James Handy, a veteran character actor in films such as “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Logan” and “Jumanji,” was stabbed to death at a home in Los Angeles on Wednesday morning, authorities said. He was 81.
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The son of Handy’s girlfriend, 44-year-old Michael Gledhill, was arrested and booked on a count of murder, the Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement.
Officers were dispatched to the home after a 911 caller reported, “I am the son of man. I just killed the man of sin.”
When officers arrived, they found Handy unconscious in the front yard, suffering from a stab wound to his chest. He was transported to a hospital and later pronounced dead.
Police said the suspect, who lived at the home with his mother in Los Angeles’ Tarzana neighborhood, flagged down officers and told them, “he was the one they were looking for.”
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Gledhill is being held on a $2 million bail.
LAPD News Release: Murder Investigation in West Valley Area pic.twitter.com/bpIrl5Ox1S
— LAPD PIO (@LAPDPIO) June 4, 2026
Handy was born in New York and appeared in dozens of films and TV shows across six decades, often playing supporting characters, including a bartender in “Top Gun: Maverick,” a doctor in “Logan,” a coroner in “Arachnophobia” and an exterminator in “Jumanji.”
He also appeared in several TV shows including “The X Files,” “NCIS: Los Angeles,” “The West Wing” “Criminal Minds,” “Alias,” “Law & Order,” “Castle,” “Murder, She Wrote” and “CSI:NY.”
“I could not have asked for a more talented, humble or gracious client and friend than James Handy,” his talent agent, Pam Ellis-Evenas of the Ellis Talent Group, said in a statement shared with The Associated Press.
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