Jim Siedow was a remarkable and unforgettable character actor who achieved an instant cult following with his iconic portrayal of the weary and irascible Cook in Tobe Hooper's groundbreaking horror classic "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". Born on June 12th, 1920, in Cheyenne, Wyoming, Siedow began his acting career in high school drama class.
He moved to New York City at the age of 18 and continued to perform in touring shows for the W.P.A. theater before serving with the Army Air Corps during World War II. Following his tour of duty, Siedow moved to Chicago, Illinois, and did radio soap operas.
It was during this time that he met his future wife Ruth, and they got married in September 1946. The couple eventually moved to Houston, Texas, where they had three children. Siedow established himself as an important part of the Houston stage scene, creating one of the city's first original local community theaters and directing Houston's first production of the acclaimed play "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?".
Siedow also acted in stage productions of plays such as "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and "The Lion in the Winter", and made his film debut as a rock star's estranged father in the obscure indie drama "The Windsplitter". However, it was his dead-on performance as the Cook in "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" that really put him on the cinematic map.
Siedow's film roles after "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" were few and far between, but he was excellent as a bitter mad bomber in the superior made-for-TV suspense thriller "Red Alert" and had a funny bit as a cantankerous shotgun-toting hillbilly in the hilariously raucous car chase romp "Hotwire". He once again reprised his role as Drayton Sawyer (a.k.a. the Cook) in the worthy and unjustly maligned sequel "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2".
Siedow was prominently featured as an interview subject in the enjoyable and informative documentary "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: A Family Portrait". Tragically, Siedow passed away at the age of 83 on November 20th, 2003, due to complications from emphysema.
