Hoyt Axton makes screen fathers sound worth listening to, even when their judgement is doubtful. We like his warmth and unforced comic timing, though the familiar character parts give him limited room.
Fi1m perspective
Hoyt Axton can sound reassuring while playing a man who has made a poor decision. His gravelly baritone does useful work in Gremlins (1984), where Randall Peltzer is the bumbling inventor father whose purchase sets the trouble going. We were fond of Randall almost at once, because Axton lets us enjoy the father's foolishness without treating him with contempt. The comic timing helps: he can be funny without making the character seem incapable of ordinary affection. That matters in a Christmas horror comedy so pleased with bad behaviour.
The move from early villains to fathers in the late 1970s made good use of that voice. The Black Stallion (1979) cast him as Alec's father, one of his first prominent roles of this kind. Fathers and small-town authority figures, including sheriffs, became familiar work, while his reputation remained chiefly musical. By the time he played Father Levesque in We're No Angels (1989), the supporting character part was well-established territory.
Joe Dante's Gremlins also shows the limits of those comfortable character parts. The humans can be underwritten, and Axton's appealing delivery cannot supply all the detail that the writing leaves out. We like the film a good deal, but its creatures earn most of the attention; the people are not always given enough to compete. Axton's warmth is useful here, making Randall worth watching without suggesting that the film ought to stop and become his story.
His own account of playing fathers was suitably practical: “You just look confused and worn-out.” That description gets close to his appeal, since a parent need not be especially impressive to be recognisable. The danger is repetition, particularly when a screenplay relies on a familiar voice to supply a whole person. Start with Gremlins, where his good humour has plenty of bad behaviour to contend with.
Biography
Hoyt Axton was an American actor and singer-songwriter. Born in Duncan, Oklahoma, he appeared in numerous film and television roles from the 1960s onwards, often cast as paternal or authoritative figures.
His best-known screen performance was as inventor Randall Peltzer in the 1984 comedy-horror film Gremlins. Other credits include The Black Stallion (1979), Heart Like a Wheel (1983), We're No Angels (1989) and guest appearances in series such as Murder, She Wrote and Growing Pains. Axton also wrote several hit songs, including "Joy to the World" and "The Pusher".
He died in Victor, Montana, in 1999.
