Stefan Gierasch, an actor with 60 years of experience and best known for his role in the 1976 Stephen King adaptation “Carrie,” died Sept. 6 of a stroke in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 88.
During his career, Gierasch was cast in several roles that played on his rugged physicality. He worked alongside Robert Redford in 1972’s “Jeremiah Johnson” as the mayor of Lago. In 1973, Gierasch shared the screen with Clint Eastwood in “High Plains Drifter.”
In “Carrie,” Gierasch played the unsympathetic principal and antagonist to Sissy Spacek who was shocked by the bloody incident during the high school prom. He also appeared in “What’s Up Doc?” and “The New Centurions.”
On television, he appeared in “M*A*S*H,” “Barney Miller,” “The Incredible Hulk,” “The Untouchables” and “ER.” Gierasch also did work on Broadway, making his debut at 18 in 1944 in “Snafu,” and he also performed in the original production of “The Sound of Music.”
Born in New York, he studied at the Actors Studio with Marlon Brando, James Dean and Martin Landau. He is survived by his wife of 33 years, Hedy Sontag, and three children.
