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It does feel odd to put fingers to keyboard about someone I don't know very well, however this bio has most of its roots in a sensitive and empathetic interview in Shivers #43, by Anthony Tomlinson. A recommended read, much of which is reproduced below:

Lance was born in New York, May 5th 1940. He was born into a relatively poor family. His father was a merchant seaman (nicknamed "Icewater" because of his frosty personality), his mother found work using a variety of talents including modelling, dance instructor and waitressing.

Lance has led an admirable life, extraordinarily diverse and rather difficult to chronicle! His parents split when he was 2 and he was brought up by his mother. He was, by all accounts, a difficult child, kicked out of various schools and spending time in a children's home. As a result of all this disruption he performed very poorly academically, in fact he didn't learn to read properly until he was 30. He also claims to have lived with relatives in Borneo, Fiji and Malaysia.

Cool quote :

"As I get older, I think we have a lot more fighting to do. In order to get through this life you sometimes have to fight for what you believe in; you can't stand around and let other people do things for you".

His interest with the cinema began at an early age, he would escape to the matinees whilst he was supposed to be at school! It is said that his yearning to be an actor came from seeing a production of The Lark when he was 16. The broadway production starred Julie Harris. Lance says, "When one of the stars came on stage eating an onion and shouting profanities to a totally accepting audience I thought 'This is the life for me'".

Lance eventually left home aged 12, skipping the rest of what little schooling he had experienced.

After leaving home he hitchhiked across the US, doing odd jobs to pay his way including shrimp fisherman and fruit picker. He occassionally got into trouble for vagrancy, and even spent time in jail! In fact, a spell in jail in Tucson, Arizona led to his first professional acting job. A film starring Lee Marvin about the life of American Iwo Jima hero, Ira Hayes was being shot in the area. Lance became an extra on the film, earning 5 dollars a day for his efforts. (Some say this may actually be the 1961 film The Outsider starring Tony Curtis instead of Lee Marvin, or alternatively the Lee Marvin film Emperor of the North).

Lance on acting:

"I always wanted to be [an actor], even when I was a little kid. When I used to run away from home, I'd go to movies and sit all night watching Kirk Douglas. When I was 16, I tried getting into the Actors Studio and they told me to get lost. I said " I'll come back when I'm a man," and I came back when I was 30. I went to sea, I travelled the world ... I was waiting."

The life that shaped the man?

Having left home at a very early age has taught Lance lessons that have remained with him to this day. But Lance is philosophical about it: "There's a lot of reality in New York, and the only nature is people. I was shining shoes and out in the street, so I got to meet people in a different way than a kid who was running through Central Park playing softball."

A lot of things I experienced as a child certainly made me stronger, that's for certain: I was self-sufficient. I had a great bullshit detector, and that's still working. Knowing what it was like to own nothing , I had a real desire for owning something larger than a shoebox to live in, along with a desire for nature and for trees. So now I live in California, where everything grows."

"Since (my father) was at sea his whole life and not around when I was growing up, I really didn't know him, so I went to the sea to see what his life had been. Also I had this tremendous desire as a young man that over the horizon had to be an incredible world. Everything was exciting to me. The thought of other countries and other people just fascinated me, and was probably bred into me through my father."
from an interview with Matt Brady in ??

This biographical summary has been taken from a collection of articles dating back to 1984. With particular reference to Shivers #43, interview by Anthony Tomlinson. I have tried to make it an accurate and concise representation of a man who has led a very interesting and admirable life. Please let me know if you find any inaccuracies herein.

Having been adopted by show business, Lance then went on to train with stuntman Rex Rossi, learning various skills that might get him into stunt work. It is said that Rossi suggested Lance take up acting professionally.

At 16 he auditioned for the Actors Studio but got turned away. At this stage in his life (early to mid 20's) Lance was, perhaps understandably, restless and unsettled. He wanted to find out what kind of life his father had lived, so he went to sea.

The next chapter of his life is told in two different ways:

a) He spent 3 years in the Navy , rising to Petty Officer Third Class. He also spent 2 years in the merchant marine. OR ...

b) He shipped out on a Swedish freighter sailing the Atlantic and the Caribbean, later sailing on another tanker to the Middle East. Returning to the States, Lance ended up in Boston, where he auditioned for the Boston Opera Company as a mime and got the job. (taken from a press kit for'Johnny Hansome').

Following this he returned to New York where, at some point, he put some of his other talents into use: he made a living painting murals, some of which still grace varoius hotels and New York's World Fair site. It seems that Lance has had a life long love affair with art and artists. Once he wrote a screenplay about Modigliani.

Once back on dry land he found work at the Boston Opera Company as a mime. At the age of 30 he auditioned for a part in Eugene O'Neils 'Three Plays of the Sea'. However, he so impressed the casting people with tales of his itinerent lifestyle that he got the lead.

Now, at 30, he had a significant handicap. Whilst being well-schooled in life, his academic schooling was virtually non-existent and he was pretty much illiterate. He couldn't read so "I got a friend to read my script on tape and I memorised everyone's parts". In fact, he taught himself to read by closely studying and analysing his scripts.

Returning to New York in 1969 he finally enrolled at the Actor's Studio. He spent several years working in various theatres, both on-stage and behind the scenes. He eventually appeared alongside Al Pacino in an off-Broadway production of The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel. His friendship with Pacino lead to small roles in a couple of Pacino's films, including Dog Day Afternoon. Lance describes Al Pacino as a "great influence on my life".

Lance works hard to get into character. Usually immersing himself completely in a role for periods of time. He has said that after playing a part he has to take time off, simply to get back into his own head. And what about that famous throaty voice? The result of many years of heavy smoking. Although it seems he has given up in the last couple of years, his voice is just as memorable.

Lance must have a lucky streak - early in his career he landed parts in 3 films shot by Sidney Lumet, a first rate director. This was in the mid 70s, with Dog Day Afternoon, Network and Prince of the City. However, itt was tough for Lance with no agent or anyone else to advise him on career moves. "I was grabbing at pieces of the business, but I wasn't willing to stand still and take any flak that might come. I ran off to the woods after every project."

Lance has gained a reputation beyond all others with fans of horror and sci-fi. In fact, he says it was the original version of The Thing that sparked his interest in the genre. With memorable roles in films such as Near Dark and hammeresque b-movie, The Pit and the Pendulum. However, he is probably best known for his role as the android, Bishop, in Aliens.

But it was his role as Frank Black in Millennium that is outstanding above all. It took its toll on Lance, with long hours and difficult issues, particularly for someone who gives so much to his characters. However, for the fans and critics alike, Lance's toils were hugely appreciated. Frank Black is loved and admired the world over and Lance was twice nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor for the part.

MORE QUOTES

About having a baby "It's the best, man," he says with a gravelly laugh. "If you want perspective on life, have a baby."

Lance has other passions in life. He has written several unproduced screenplays - one based on the life of Italian artist, Modigliani. And over the years he has patiently developed his own project, a screenplay calledTracer Pierce. Let's hope one day he'll get to direct it.

In the mid-1980's Lance married Mary Jane, and their daughter, Alcamy, ws born in 1987. Sadly the marriage collapsed shortly after, during the shooting of The Horror Show.

He recently remarried and he and his wife, artist Jane Pollack (whom he met whilst she was working as a make-up artist on Super Mario Brothers) have just had a baby girl, Sage. Another of his passions is painting and he also loves making pottery.

For more detail on Lance's early life, read the:

detailed early biography

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