Ken Foree makes a horror film's survivors worth caring about without asking the film to stop being horrible. His steadiness in Dawn of the Dead is the work we return to, and the strongest reason to seek him out.
Fi1m perspective
Ken Foree gives us someone to trust in Dawn of the Dead (1978), even when the film threatens to become all gore. His Peter Washington is a level-headed survivor in George A. Romero's shopping-mall horror, and we believe in his capacity to cope. We felt reassured by his steadiness amid the violence, which made staying with this group matter. That reassurance does not soften a film that is savage and frequently uncomfortable. It gives the horror time to work on people we care about.
Romero does not always give him enough room, a reservation that also applies to Gaylen Ross as Fran, David Emge as Stephen and Scott Reiniger as Roger. Their company is an important part of why the survival story works. Yet the script sometimes seems keener to criticise the group's acquisitiveness than to spend time with its members. Foree cannot solve that problem, but his performance keeps Peter worth following when the consumer satire grows repetitive.
Foree worked with Romero again as Little John in Knightriders (1981), while other directors also found uses for his authority. In Stuart Gordon's From Beyond (1986), he played the affable police officer Buford 'Bubba' Brownlee. Television offered a different setting with his regular role as Roger Rockmore in Kenan & Kel (1996–2000). Police officers, survivors and paternal figures recur across the work, suggesting that dependability has been as useful to casting directors as his physical presence. That can become a restriction, but it is a quality we appreciate in horror, where someone behaving sensibly is welcome company.
Rob Zombie drew on the more flamboyant side of Foree in The Devil's Rejects (2005), casting him as Charlie Altamont, and used him as trucker Big Joe Grizzly in Halloween (2007). The former offers a useful reminder that calm authority is not all he has to give. His later career has often confined him to exploitation work, and we would not treat his presence as a guarantee that a film deserves an evening. Start with Dawn of the Dead, provided those sharing the sofa have agreed to the gore.
Biography
Ken Foree is an American actor. He was born Kentotis Alvin Foree on 29 February 1948 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Foree made his film debut in The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings (1976) and is best known for playing Peter Washington in George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978). He has appeared in other films including Knightriders (1981), From Beyond (1986), The Devil's Rejects (2005) and Halloween (2007), and portrayed Roger Rockmore on the television series Kenan & Kel (1996–2000). He studied acting at Michael Shulman's Performing Gallery in New York City.
