Ronald Mlodzik (sometimes credited as "Ron Mlodzik" and "Ronald Mlodzyk") is a Canadian character actor, Archdeacon and retired professor best known for his myriad appearances in the early films of body horror director David Cronenberg, including Stereo (1969), Crimes of the Future (1970), Secret Weapons (1972), Rabid (1977), and Shivers (1975), in which he played his most prominent role as Mr. Merrick, the building manager of the fictional Starliner Towers condominium complex. Mlodzik ceased to appear in any films or television post-1977.
Ronald Mlodzik | |
|---|---|
 Mlodzik as Mr. Merrick, the Starliner Towers building manager in Shivers (1975) | |
| Born | |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Years active | 1969 - 1977 |
Career
editRonald Mlodzik was a longtime collaborator and friend of David Cronenberg, and acted as the protagonist in both Stereo and Crimes of the Future, in which he played the lead character Adrian Tripod.[1][2] He also starred as "the Inquisitor/Mr. Lee" in a lesser-known Cronenberg production titled Secret Weapons, completed in 1972 and part of a television series called Programme X.[3][4] His most well-known role was as the character Mr. Ronald Merrick, a building manager for the fictional Starliner Towers condominium complex (filmed in the real-life Tourelle-Sur-Rive complex on Nuns' Island, Montreal, Quebec, Canada).[5] The character, who is portrayed as a conservative and eccentric but benevolent man who is later poisoned by a parasite taking over Starliner Towers, received renewed attention in queer theory; "[Mr. Merrick] is the archetype of the stereotypically feminized nature of modern urban middle-class masculinity", according to Julian Petley in his 2021 book Shocking Cinema of the 70s, in which Petley also points out that Mlodzik is openly gay and compares Mr. Merrick's businessman personality in juxtaposition with the lack of privilege for LGBTQ+ people in the 1970s when Shivers was originally made.[6] David Cronenberg addressed this himself in the Chris Rodley book Cronenberg On Cronenberg, referring to Ronald Mlodzik as "a very elegant gay scholar, an intellectual who was studying at Massey College... whose medieval gay sensibility" very directly connects to [Cronenberg's] aesthetic sense of [Mlodzik's] space...".[7] Film critic Tim Robey echoed Cronenberg's sentiment in a modern reanalysis of body horror cinema, saying, "the choice of lead actor [in the film Stereo], the dapper, overtly gay Ron Mlodzik, whose debonair gait in a black cloak, and expansive facial manner, are its funniest and most idiosyncratic assets... starting with Mlodzik, who reappeared in Cronenberg’s follow-up Crimes of the Future (1970), you can trace a line through the director’s male protagonists to see them consistently positioned as outsider figures, uncanny presences and the lodes of an alien sexuality which isn’t necessarily homosexual (but can be)."[8] Geoff Pevere of The Globe and Mail considered Mlodzik an "androgynous dead ringer" for fellow character actor Caleb Landry Jones, who appears in the 2012 film Antiviral, directed by David Cronenberg's son, Brandon Cronenberg, as an early project.[9]
Personal life
editRonald Mlodzik has a sister, Arlene Mlodzik, who co-acted with him in Stereo (she is Dean of the American Business School in Paris). Post-1977, Mlodzik was employed as professor of English and Film Study at Champlain College, Lennoxville, Quebec, where he served terms as Coordinator of the Department of English, as well as the Creative Arts Program. He retired in 2001. Mlodzik is orthodox Catholic, and became a subdeacon in 1989. On the 19th of August, 2002, at the Divine Liturgy in St. Seraphim’s Church in Rawdon, Quebec, Subdeacon Monk Amvrosi (Mlodzik) was ordained to the Holy Diaconate. He was then assigned to the Communauté Monastique de St-Séraphim de Sarov à Rawdon QC.[10][11][12] He attained the status of Archdeacon and has since retired.[13][14]
Filmography
editFilm
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | Stereo | Unnamed man | Mlodzik is credited as his own real name in this film. |
| 1970 | Crimes of the Future | Adrian Tripod | |
| 1972 | Programme X: Secret Weapons (television short film) | The Inquisitor/Mr. Lee | |
| 1973 | The Paper Chase | Law student (uncredited) | |
| 1975 | Shivers | Mr. Ronald Merrick | Film was also marketed under the titles Frissons (French), They Came From Within and Orgy of the Blood Parasites |
| 1977 | Rabid | Male patient |
References
edit- ^ Zigler, Brianna. "David Cronenberg's Crimes of the Past Point Towards His Future". www.pastemagazine.com. Paste Magazine. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
- ^ Brennan, Cathy. "Crimes of the Future Past". tribunemag.co.uk. Tribune. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
- ^ Revert, Matthew (16 May 2012). "Secret Weapons - 1972 - David Cronenberg". www.youtube.com. YouTube. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
- ^ "The word made flesh: David Cronenberg – ranked!". whitlockandpope.com. Whitlock & Pope. 8 September 2020. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
- ^ Aspell, Luke (2019). Shivers. Liverpool University Press. ISBN 9781911325987.
- ^ Petley, Julian; Mendik, Xavier (2021). Shocking Cinema of the 70s. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9781350136304.
- ^ Rodley, Chris; Cronenberg, David (1997). Cronenberg on Cronenberg. Faber. ISBN 9780571191376.
- ^ Robey, Tim (3 January 2010). "David Cronenberg's Disembodied Cinema". thepointmag.com/. The Point. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
- ^ Pevere, Geoff (12 October 2012). "Antiviral: Like father, like son? Well, sort of". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
- ^ "New hierodeacon to serve Communauté de St-Séraphim". Canadian Orthodox Messenger. 1 (14). 2003.
- ^ Leperlier, Henry. "CANADIAN SCIENCE FICTION: A RELUCTANT GENRE" (PDF). www.nlc-bnc.ca. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
- ^ Bergstrom, Aren (23 February 2018). "David Cronenberg: Stereo (1969)". 3brothersfilm.com. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
- ^ "(Mlodzyk), Archdeacon Amvrosi". www.archdiocese.ca. Archdiocese of Canada. 31 August 2012. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
- ^ "Montréal QC Église orthodoxe Saint-Benoît-de-Nursie 1983". orthodoxcanada.ca. Orthodox Canada. Retrieved 20 June 2024.