James Handy, a character actor best known for his roles in movies like Jumanji and Top Gun: Maverick, was brutally murdered in Los Angeles, California on Wednesday, June 3. He was 81 years-old.
Handy Found Dead
Handy was found dead at his home after the Los Angeles Police Department received a chilling 911 call from his girlfriend’s son, who has since been arrested.
“I am the son of man, I just killed the man of sin,” the suspect, 44 year-old Michael Gledhill, allegedly said on the call.
Handy was found unconscious in the front yard of his home in Tarzana. He had been stabbed in the chest. Handy was rushed to the hospital, where he was sadly pronounced dead.
“With great sadness, I can confirm that the gentleman who was attacked and killed on Wednesday in Tarzana was the actor James Handy,” Handy’s talent agent Pam Ellis-Evenas said in a statement obtained by Daily Mail.
Suspect Apprehended
Gledhill reportedly lived in the Tarzana house with both his mother and Handy. He was booked on suspicion of murder on Wednesday and is being held on a $2 million bond.
Gledhill allegedly called 911 at around 9:30am to let police know what he had done. Disturbing surveillance footage from a neighboring home shows Gledhill wandering down a nearby sidewalk as bloody clothes lay nearby. Gledhill returned to the house soon thereafter. He then flagged down responding officers to let them know that he was the person that they were looking for.
Neighbors have claimed that they heard Gledhill and Handy arguing overnight before the murder took place. One neighbor expressed his belief that Gledhill had been suffering from delusions in the lead-up to the heinous crime. No clear motive has been revealed at this time.
Handy’s History
Born in New York City, Handy died with 147 film and television credits to his name, according to his IMDB page. His long list of acting credits include roles in films and television shows like Jumanji, Arachnophobia, Unbreakable, Logan, NYPD Blue, Rizzoli & Isles, Alias, NCIS: Los Angeles and Criminal Minds.
Handy’s final onscreen role was in the 2023 blockbuster hit Top Gun: Maverick. He played a bartender named Jimmy in a brief scene with Tom Cruise.
Tributes For Handy
Tributes have been pouring in for Handy in the wake of his murder being announced.
“Jim was not only a truly great actor, he was also a prince of a man – kind and generous and giving to his cast and audience,” said Scott Alan Smith, professor of Performing Arts at Savannah College of Art and Design. Smith directed Handy at the Road Theater Company of the Lyons in 2018.
A woman named Nancy Lipner took to social media to recall how Handy had been cast as her father in a play when they were both non-union actors in New York City.
“He was only two or three years older than I, but somehow he brought it off, in large part because he was a terrific character actor and even though, as he told me, not particularly at home in anything resembling classic theatre,” Lipner wrote. “I was so glad for how his career took off after The Verdict.”
“This is just awful,” she later added.
This is clearly an extremely devastating tragedy for everyone involved. Please join us in saying a prayer for Handy’s family and friends as they mourn him.
Rest in peace, James Handy.