Getty Hauser pictured at the Comedy Central Roast of David Hasselhoff in August 2010.
Wings Hauser, best known as Greg Foster in The Young and the Restless and as Ramrod in Vice Squad, has is not dead, his wife said in an Instagram post.
Multiple Twitter users began spreading rumors around Hauser’s death on August 12. Hauser was born Gerald Dwight Hauser in Hollywood, California, in December 1947.
Hauser wife, Cali, wrote in an Instagram post, “DUDES – I’m now going to share: A Message about Wings : “Wings is the healthiest and happiest he’s ever been + #Wearadamnmask EVERYWHERE. OK?” Cali Hauser went on to discuss the couple’s next project, which will star the pair and feature Hauser on the soundtrack. The movie is set in a pre coronavirus pandemic and will address “Racism, sexism, homophobia, climate justice.”
In addition to his cult roles, Hauser also appeared in mainstream movies such as The Insider alongside Al Pacino and Russell Crows as well as television series such as Murder, She Wrote, Beverley Hills 90210 and Roseanne. The Melbourne Underground Film Festival in Australia held a retrospective of Hauser’s grindhouse horror work in 2009. Hauser was nominated for an Independent Spirit award in 1988 for his role in the previous year’s Tough Guys Don’t Dance. The movie was written by Norman Mailer.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Hauser Would Go Drinking After Shooting ‘Vice Squad’ Most Nights in Order to ‘Get Rid of the Character’
Vice Squad director Gary Sherman told Birth Movies Death in a July 2017 interview that he cast Hauser, then best known for his role on The Young and the Restless, as the vicious street pimp Ramrod after meeting him on the set of another movie. Sherman said that he told Hauser, “you got a lot of frustrations inside of you, and I think we can do something with that.”
Sherman said that from there, Hauser “plunged” himself into the role. To that extent, when Sherman had to convince producers to cast a soap star in the role, he had Hauser do an audition for them in character. Sherman said that during the audition, Hauser grabbed an executive by the tie and yelled at him.
During filming, which took place at night, Sherman said that he would regularly go out drinking with Hauser after shooting had wrapped. Sherman said that Hauser never wanted to go home to his wife in character as Ramrod. Sherman said, “We’d go drinking after each day of shooting so that he could get rid of that character and basically exist as a person. I’d talk him back down to being Wings Hauser.”
2. Hauser Sang the Song ‘Neon Slime’ on the ‘Vice Squad’ Soundtrack
Hauser sang the song “Neon Slime,” which appeared in the opening of Vice Squad, in 1982. The AV Club’s Ignatiy Vishnevetsky wrote in 2014:
Hauser’s half snarl, half scream that pushes “Neon Slime” into the territory of the near-sublime, where every deficiency becomes a charming facet: the corny siren sound effects, the vocal mix, the awkward lyrics. The song—in all of its shambling, unsavory glory—becomes a perfect expression of the era’s big-city paranoia.
3. Hauser Has Been Married 4 Times; In 2012, He Married Cali Lili Hauser
Hauser has been married four times and has two children. His daughter, Bright, was born during Hauser’s first marriage to singer Jane Boltinhouse. His second marriage to Cass Warner Sperling, of the Warner Brothers family, produced his second child, Yellowstone star Cole Hauser. Hauser was also married to a woman named Nancy Locke between 1979 and 1999. Hauser told People Magazine in 1993 that his marriage to Locke had “knocked the hell out of me – emotionally and financially.” In the same interview, Hauser said that he tended to “distrust women.” At the time of the article, Hauser was dating The Exorcist star Linda Blair. In 1994, Hauser and Blair appeared in his directorial effort Skins. The previously appeared in 1989’s Bedroom Eyes II together.
In 2012, Wings Hauser married actress Cali Hauser. On his Hauser’s IMDb page, Cali Lili Hauser is referred to as Hauser’s “young music and filmmaking partner.” According to her Facebook page, Cali Lili Hauser is a graduate of the Tisch School of the Arts in New York City.
4. Hauser’s Father, Dwight, Was Blacklisted During the 1950s
Entertainment Weekly named Hauser as “the biggest star you never heard of” in an April 1991 feature. Hauser was born in Hollywood, California, the son of actor, writer and producer, Dwight Hauser. Hauser told the magazine that his father was blacklisted during the McCarthy witch hunts in Hollywood during the 1950s. Hauser said, “For two years, until we moved, I basically had just my family and my imagination.”
Writer Lois Alter Mark wrote that after she met Hauser for dinner, he cashed a check so that he could give a woman a few dollars. Hauser is quoted as saying that he was making “a lot of goddam money” but had not “forgotten what it’s like to be homeless.”
5. Despite Still Being Alive, Hauser Is Being Remembered as a Grindcore Legend on Social Media
As the fake news of Hauser’s passing spread, many fans and critics have taken to social media to remember the movie legend. Here are some of the most poignant messages of remembrance:
RIP the great Wings Hauser, a brilliant actor who could make any role big or small instantly memorable, not to mention being one of my favorite screen villains Ramrod in Vice Squad.
RIP Wings Hauser, the only guy who could make trash like MUTANT (1984) semi-watchable. His performance as Ramrod in the Scorsese-approved VICE SQUAD, is indelible. Guess tonight’s the night I finally watch THE CARPENTER (1988), which is on Prime.
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