Heartbreak comes frequently for Friday the 13th fans. The franchise has had a rough ride over the last couple decades, getting bogged down in legal issues and creative false stars. We get a video game, then the rug is pulled out from under it when it’s just getting started. A movie almost happens, then gets scrapped just weeks before filming was scheduled to begin. The Crystal Lake TV show was just a couple months from filming, then the showrunner gets fired. But worse than all of that is the fact that we’re in a time when actors from our beloved films are passing away very often. Just last month, we lost Erich Anderson, who was in the cast of Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. Now Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI director Tom McLoughlin has broken the news that Whitney Rydbeck, who played the ill-fated paintball player Roy in his film, has passed away.
McLoughlin took to social media to write, “We lost not only a truly funny comedian and actor… but one of the most good hearted human beings I’ve ever known. God Bless You and Rest in Peace, Whitney Rydbeck. Our Loss is Heavens’ Gain.“
According to the birthdate listed online (March 13, 1945), Rydbeck was 79 years old. He had over 55 screen acting credits to his name, with his career stretching back to 1970. In addition to Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI, his credits include Sleeper, Love at First Bite, Rocky II, 1941, Battle Beyond the Stars, The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island, The Gambler: The Adventure Continues, Copacabana, and A Very Brady Sequel, as well as episodes of Scrubs, Party of Five, 7th Heaven, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Grace Under Fire, Murder She Wrote, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Simon & Simon, Highway to Heaven, Cagney & Lacey, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, M*A*S*H, Monster Squad, Far Out Space Nuts, Lassie, The Jimmy Stewart Show, and The Brady Bunch. He was the Whitney of the 1979 show Whitney and the Robot.
His IMDb trivia page notes that he was a member of the Richmond Shepard Mime Troupe in the late 1960s and the drama director at Pasadena City College as of January 2003.
Rydbeck didn’t have much screen time in Jason Lives, but he brought his character to life in a memorable, endearing way in those brief moments. I have watched that movie many times, and there are many more viewings of it in my future. Roy will always be fun to watch, but there will be a bittersweet element to those moments now, knowing that Rydbeck is no longer with us.
Our heartfelt condolences go out to Whitney Rydbeck’s family, friends, and fans.
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