We're Gonna Need a Bigger Casket

Matthew McGrory 1973-2005

Now this is some shitty news.

Seven and a half foot tall actor Matthew McGrory (“Karl” of Big Fish fame) is dead at the age of 32 (Tuesday, August 9 2005). Horror fans knew him best as Tiny Firefly from Rob Zombie’s "House of 1000 Corpses" and last months "The Devil’s Rejects", hard rock fans may have spotted him in Iron Maiden or Marilyn Manson videos. McGrory wore a staggering 29 ½ size shoe and held the record for having the worlds biggest feet not caused by Elephantiasis (once the ladies rejoin us after the obvious shoe size association, I’ll continue). Good? Alright, now to slap the ladies with yet another mental image somewhat associated with the last one, when he was born he weighed 15 pounds and was two feet tall. Ouch. What sucks about his passing at such a young age is that he was a man who not only endured almost certain ridicule but he was starting to make a name for himself outside of the carnival style media roles.

I’m a chronic collector of horror related nonsense, so the weekend before McGrory passed away I bought the Devil’s Rejects action figure version of him, unaware that a scant 48 hours later the man would be dead – he’s definitely one of my favorite figures of the year (even at 9" he towers over most of the collection). Though the role of Tiny did nothing to space him from the freak-show typecast (not by a long shot), the toy version of him goes a long way to showing how unique a character he really was. Those who knew the man all thought of him as an inimitable entity and not as a towering oddity, I guess its one thing to be typecast and yet another to know what side your bread is buttered – who’s using who in the zoo? As is the case with most deaths in the public eye, stock in the actor is on the rise – the plastic version of the man has not only doubled in value in some circles but it’s now selling faster than some of the others in the series. It’s sad that in death the man will become collectible where in life most could take him or leave him.

When the wife and I saw The Devil’s Rejects on opening weekend, what affected her most about the entire film was how McGrory's character, Tiny, exited the film – something about the way he portrayed the mysterious and mutilated man made you curiously concerned for his well-being (despite seeing him in the opening frames of the film dragging a corpse through the woods). I guess the same can be said of his life, the credits haven’t yet rolled for the rest of us but his exit has left us all feeling a little emptier.

iPod played "Allman Brothers - Midnight Rider" while posting