Jeffrey Combs

Overview

Born
September 9, 1954 · Oxnard, California, USA
Birth name
Jeffrey Alan Combs
Height
5′ 7″ (1.70 m)

Biography

Family

Spouse
Children
Parents

Trademarks

Often plays psychotic anti-heroes or eccentrics on the verge of psychosis.
Roles in horror films, particularly in adaptations of H.P. Lovecraft's works.
Appears in many films by Stuart Gordon.

Trivia

Has starred in 5 movies based on H.P. Lovecraft stories.
Auditioned for the role of Commander Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987). Although he did not get the role, Jonathan Frakes, who did get the role, remembered Combs when directing an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) and cast him in a guest role in that episode. The producers liked his performance so much he was later cast in two different recurring roles on the show.
Named "the first Lovecraftian actor" by fans of writer H.P. Lovecraft, for his frequent appearances in movies based on Lovecraft's writings (including a portrayal of Lovecraft himself, in Necronomicon: Book of Dead (1993)) and also for his involvement in other "HPL projects".
Is one of only 6 actors - along with Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Marina Sirtis, Michael Dorn and Colm Meaney - to appear in the finales of two different "Star Trek" series (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) and Star Trek: Enterprise (2001)). He is also the only one who was not a regular on any "Star Trek" series and the only one to play different characters in each finale: Weyoun in the former and Shran in the latter.
Star Trek: Enterprise (2001) executive producer Manny Coto and writer Michael Sussman have both stated that had the show been renewed for a fifth season, Combs would have been made a regular cast member.

Quotes

[on being cast as Herbert West in Re-Animator (1985)] God, I had no idea what was to come. All I knew was, I was doing a play in Hollywood, and a casting director came to see it. I did not invite him. As I recall, he said, "I'm casting something you might be right for." I went in and met Stuart Gordon, did my read, got a callback where I was paired up with the great David Gale. We did a scene. I guess we both got cast. Very low budget, shot in 18 days. Who knew? I am not rich from the movie. Somebody got rich.
From Beyond (1986) was a very difficult movie. I'm kind of schizo about it. It involved a lot of makeup. I counted it up once, it was 30 days in that hideous, bald-headed, dog-dick-out-of-my-forehead thing. I hated it. It was so uncomfortable. And yet on the flip side of that, it was shot out of Rome, Italy, and I got to spend a glorious eight weeks in one of the world's greatest capitals. It was good. I feel like Charles Dickens: It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times. But I also felt like the role in From Beyond was so polar-opposite to what I had done in Re-Animator, where I played a strong, driving personality that pushed the action forward. Here, I was really-for all intents and purposes-being a victim. Someone standing there going, "No!" So I felt like some of the tools in my kit were being taken away from me. That was a bit frustrating, too.
[on being typecast] You get known for something, and then they pigeonhole you. They don't want to view you as being particularly versatile. They just want you to do that thing you did before. It perpetuates itself. You can certainly say no, but then you're not working. So a long time ago, I just told myself I'd just turn everything, even if it's all stuck in a particular genre, I'd try to expand people's perception of me by what I did within the framework I've got going.
Bride of Re-Animator (1990) was cobbled together. I don't really have all the details, but I think there were some issues with the script they were going to shoot. Someone claimed they had propriety over some of the ideas. So at the last minute, the script that was going to be shot was jettisoned, and the one we shot was thrown together. I feel there were some great moments in that movie. Especially, the sort of idea of building a human being out of parts: I really love that whole classic horror idea. But I think the tone got lost a little. Sometimes movies are on a track to get made and you don't have time to pull over and do a polish, because the deal is the deal and we've got a start date, and the money goes away if we don't. It suffered from all of that.
Brian Yuzna, who produced Re-Animator, was directing this trilogy of horror stories, and the glue that bound them together was this interweaving story of Lovecraft coming to an exotic, mystical library. He wanted me to play Lovecraft. I kind of resisted. I said, "I don't look like Lovecraft." But John Vulich is a great special-effects makeup artist. He really got me looking like him as much as he possibly could with a chin and a nose. I always felt weird portraying Lovecraft in that movie, because Brian, for the project, really wanted Lovecraft to be an Indiana Jones character, and that's not a particularly accurate portrayal of Lovecraft, if you've read any of his biographies. You do what you can with what you've got.