Earl Boen, Actor in The Terminator Movies, Dies at 81

Publish date: 2024-03-30

Earl Boen, a veteran character and voice actor best known for his role as Dr. Peter Silberman in “The Terminator” movies, died Thursday in Hawaii. He was 81.

The actor was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer in the fall of 2022, according to a friend of Boen’s and his family.

Boen starred in “The Terminator,” “Terminator 2: Judgement Day” and “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” as Dr. Silberman, a criminal psychologist who was brought in to interrogate Michael Biehn’s Kyle Reese in the first film. He also appeared in archive footage in 2019’s “Terminator: Dark Fate.”

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Born on Aug. 8, 1941, Boen worked on a slew of television series, movies and video games throughout his career. In addition to the “Terminator” franchise, his film credits include “9 to 5,” “Living in Peril,” “The Prince,” “Sioux City,” “Marked for Death,” “My Stepmother Is an Alien,” “Alien Nation,” “Touch and Go,” “The Main Event,” “Battle Beyond the Stars,” “To Be or Not to Be,” “Movers & Shakers,” “Stewardess School” and “Walk Like a Man.”

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On the television side, Boen portrayed Rev. Lloyd Meechum in the 1980s sitcom “Mama’s Family.” He guested on several series, including “Great Performances,” “The Streets of San Francisco,” “Hawaii Five-O,” “Wonder Woman,” “Police Woman,” “Barnaby Jones,” “A Man Called Sloane,” “The Dukes of Hazzard,” “Soap,” “King’s Crossing,” “Three’s Company,” “Fantasy Island,” “It’s a Living,” “The Golden Girls,” “The Golden Palace,” “The Wonder Years” and “Seinfeld.” His TV movie credits include “The Children Nobody Wanted,” “Last of the Good Guys,” “The Taming of the Shrew,” “Getting Physical,” “Antony and Cleopatra,” “Annihilator” and “Opposites Attract.”

As a voice actor, Boen was known for voicing such characters as Mr. Bleakman in “Clifford the Big Red Dog,” Señor Senior Sr. in “Kim Possible,” the Narrator in “World of Warcraft” and Captain LeChuck in the “Monkey Island” video game series.

He is survived by his wife Cathy, daughter Ruby and grandchildren Kimmy Abaricia and Kimo Harbin.

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