James Handy, Top Gun: Maverick Actor, Dies After Stabbing At 81

Prolific character actor James Handy, who was last seen on the big screen in the $1.5 billion blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick, has passed away. He was 81 years old.

The New York Post reports that Handy died on Wednesday, June 3, after an apparent stab wound to the chest. Per the LAPD, Handy was rushed to the hospital after he was found gravely wounded in front of a Tarzana home, and was pronounced dead once at the facility. According to investigators, 44-year-old Michael Gledhill is suspected of stabbing Handy; Gledhill is the son of Handy’s girlfriend.

Police say that Gledhill made a call to 911 on Wednesday morning, telling the operator, “I am the son of man, I just killed the man of sin.” When authorities arrived, Handy was found unconscious and bleeding from stab wounds, though it remains unclear how many times he was allegedly stabbed. The LAPD also stated that Gledhill had waved down officers a short time after the incident and told them he was who they were looking for. He was arrested with his bail set at $2 million.

It remains unclear what led up to the alleged attack on Handy. An investigation is ongoing.

James Handy Had Dozens of Movie and TV Acting Credits

Born in New York before relocating to Los Angeles, Handy has been appearing in movies and television shows since the late 1970s. In 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick, he portrayed Jimmy, a friendly bartender who works at the Hard Deck. This would turn out to be Handy’s final role. The character actor also had a memorable role in Robin Williams’ 1995 movie Jumanji, in which he played an exterminator. In 1989, he played Lt. Byers in the buddy cop film K-9, later reprising that role in the 1999 sequel K-9111.

X-Men fans may also recognize Handy from his role as a doctor in 2017’s Logan. Another one of his more memorable roles was as Milton Briggs in 1990’s Arachnophobia, the spider-themed horror movie. The actor played a priest in M. Night Shyamalan’s Unbreakable in 2000. Some of his many other feature film credits include The Verdict, Brighton Beach Memoirs, The Rocketeer, Gang Related, Black and White, Ash Wednesday, Rounds, 15 Minutes, and Suburbicon.

On the small screen, Handy recurred as Captain Haverhill in the hit cop show NYPD Blue. His other recurring roles include Matt Fielding in Melrose Place, Mike Heseltine in A Dangerous Life, Rep. Joe Bruno in The West Wing, and Arthur Devlin in Alias. In 1999, he played a judge in the TV film Time Served. In the X-Files episode “2Shy,” which aired in 1995, he appeared alongside David Duchovny with his role as Alan Cross.

Handy’s other TV credits include Quantum Leap, Murder, She Wrote, Criminal Minds, Castle, Rizzoli & Isles, Mulaney, Documentary Now!, and NCIS: Los Angeles.