Stephen Hibbert, the actor best known for playing "The Gimp" inPulp Fiction, has died at the age of 68.
According toTMZ, the writer and performer died in Denver on Monday, following a heart attack. "Our father, Stephen Hibbert, passed away unexpectedly this week," his children, Ronnie, Rosalind, and Greg, said in a statement to the outlet. "His life was full of love and dedication to the arts and his family. He will be dearly missed by many."
Hibbert's death comes just three months after the passing of one of hisPulp Fictionscene partners,Peter Greene.
Born in Fleetwood, England, Hibbert broke into the industry as a writer onLate Night With David Letterman. He'd then go on to serve the same position onBoy Meets WorldandMad TV, and he also helped pen the script forIt's Pat, a film based on the breakoutSaturday Night Livecharacter of his then-wife, Julia Sweeney.
Onscreen, Hibbert appeared in a pair of Mike Myers comedies,Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me andThe Cat in the Hat, and guest starred on the TV seriesJust Shoot MeandRush Hour.
Advertisement
Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with ourEW Dispatch newsletter.
But Hibbert's most recognized performance was one that never revealed his face. In Quentin Tarantino's 1994 masterpiecePulp Fiction, boxer Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) is running from feared crime boss Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames), when he seeks shelter in a pawn shop. But the owner, Maynard (Duane Whitaker), holds the two men at gunpoint and ties them up in his basement, where Maynard and his pal Zed (Peter Greene) are keeping "The Gimp," a man held in a small box and dressed in leather bondage, including a mask that doesn't allow him to speak. The Gimp is tied up and left to watch over Butch as Maynard and Zed take Marsellus to the other room to sexually assault him, but Butch manages to get free and punch the Gimp, who unsuccessfully tries to yell to get his captors' attention.
Not much information was ever given about the character and how he ended up in that situation, until Tarantino peeled back a curtain in 2020. "It doesn't quite play this way in the movie, but, in my mind when I wrote it, the Gimp's dead,"he revealed to Empire. "Butch knocked him out and then, when he passed out, he hung himself. In terms of backstory, he was a hitchhiker or somebody that they picked up seven years ago, and they trained him so he's the perfect victim."
For his part, Hibbert embraced the bonkers role and the legacy that came with it — even if it didn't prove to be life-changing. "I never made a big deal of it,"he told Vulturein 2014. "I wish I had, but I've never figured out a way to monetize it or make it a thing. I've never sent out Christmas cards with the Gimp or anything. And whatever else I've done before or will do in show business, I don't think I'll ever have a cooler credit than that. I love the fact that I did that."
Read the original article onEntertainment Weekly