhaps the most well-known of all the Hey Dude alumni, Christine Taylor is still acting. She might be best known as the wife of Ben Stiller, having appeared with him in comedies such as Zoolander and Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, although the couple separated in 2017 after 17 years of marriage. Taylor's other roles include Marcia Brady in the Brady Bunch movies and Sally Sitwell in Arrested Development. Now 47, she'll be appearing in the upcoming film Friendsgiving.

Joe Torres (Danny Lightfoot)

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Danny generally acted as the voice of reason in the series, frequently trying to warn Ted, Mr. Ernst, and others away from unsound ideas. He was also portrayed as a talented artist, and a few episodes involved his Hopi Indian heritage.

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Joe Torres stayed off the grid after Hey Dude (his only acting credit), which may have helped fuel rumors that he drank himself into an early grave. He failed to show at a reunion in 2014, where series writer Alan Goodman acknowledged that his whereabouts are pretty much unknown despite some casual efforts by the cast to stay in touch with each other. Other rumors suggest that he became a pool shark in the Tuscon area or a used car salesman in New Jersey. A Facebook page purportedly run by Torres seems to back up the former theory, although its origin seems pretty dubious.

Josh Tygiel (Buddy Ernst)

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The title screen for Buddy is all you really need to know how much of a fish out of water he is. After all, he's at a dude ranch with some colorful 90s duds, a skateboard, and a Mets cap. Buddy generally eschews the ranch activities in favor of things like comic books and magic tricks, and wasn't too happy to be at the Bar None. However, some episodes showed him finding aspects of ranch life to enjoy, becoming attached to a horse in one storyline and falling for Melody in another.

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I kind of love that Josh Tygiel's LinkedIn page matter-of-factly includes his time on Hey Dude ("Actor - Nickelodeon"). The show proved to be his only acting credit, although he included drama in his college studies. After completing his education, Tygiel started working as an investigator and writer/editor of due diligence and business history reports for hedge funds and private equity industries. He's been in this line of work for close to 20 years, and lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and children.

The Top 10 Villains of "Stranger Things"

It's been awhile since I posted an entry in this blog, and I wanted to do something relatively short and sweet. Somehow the idea of a villain ranking for the Netflix sci-fi series Stranger Things popped into my mind, and here we are.

Stranger Things has done a great job of developing its characters, and quite a few of them are portrayed as having a mix of good and bad qualities. Dustin's a lovable goofball, but he's not above covering up for an otherworldly pet who turns out to be more hostile than he expects. And who doesn't love Season 2 Steve, now that he's matured from the complete douchebag he was at the start of the series?

So these are the characters that seem to have more bad than good in them. Let's see how they rank (spoilers ahead):

10. The Demogorgon

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Yes, the rampaging monster from the first season is barely on the list, even though it probably killed Nancy's best friend and sparked all those #JusticeForBarb posts. Because when it comes down to it, the Demogorgon is just some creature from an alternate dimension who wound up doing what it always does, just in our world. There was recently a giant uproar in my city because a coyote wandered out of the woods and snacked on a few small dogs; no one really blamed the coyote for doing this, everyone was just advised to not let their highly edible toy dogs run free. I kind of see the Demogorgon as having a similar nature.

9. Dart

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Dart is kind of a similar case. You could even argue that he's not as bad as the Demogorgon. After all, he's fairly harmless when he's a tadpole, and Dustin managed to tame him enough that he opts not to harm him and the others later in the film. You may even feel a little sorry for him when he dies.

On the other hand, I'm a cat person and Dart rather brutally kills Mews, Dustin's cat. Not cool, Dart.

8. Troy's weasel friend

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He has a name? Fine. James.

James is your typical middle school jerk who likes to pick on others, which in Stranger Things includes Mike, Dustin, Will, and Lucas. He basically serves as the backup and reinforcement for Troy's nastier brand of bullying, but shows at least some moral compass when he protests Troy's demand that Mike jump off a cliff. He's perfectly fine with Troy threatening to carve Dustin's teeth out of his head, though. Reign in those boundaries a little more, James.

7. Billy Hargrove

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I originally had Billy, Max's jerkwad stepbrother, set much higher on the list. His character acts like someone turned his persona to "Asshole" and then broke the dial off. He's cocky, domineering, and abusive. There are times when he's disturbingly violent, such as when he nearly runs down Mike and friends with his car and when he gleefully beats Steve unconscious.

I'm cutting him a bit of slack, though, since one scene suggests that some of his personality stems from his father's mistreatment. There's also the possibility that nearly getting castrated by a nail-studded baseball bat will humble him a bit in the third season.

6. Troy's mom

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We only see Troy's mother once, when she makes a ruckus at the Hawkins Police Department about how they need to find the girl who broke her son's arm. Troy probably changed the story from "This girl attacked me with her mind when I tried to murder a kid" to some blubbering lie that bullies like to tell when their victims fight back, but her demeanor suggests that she's been taken in by the misconception that her jerk son is a perfect angel for way too long. Stop your enabling, Mom.

5. Dr. Martin Brenner

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On the one hand, he's an evil mad scientist whose crimes have included abducting and experimenting on a child, unleashing hellish creatures from an alternate dimension on an unsuspecting small town, and generally being a pretty unscrupulous and shady guy.

On the other hand, he managed to give Eleven telekinetic powers and she seems perfectly happy with those. Wouldn't you want telekinetic powers?

4. Troy

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Why is Troy ranked higher than the mad doctor and a couple of literal monsters? Because screw bullies, that's why. He starts off as the kind of jerk who throws a few insults and taunts around, which is shitty but something bullies tend to grow out of once they get a little more mature.

But when you ruthlessly mock a classmate after he's been declared dead, threaten in all seriousness to remove someone's teeth with a knife, and demand that one of your bullying victims take a suicidal leap into a quarry, you're firmly in sociopath territory. Troy doesn't show up in Season 2, probably because his parents finally found his collection of tortured squirrels and sent him off to get electroshock therapy.

3. Connie Frazier

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Benny, the owner of a Hawkins diner, is an instantly likable character. He's angered when he sees Eleven sneaking some food out of his kitchen, but immediately grows kinder when he realizes that she's apparently escaped from a bad situation.

So it's pretty shocking and saddening when Benny's attempt to get Eleven help ends up getting him murdered by Connie Frazier, who poses as a social services worker and before abruptly shooting him.   She later manages to manipulate the boys' biology teacher in her hunt for Eleven, and you're left worrying that the teacher won't make it out alive, either. Frazier is cold, manipulative, and dangerous, so it's pretty satisfying when Eleven telekinetically takes her out.

2. The Mind Flayer

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I've given the other creatures from the Upside Down a bit of a pass, since they kind of come off as dumb animals. The Mind Flayer is something else entirely, acting as a sort of hive mind who can control the other creatures and infect people to use for its own purposes, which would seem to entail taking over our world. Yeah, the giant smoke spider is pretty bad. But it's still outdone by...

1. Stacey

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We see Stacey in one scene, at the very end of the second season, in which she rudely turns down Dustin's request to dance. Everyone loves Dustin, so I don't have much patience for someone whose actions (combined with some similarly hostile girls, admittedly) leave him fighting back tears on the bleachers. Especially when that person is so very full of herself.

Stacey, you're worse than the bullies, evil government agents, and monsters from another realm we meet in the show. Think about that while you're on the long, steady downward slope from your peak in middle school.

Whatever Happened To: The Cast of "Malcolm in the Middle"

Before it turned into an "Animation Domination" block, Sunday nights on Fox were more open to variety and experimentation. For a long time, the network seemed to be trying to find a good fit for the 8:30 time slot to bridge the gap between The Simpsons and The X-Files. I seem to remember that a good handful of shows tried to accomplish this, only to be quickly canceled or shuffled to some other night.

Malcolm in the Middle debuted in this spot in 2000, right around the time that the network's Sunday formula was readjusting itself. The quality of The Simpsons was starting to plummet, and The X-Files was about to conclude. In the midst of this, a witty show about an incredibly intelligent kid trying to deal with his dysfunctional family and bizarre school was a welcome addition. It ran for seven seasons between 2000 and 2006, and is still a popular choice for syndication.

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So what became of the people who were part of this show? Or at least the main characters and select recurring characters I ended up choosing?

Frankie Muniz (Malcolm Wilkerson)

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The titular character wasn't quite in the middle until the birth of Hal and Lois' youngest son later in the season, but he was, of course, the main protagonist in the series. Malcolm was something of a straight man throughout the series, having more common sense than his brothers, friends, and often his parents and teachers. The early episodes establish how he is intellectually gifted and follow his reluctant transfer to the brainy "Krelboyne" classes, where he becomes something of a leader. Malcolm also strives to maintain a normal social life, but alienates most of his peers through his condescending and snarky attitude. Although he receives a lucrative job offer to work at a computer software company out of high school, his parents force him to go to college after revealing that they've already plotted a course for him to become President of the United States.

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After coming to prominence with Malcolm in the Middle, Frankie Muniz was able to get a few young adult film roles, namely a pair of movies as the young secret agent Cody Banks. He also played Chester Oddbat on The Fairly OddParents, and has since had guest roles on Criminal Minds, Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23, and two Sharknado sequels. He is one of the celebrities set to appear on the next season of Dancing With the Stars. Muniz, now 31, has continued to act but also explore a few other interests, including auto racing and drumming in a few different bands; he now manages a band called Astro Lasso. He was also hospitalized briefly in 2012 after suffering a "mini-stroke," but says he has since recovered.

Jane Kaczmarek (Lois Wilkerson)

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Lois had little patience for her sons' shenanigans, could typically see through their schemes and efforts at misdirection, was usually the main source of discipline in the household. She was also something of an overbearing control freak and loath to admit to being wrong, qualities which generally caused the boys to rebel rather than behave. However, she still offers some more heartfelt guidance at times and has a fairly healthy, loving relationship with her husband. Lois works as a  cashier at the drugstore Lucky Aide.

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Kaczmarek, now 61, had been acting for about 18 years before Malcolm in the Middle, appearing in TV shows such as Frasier, St. Elsewhere, Party of Five, and Felicity. After the show ended, she was the star of a short-living series called Raising the Bar and has since continued to do TV work, including appearance on The Simpsons, The Big Bang Theory, and The Middle. She has also done some theatrical work, including a role in Long Day's Journey Into Night.

Bryan Cranston (Hal Wilkerson)

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Hal was a timid, flighty father figure who could sometimes be a bit of a disciplinarian but was far more likely to seek enjoyment in life and try to have fun with his boys. He was frequently becoming obsessed with new interests such as speed walking and Dance Dance Revolution, inevitably finding himself to be quite talented at these hobbies. Despite being something of a bumbling father figure, he was actually pretty handy (as seen in this clip where changing a light bulb ultimately leads to major auto repair). Though his job is never specified, Hal is occasionally shown as a generic office drone; in one story arc, he works at a corrupt corporation which unsuccessfully tries to set him up as the fall guy for their malfeasance.

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Cranston had his first credited role in 1968. He had a number of roles on TV shows, including a demented dentist on Seinfeld and Buzz Aldrin in the miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, and he appeared in a single scene in Saving Private Ryan. The cast of Malcolm in the Middle sometimes commented that they didn't think Bryan Cranston got enough recognition; he was nominated for several awards, including the Golden Globe and Emmy, but never got a win. However, the experience did earn him plenty of offers for similar "dopey dad" roles in other TV shows.

Wanting to try something different, Cranston gladly accepted the part of antihero Walter White in the critically acclaimed drama Breaking Bad. His performance earned him four Emmys for best lead actor in a drama and made him more of a household name. It also brought about a few callbacks to Malcolm in the Middle, including jokes that Breaking Bad was a prequel to the show and a DVD bonus feature showing that Walter White was just a bad dream of Hal's. Since starting on Breaking Bad, Cranston (now 61) has appeared in films such as Argo, Drive, and Trumbo. He also won a Tony Award for his Broadway performance of LBJ in All the Way.

Christopher Masterson (Francis Wilkerson)

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The oldest son of Hal and Reese, Francis had a history of mischief and getting into trouble. Although he is something of a hero to his younger brothers, his parents finally got fed up enough to send Francis to Marlin Academy, a military school, where he remains at the start of the series. Francis continues to rebel against the school's commandant as well as Lois, but also starts to show more signs of work ethic and responsibility. After emancipating himself in order to leave Marlin Academy and work as a lumberjack in Alaska, he lives something of a nomadic life. He gets married, works on the Mannkusser's dude ranch, and ultimately moves closer to home to start working in a data entry job. However, Francis maintains a facade of living a shiftless life so he can continue to irritate Lois.

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Christopher Masterson is part of the rather prolific Masterson acting family which includes Danny (Hyde on The 70s Show), Alanna (Tara on The Walking Dead), and Jordan (Ryan on Last Man Standing). Christopher started acting as a child, and some notable early parts included appearances in Touched by an Angel and Doctor Quinn, Medicine Woman as well as a role in American History X. He continues to do some sporadic acting, but focuses more on deejaying in clubs around Los Angeles under the handle DJ Chris Kennedy.

Justin Berfield (Reese Wilkerson)

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The second oldest child of Hal and Lois, Reese is unabashedly happy with being a feared bully at school. He accepts the fact that he's a bit dumb, and figures that he's unlikely to amount to much in life. Reese has enough of a moral core to declare some kids off limits to bullying (namely his brothers and Stevie), and occasionally shows brief flashes of kindness, empathy, or even clever thinking. Later episodes show that Reese has a talent for cooking, although he ultimately starts working as a janitor at the end of the series.

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Justin Berfield got an early start in acting, appearing in several commercials and as the regular character of Ross Malloy on the series Unhappily Ever After. However, he quickly fell out of acting after Malcolm in the Middle, having only one more credit (on a 2010 episode of Sons of Tucson) since the show concluded. He has since gravitated toward production work and is now the chief creative officer at Virgin Produced, which has backed films such as Limitless and Bad Moms. Now 31, Berfield is also active in charitable work and, according to his Twitter page, very much enjoys fishing.

Erik Per Sullivan (Dewey Wilkerson)

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The youngest son in the family (until Hal and Lois had a fourth child later in the series), Dewey was sweet and innocent on the surface but also quite calculating and manipulative. He was often able to come up with schemes to fleece unsuspecting people or cause havoc in general. Later in the season, it was found that Dewey was also preternaturally smart like Malcolm.

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Dewey's character was a nice subversion of the "cute little kid" trope that constantly shows up in family-themed sitcoms, and Erik Per Sullivan did quite well in the role. He had a few notable film roles as a child, namely Fuzzy in The Cider House Rules, Charlie Sumner in Unfaithful, and the minor voice role of Sheldon in Finding Nemo.

It's a little unclear what Sullivan is up to these days. He continued his education after the show, attending Phillips Exeter Academy and the University of Southern California, and had one last role as Timmy in the 2010 film Twelve. Sullivan, now 26, isn't too active on social media, but has been keeping up an Instagram account, recently posting an appeal to help keep Malcolm in the Middle available on Netflix.

Craig Lamar Traylor (Stevie Kenarban)

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Stevie is Malcolm's best friend, with the two of them first bonding over a shared love of comic books.  He is wheelchair-bound and has only one lung, forcing him to take a few deep breaths for every handful of words he says. Stevie is an academically gifted Krelboyne, and occasionally uses his disability to manipulate his parents or get the drop on people who underestimate him. He gets the same offer as Malcolm to get a job right out of high school in computer software, and presumably takes it.

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Craig Lamar Traylor, now 28, had a few scattered acting roles before Malcolm in the Middle, namely on an episode of ER and as a kid in a classroom in Matilda. According to his Twitter page, he now focuses mostly on designing jewelry. However, he also gets the occasional acting gig, having appeared in three films since the conclusion of the show. He'll appear as "Wiseguy" in the forthcoming film Forgiven This Gun4hire.

David Anthony Higgins (Craig Feldspar)

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One of Lois's co-workers at Lucky Aide, Craig was a kind and affable fellow if a bit of a sad sack. A training video from the store suggests that he was an up-and-coming district manager before somehow getting demoted to cashier. Malcolm and his family generally found him to be a little irritating, although he considered them to be close friends and was surprisingly forgiving after they accidentally burned out his apartment. He was hopelessly infatuated with Lois, who calmly promised to destroy any feelings he had for her after he told he loved her during a robbery where both of them were taken hostage.

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Prior to appearing on Malcolm in the Middle, David Anthony Higgins was a regular on Ellen, playing a barista named Joe Farrell in the coffee shop in the title character's bookstore. Higgins, now 55, continues to act and has appeared in a number of TV shows and movies, most notably Big Time Rush and Mike and Molly. He also co-created the paranormal parody TV show International Ghost Investigators: Hollywood Edition.

Emy Coligado (Piama Tananahaakna)

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Piama was introduced midway through the show's first season, when Francis introduced her as his wife whom he married in Alaska. Although Piama and Lois despise each other after this first meeting, they eventually grow closer and better acquainted. A woman of Native American descent, she occasionally faces bigotry and also had a difficult childhood; however, she is also shown to be particularly strong-willed, with some hints that Francis has married a woman who shares some aspects of Lois' personality.

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By the time she appeared on Malcolm in the Middle, Emy Coligado had already started to appear in a recurring role as a medical examiner named Emmy on Crossing Jordan. She also occasionally appears as a guest star, showing up in TV shows such as Shameless and Fresh Off the Boat. According to her Facebook page, Coligado (who is now 46) spends time between roles working at a casting agency and volunteering with animal shelters.

Gary Anthony Williams (Abe Kenarban)

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Stevie's father was upbeat and gregarious, but was also somewhat weak-willed and henpecked. His profession is never named, although in on episode Hal accuses Abe of ganging up on him with his buddies during poker nights because he's not like them; not because he's the only white guy at the table, but because he's the only one without a successful white-collar career. Abe still becomes close friends with Hal, with the two joining the rest of the poker group to form a bluegrass band called The Gentlemen Callers.

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Gary Anthony Williams continues to be an active actor and has appeared in TV shows and films such as Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, Weeds, and Boston Legal. He has also done a considerable range of voice work, playing roles not only on children's shows such as Doc McStuffins but also adult fare like Rick and Morty; perhaps most notably, he voiced Uncle Ruckus on The Boondocks. Now 51, Williams also appears regularly on Whose Line Is It Anyway?

Kenneth Mars (Otto Mannkusser)

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Along with his wife Gretchen, Otto Mannkusser owned a dude ranch called The Grotto (a portmanteau of the couple's first names). He offers Francis and Piama jobs when their car breaks down nearby following their departure from Alaska. Otto is generally portrayed as being extremely friendly, to the point where his employees take advantage of him and he is willing to forgive any faults or incompetence. Nevertheless, a later episode mentions that he fires Francis after learning that he has been depositing the ranch's checks into a phony ATM.

Otto's thick German accent may have made some viewers recognize Kenneth Mars from his role as the Nazi-loving playwright Franz Liebkind in The Producers. His acting credits also included Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Young Frankenstein. He later transitioned to voice acting roles, most notably Triton in The Little Mermaid. Although he continued to act through 2008, he retired after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Mars died in 2011 at the age of 75.

Daniel von Bargen (Commandant Edwin Spangler)

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Commandant Spangler was the strict leader of Marlin Academy. He was missing a number of body parts (most notably an eye and a hand), although these disabilities apparently came about by unfortunate accidents since he never actually served in combat. Spangler seemed to have a certain begrudging respect for Francis, although he later comes to resent him as the one student he wasn't able to reform. After tracking down Francis in Alaska, Francis helps him get a job as a ruthless overseer of activities at a retirement home.

The IMDB page for Daniel von Bargen describes him as showing up in a number of roles as a "cop, military officer and/or tough guy." His credits include film such as Basic Instinct, RoboCop 3, O Brother Where Art Thou?, and Super Troopers. He also played Mr. Kruger in four episodes of Seinfeld and an Air Force general in two episodes of The West Wing.

Unfortunately, von Bargen also suffered quite a bit from diabetes. He hadn't had an acting credit for three years and had already lost a leg to the disease in 2012 when he learned that some of the toes of his remaining foot would need to be taken off. In despair, he shot himself in the head. Though von Bargen survived this suicide attempt, he died of complications from diabetes three years later at the age of 64.