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WITH his droopy eyes, hooked nose, freakish height (he was six foot five and a half) and mad scientist-style hair, Vincent Schiavelli, the Italian-American actor who died on Boxing Day at the age of 57, made an impression in many films - even when he made only the most fleeting of appearances. Like all great character actors, he added colour and his offbeat, melancholy looks were a sort of shorthand for the type of personality he was portraying. Such was his popularity that in 1997 he was named one of America's best character actors by Vanity Fair.
Among the tens of movies he popped up in are six films by the renowned director Milos Forman. These included the classic 1970s drama One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), in which he played one of the mental patients whose lives are shaken...