Role of Leatherface doesn't mask actor's other achievements in life

He spends his time writing books, poetry and scripts for documentary films.
NORTHEAST HARBOR, Maine (AP) -- Gunnar Hansen's blood-spattered past is old news to most folks in this genteel village at the edge of Acadia National Park, but it still resonates with children at the elementary school near his home.
Every few years, according to Hansen, the school is rife with rumor about "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" and Hansen's role in the 1974 horror classic: "You know that old guy who lives up there in that house? He was Leatherface!"
"The kids will stop and look at me, and then finally, one of them -- the one kid who has a little courage -- will come to me and say, 'Oh, Mr. Hansen, were you in 'Chain Saw Massacre?' And I'll say yes. And he'll turn and yell out, 'See, I told you so.'"
Unlike the character
Aside from size -- he's 6 foot 4, 280 pounds -- it's hard to find much in common between Hansen, a genial, 57-year-old, silver-bearded writer, and Leatherface, the psychotic, chain-saw-wielding killer who turned a van trip by five youths into a nightmare of death and dismemberment.
Hansen's heroes are Melville and Thoreau, not Freddy and Jason.
"He's a gentle giant, and he's also very intelligent and erudite. He's almost like a man of letters," said Tony Timpone, editor in chief of Fangoria, a magazine for horror movie fans.
The Iceland-born Hansen's best-known book, "Islands at the Edge of Time," is a well-received account of the barrier islands from Texas to North Carolina. Other books include local histories and a poetry collection; he spends much of his time writing scripts for documentary films on subjects that range from the Maine coast to the state's Indian tribes.
"The Texas Chain Saw Massacre," released 30 years ago this fall, was a breakthrough splatter film, winning mass audiences for the infant genre. Hansen estimated that over the years, "Chain Saw," which cost $240,000 to produce, may have grossed as much as $100 million worldwide.
"The movie really shook people up," Timpone said. "There had never been anything as visceral and gutsy and unrelenting."
Hansen came to Maine at age 5, living in Searsport until his family moved to Texas six years later. His brush with celebrity came in 1973 while he was a 26-year-old graduate student at the University of Texas, working a summer job as a carpenter.
Hansen, who had tried acting in college, heard that an independent filmmaker was looking for someone to appear in a local horror movie. He was intrigued and decided to try out.
Landing the role
Director Tobe Hooper was scrambling for a replacement after the actor he had hired to play Leatherface was found holed up drunk in a motel, Hansen said. Hooper was impressed by the way the hulking Hansen filled up a door.
"At the interview, he asked me if I were violent, and I said no. And he said, 'Well, are you crazy?' And I said, 'Not in the way you mean.' And then he got this worried look and said, 'Can you do it?' And I said, 'Oh yeah, yeah, it's easy.' And he said, 'OK, you've got the part.'"
Because Leatherface does not talk and his face is hidden by a mask, Hansen had little to work with. He visited the campus of a state school for people with mental retardation, where his mother was on staff, to observe the students' physical movements. After two days, he had mastered a shambling gait. He also tried to duplicate pig squeals to come up with Leatherface's howling yelp that gets drowned in the sound track.
The grainy, 16 mm film was shot on a tight schedule, and cast members were paid $200 a week, he said. For his four weeks, Hansen earned $800, but he worked seven days a week, 12 to 16 hours a day. "I would have made more money if I'd worked in McDonald's those numbers of hours," he said.
Hansen, who had never used a chain saw before he took the role, said he would have had second thoughts had he been aware of the danger. He never gained confidence with a chain saw, even after he moved back to Maine in 1975 and used one to cut cordwood for heat the first year.
"I'm really proud of this movie, but it's not the biggest thing I've ever done," he said. "As far as I'm concerned, it's not the most important thing in my life."
Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.