Gunnar Hansen

Birthday: 4 March 1947, Reykjavik, Iceland

Height: 193 cm

He was born in Reykjavik, Iceland and moved to the United States at the age of 5. Gunnar lived in Maine till he was 11, then his family moved to Texas, where he went to high school and then the University of Texas. He majored in English and mathematics and then went to graduate school in Scandinavian Studies and English. Gunnar Hansen will forever be remembered as "Leatherface" the original slasher from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974). His first job out of high school was as a computer operator. Hansen was a graduate from the University of Texas - Austin. He did some theater work in college. In the summer of 1973 he heard that Tobe Hooper and others were in town and were doing a movie and decided to give it a try. After interviewing with Tobe Hooper and Kim Henkel, the writer of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, he got the part of Leatherface the retarded killer. After Texas Chainsaw Massacre he tried to make a living as a writer. Gunnar worked as a magazine editor for a while and then wrote for a magazine for several years. He have written several screenplays one with his partner Gary Jones (director of Mosquito (1995)). Hansen has also written books and some film documentaries. Gunnar, who is originally from Iceland, also directed a documentary on Greenland. He also spent some time designing web pages for GTE. Show less «

[on his perception of Leatherface] Homicidal, brutal, a simple personality, but he's a real freak, a...Show more »

[on his perception of Leatherface] Homicidal, brutal, a simple personality, but he's a real freak, a retarded maniac. Show less «

[on being cast as Leatherface in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)] I never thought I had it in me...Show more »

[on being cast as Leatherface in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)] I never thought I had it in me. Just before production started, I was sitting in a drugstore, had nothing at all planned for the summer, heard about the casting call, and decided to try out on a lark. I was 26 years old, just out of graduate school, when I met Hooper [Tobe Hooper] and writer Kim Henkel. They asked me three questions before they hired me. "Are you a violent person? Are you crazy?" When I replied, "No, not more so than normal," they finally asked, "Can you do it?" "Sure, it's easy," I said. They loved the fact that I filled the doorway. Tobe Hooper said, "We'll put high heels on you and make you a little bigger." Show less «

[on the character of Leatherface] They defined the character for me as someone who was severely ment...Show more »

[on the character of Leatherface] They defined the character for me as someone who was severely mentally retarded and severely mentally disturbed. The idea was that there was really nothing behind the mask and that's how the character was created. You could never unmask him like Darth Vader, because if you were to take the mask off there would be nothing there. That is why you see him wearing different masks at different times. That is how he presented himself, but killing was the only thing he knew. Show less «

[on The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)] I'm not totally enamored with the film. It is very, very go...Show more »

[on The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)] I'm not totally enamored with the film. It is very, very good at what it is, a film that succeeds in really scaring the hell out of people. As to 'Chain Saw' being analogous to the breakdown of the American nuclear family and other lofty themes recently explored -- bunk! The movie was very effective because we broke some rules, a lot like Psycho (1960) did when the heroine is killed early in the film. There are no safe scenes in our film, no cuts or distractions to relieve the terror. Show less «

I'm really proud of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), but it's not the biggest thing I've ever do...Show more »

I'm really proud of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), but it's not the biggest thing I've ever done. As far as I'm concerned, it's not the most important thing in my life. Show less «

People have a very mistaken idea of me. They figure that The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) was the...Show more »

People have a very mistaken idea of me. They figure that The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) was the biggest thing that ever happened to me, that I was just off somewhere being rich, famous, signing autographs. I get crank calls in the middle of the night, guys making chainsaw noises, "v-v-vroom, v-v-vroom!," and telling me chainsaw jokes. Show less «

Acting had never been what I intended to do. I moved back to Maine and decided to get serious about ...Show more »

Acting had never been what I intended to do. I moved back to Maine and decided to get serious about writing. This had always been my main interest, something I always wanted to focus my work on. I moved to a village on an island on the coast, where I figured I could hit those keys. Show less «

Gunnar Hansen

Gunnar Hansen's FILMOGRAPHY

Gunnar Hansen'S roles

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