The Thing (1982) Cast: Where The Actors Are Now

As hard as it may be to believe now, "The Thing" was largely a horror show for its cast when it was first released. Back in 1982, critics were appalled by a perceived emphasis on graphic spectacle over story and character, with multiple reviewers regarding its characters as underwritten. The talented ensemble of actors who had been cast to populate John Carpenter's snow-covered sci-fi slasher were seen as mere props in a bleak special effects showcase. Audiences, for that matter, hardly showed up for the film, with only $20 million in tickets sold against a production budget of $15 million.

Over 40 years later, however, "The Thing" is regarded as an unimpeachable masterpiece because of its groundbreaking effects, expertly employed by Carpenter to show multiple generations of moviegoers a kind of gore that still disturbs. Further, there are nuances in the character and story that subsequent audiences have come to appreciate, particularly its brutal depiction of paranoia at the height of the Cold War. Suffice it to say, "The Thing" has morphed into a point of pride for all involved — especially its stars, most of whom continued to tell challenging stories throughout the following decades.

Not to be confused with the prolific blues singer, Thomas G. Waites was at the beginning of his acting career when he was cast as the ill-fated Outpost 31 radio operator known only as "Windows." He went on to guest star on various TV shows throughout the remainder of the 1980s, including "Miami Vice," "Crime Story," and multiple episodes of "The Equalizer," all in minor roles. Then, in 1990, he landed a supporting role in the oft-forgotten noir thriller "State of Grace," which starred Sean Penn, Ed Harris, Gary Oldman, Robin Wright, and John Turturro.

After guest-starring on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "NYPD Blue," Waites landed a recurring role on the HBO crime drama "Oz," playing an unaffiliated "Other" named Henry Stanton. He appeared in seven episodes across seasons 4, 5, and 6.

His career slowed down somewhat after this point, consisting mostly of roles in short films and on isolated television episodes. Some highlights include the Russian agent Clayton on season 7 of "Homeland" and the abusive group home orderly Arthur Walsh on season 2 of Marvel's "The Punisher," the latter of which is pictured above. His most recent role was in the 2024 independent film "Godless."

"The Thing" was only Joel Polis' second acting role back in 1982, having previously been credited in a television movie titled "The Wall" released the same year. After audiences saw him as the biologist "Fuchs," they could see him appear in small roles on a wide range of TV shows airing at the time, including "Remington Steele," "St. Elsewhere," "T.J. Hooker," "Moonlighting," "Cagney and Lacey," "The Twilight Zone," and, most notably, in three episodes of "Cheers" (where he played Gary, the owner of the rival bar Gary's Olde Towne Tavern).

The '90s and 2000s saw Polis continue to find this kind of work regularly, appearing on episodes of "Matlock," "Law and Order," "Northern Exposure," "Home Improvement" (as Binford Tools President Wes Davidson), "Diagnosis Murder," "Star Trek: Voyager," "Roseanne," "7th Heaven," "Ally McBeal," "Party of Five," "Chicago Hope," "Boston Legal," and several different iterations of "CSI." More recently, he's played Detective John Raglan on "Castle," real estate red herring Mario Trivisonno on "Bones," and the enigmatic Hydra higher-up known as "The Banker" on season 2 of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." (pictured above). His most recent appearance was an uncredited cameo in the 2024 low-budget action comedy "Dead Wrong."

Prior to playing Outpost 31 Commander Garry in "The Thing" (and reportedly putting on something of a masterclass for his co-stars), Donald Moffat had been acting professionally in films and television shows for over 20 years, most notably on the soap opera "One Life to Live" as the original Dr. Marcus Polk. He also had a small role in the 1980 adaptation of the comic strip "Popeye," directed by Robert Altman and starring Robin Williams and Shelley Duvall.

Moffat returned to the soap opera world after "The Thing" to play a minor recurring character on the CBS Western "Dallas," appearing in three episodes as Brooks Oliver. Subsequent television roles included David Abbott in the 1988 "Bourne Identity" miniseries, Garrett Fitzsimmons in the "Kojak" television movie "Flowers for Matty," Sheldon Hays in "Columbo: No Time to Die," Edgar Halcyon in "Tales of the City," and Robert "The Kaiser" Roberts on "Bull." He also guest starred on "Murder She Wrote," "The Twilight Zone" ("The Star"), "L.A. Law," "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman," "The West Wing," and "Law and Order: Trial by Jury."

Moffat had a few memorable film roles as well throughout the remainder of his career. In 1983, he was cast as U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson in "The Right Stuff," then went on to play the fictional President Bennett in "Clear and Present Danger" in 1994 (pictured above). In 2018, 13 years after his seeming retirement from acting, Moffat died due to complications from a stroke. He was 87 years old.

Richard Masur arguably had the most talented scene partner in "The Thing," playing dog handler Clark opposite the talented and ever-professional canine performer Jed. (Jed, who also starred in the Walt Disney Studios adventure film "The Journey of Natty Gan" and the Ethan Hawke-starring "White Fang," passed away in 1995 at the age of 18.) Masur himself was no slouch, having previously had prominent guest starring roles on "All in the Family," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "M*A*S*H," and "The Waltons," and been part of the main casts of "One Day at a Time" and "Hot I Baltimore."

His film career blossomed after his appearance in "The Thing." In 1983, he had a supporting role in the Tom Cruise teen comedy "Risky Business" as the Princeton recruiter Bill Rutherford. He subsequently had roles in "My Girl" (Phil Sultenfuss), "Encino Man" (Mr. Morgan), "Six Degrees of Separation" (Dr. Fine), "Multiplicity" (Del King), and, most recently, the 2016 Mike Birbiglia dramedy "Don't Think Twice."

Masur has also continued to find consistent work on television, starring in several TV movies throughout the 1980s. In 1990, he was cast as Stanley Uris in the Tim Curry-led miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's novel "It." Other notable roles include Judge Geoffrey Solomon on "The Good Wife," synagogue board member Buzzy Rackless on "Transparent," and fantasy writer Edward L.L. Moore on "Younger" (pictured above). Most recently, he played Harold Gordon, the father of Carla Gugino's Grace Gordon, on HBO Max's "The Girls on the Bus."

A victim of John Carpenter's bloody reshoots on "The Thing," Peter Maloney's George Bennings had one of the most unsettling deaths in the entire film. Maloney's next film role came in the 1985 action comedy "Desperately Seeking Susan," in which he played a magician named Ian. Following this role, he portrayed the medical examiner Dr. Dominick Princi in Michael Mann's "Manhunter," Colonel Finck in Oliver Stone's "JFK," Bill Quigley in "Thinner," Dr. Griggs in the Daniel Day-Lewis-led adaptation of Arthur Miller's "The Crucible," and Dr. Pill in Daron Aronofsky's breakout tragedy "Requiem for a Dream."

On television, he's had recurring roles on "Alex Haley's Queen," "Law and Order: Criminal Intent," "Rescue Me," and, most recently, the AMC miniseries "Dispatches from Elsewhere." He has also guest starred on "St. Elsewhere," "All My Children," "Gossip Girl," "The Knick," "Gotham" (pictured above), "Bull," "The Good Fight," "Crashing," "Dickinson," and "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel." Maloney has not appeared in any on-camera projects since 2020, but is reportedly still active in the New York theater world.

Charles Hallahan had a fairly successful television career prior to his role as geophysicist Vance Norris in "The Thing." After making his debut in an episode of "The Rockford Files," he went on to appear on shows like "Happy Days," the original "Hawaii Five-0," "Dallas," "All in the Family," "Hart to Hart," "Hill Street Blues," and "M*A*S*H," and had a significant run on "The Paper Chase."

Post-"The Thing," he began to see increased opportunities from the movie industry. His next project was in the tragically ill-fated "Twilight Zone: The Movie," a feature film adaptation of the hit anthology series that adopted an anthology structure itself. Hallahan had a supporting role in the opening segment "Time Out," which was directed by John Landis. A helicopter crash that occurred during production took the lives of two child actors and segment-lead Vic Morrow. Hallahan thereafter had roles in "Vision Quest" (Coach Ratta), "Fatal Beauty" (Sergeant Getz), "The Fan" (Cooper), and "Dante's Peak" (Dr. Dreyfus, pictured above). He also had an uncredited role in "Space Jam" as the owner of the Birmingham Barons (the minor league baseball team Michael Jordan briefly plays for).

In 1993, he booked a starring role on the Chuck Lorre CBS sitcom "Grace Under Fire," playing oil boss Bill Davis. He left the series after its first season. His later roles were mostly guest starring spots on shows like "JAG," "Sisters," "NYPD Blue," and "Players." In 1997, he died of a heart attack at the age of 54.

Prior to playing Dr. Copper in "The Thing," Richard Dysart had played several minor recurring characters on various television shows throughout the 1960s and '70s, most notably in "East Side/West Side," "Another World," and the miniseries "Lincoln." He also appeared in the 1979 film "Being There." In the years directly following the release of "The Thing," his career continued at this pace without much deviation, consisting of roles in obscure TV movies, one-off guest starring appearances on a handful of TV shows, and the occasional supporting role in a well known feature. (Highlights include Uncle Pom in the English dub of "Castle in the Sky" and Cromwell in Oliver Stone's "Wall Street.")

In 1986, Dysart landed a career-defining role on the hit NBC legal drama "L.A. Law." As senior name partner Leland McKenzie, he starred in over 170 episodes across the series' eight-season run, earning critical acclaim and four Primetime Emmy Award nominations. He took home the award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 1992, beating out co-star Jimmy Smits.

In the early '90s, he had a small role in "Back to the Future Part III" (seen above), and he could be heard in two episodes of "Batman: The Animated Series" as Arkham Asylum psychiatrist Dr. Bartholomew. He was soon after cast to voice another comic book character in the "Spawn" animated series, adapted from the popular Image Comics series from Todd McFarlane. Dysart voiced Nicholas Cogliostro, the demonic mentor of the titular character (who was coincidentally voiced by one of Dysart's co-stars from "The Thing").

In 2002, Dysart reprised his role as Leland McKenzie for "L.A. Law: The Movie," marking the last performance of his career. In 2015, he died due to complications from cancer.

In hindsight, "The Thing" was a relatively large career jump for young T. K. Carter, who played outpost Nauls. He had, for the most part, only appeared as a guest star on a handful of TV shows previously, such as "Quincy, M.E.," "The Waltons," and "The Jeffersons" (though he did also have a few small roles in feature films as well, including in the Chevy Chase-Goldie Hawn comedy "Seems Like Old Times").

After "The Thing," Carter was cast to lead two series for ABC. The first — a sitcom titled "Just Our Luck" — starred Carter as "Shabu," a mischievous genie who is cursed with serving a mild-mannered news anchor (played by Richard Gilliland of "Designing Women"). The second was "Turbo Teen," an animated series from "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!" creators Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, which followed the adventures of a boy named Alex (voiced by Carter) who possessed the ability to transform into a car. Both series were canceled after 13 episodes. Not long after their cancellations, Carter was cast as Mike Fulton on the premiere season of the hit NBC sitcom "Punky Brewster." He was promoted to series regular status for season 2, but departed the show thereafter.

Carter was subsequently cast as Anthony Julian in the animated musical series "Jem," Mylo Williams on the Disney Channel sitcom "Good Morning, Miss Bliss," Clarence Hull on "The Sinbad Show," and Gary McCullough in the underrated HBO miniseries "The Corner." In the past few years, he has had supporting roles in the Ben Affleck sports drama "The Way Back" and Dave "Lil Dicky" Burd's FXX sitcom "DAVE."

Though he was already in his late 40s when it was released, "The Thing" was one of the earlier projects of Wilford Brimley's film career. (He was actually still going as "A. Wilford Brimley" at the time, having served in the marines during his younger years.) He played Blair, a genetic expert stationed at Outpost 31.

The role would contribute greatly to Brimley's eventual legacy as an iconic 1980s character actor, as did his roles in the Charles Bronson thriller "10 to Midnight," the Robert Redford sports drama "The Natural," and the "Cocoon" duology. Unfortunately, his prominence on the big screen began to peter out in the '90s after his appearances in the Tom Cruise legal drama "The Firm" and the Jean-Claude Van Damme action film "Hard Target."

On television, Brimley was cast as the star of the NBC sitcom "Our House," in which he played Gus Witherspoon, a single grandfather who houses the family left behind by his late son (played by "Dallas" alum Patrick Duffy). It was canceled after two seasons. Afterward, he guest starred on "Homicide: Life on the Street," "Walker, Texas Ranger," and "Seinfeld" (notably playing the postmaster general in the season 9 episode "The Junk Mail," pictured above).

Brimley seemingly retired in 2017 after appearing in the faith-based drama "I Believe." He died in 2020 at the age of 85 due to complications from a kidney condition. Taylor Sheridan, the creator and showrunner of the hit series "Yellowstone," dedicated the penultimate episode of season 3 to Brimley's memory.

The titular character in the "Spawn" animated series was voiced by none other than Keith David, who played the mechanic Childs in "The Thing." David has had a vast and varied, decades-spanning career since the film's release, consisting of high-profile work as a movie, television, and, especially, voice actor.

His recognizable baritone can be heard in some of the most beloved animated projects of all time, breathing life into characters like T'Challa/Black Panther in the 1990s "Fantastic Four" animated series, the sun god Apollo in Disney's "Hercules," the enigmatic feline companion in "Coraline," the villainous, magical Dr. Facilier in Disney's "The Princess and the Frog," the Flame King in "Adventure Time," Goliath in "Gargoyles," The President in "Rick and Morty," and Husk in "Hazbin Hotel." He also voiced the white gorilla Solovar on "The Flash" and was briefly a recurring narrator for ads for the U.S. Navy. His body of work in the video game industry is equally iconic, with gamers likely recognizing him as Drecker in "Fallout," the Arbiter in the "Halo" franchise, Julius Little in the "Saints Row" property, David Anderson in the "Mass Effect" franchise, Commander Zavala in "Destiny 2," and Sergeant Foley in the widely beloved "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II." He's also reprised several of his animated roles in video game adaptations, including Spawn, whom he voiced in "Mortal Kombat 11," and "Call of Duty."

David has similarly appeared on-camera in countless films since "The Thing," starting with Oliver Stone's "Platoon." This was followed by roles in "The Quick and the Dead," "Armageddon," "Agent Cody Banks," "The Nice Guys," "Nope," "American Fiction," and John Carpenter's "They Live." On television, he's best known for roles in "Greenleaf" and "Community" (pictured above) and recently cameoed in the HBO comedy "I Love LA."

The son of Hollywood actor Bing Russell, Kurt Russell had been poised for stardom from a young age (largely through a longstanding relationship with Walt Disney). After over a decade of steady television work, he was cast by none other than John Carpenter in a TV movie biopic about Elvis Presley, earning a Primetime Emmy nomination for playing the King himself. Carpenter subsequently teamed up with Russell back to back in the early 1980s for "Escape from New York" and "The Thing."

Though this kicked off a five year streak of box office bombs for Russell (including "Big Trouble in Little China"), "The Thing" was ultimately a stepping stone toward Russell's career as a generational movie star. Later roles included Cash in "Tango and Cash," Wyatt Earp in "Tombstone," and Colonel Jack O'Neil in "Stargate." By the 2000s, he'd begun embracing supporting roles as well, playing the psychologist Curtis McCabe in the Tom Cruise sci-fi thriller "Vanilla Sky," The Commander in Disney's superhero riff "Sky High," covert intelligence asset Mr. Nobody in the "Fast and Furious" franchise, bounty hunter John "The Hangman" Ruth in Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight," and Ego, the living planet, in Marvel Studios' "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" (pictured above). The actor has fostered a love of film in his own children as well, starring in the Apple TV+ series "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters" with his son Wyatt Russell.

Despite this impressive filmography, "The Thing" remains one of Russell's career-defining projects. The enduring cult status it enjoys was hard won by Russell personally, who actually wrote its brilliantly uncertain ending. Whether or not MacReady transformed into a thing of teeth and tendrils after the credits rolled, "The Thing" helped transform Russell into one of the biggest stars in Hollywood.