Rick Ducommun 1952 – 2015

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Several actors have come from Prince Albert, or lived in the community for a time, with Boris Karloff being the biggest example of famous actors with a Prince Albert connection. However, one individual with a Prince Albert connection who would go on to have success in Hollywood was Rick Ducommun. A character actor who acted in many popular movies, he passed away on June 12 at the age of 62.

Born on July 3, 1952 in Prince Albert, he got his start in the early-1980s on the Canadian children’s show Zig Zag, which would run for several years throughout the decade and prove to be very popular. It was on that show that he was noticed by Alan Thicke, himself a large star at the time thanks to Growing Pains. He would bring Ducommun to Los Angeles to be the announcer on his short-lived talk show Thicke of the Night. While the show only ran from Sept. 5, 1983 to June 15, 1984, it would be a good stepping stone for Ducommun, who became a popular character actor in a number of movies.

Throughout the late-1980s and well into the 1990s, he would act in a number of the biggest movies released during that time including Die Hard, Spaceballs, The ‘Burbs, Gremlins 2, The Hunt for Red October and Groundhog Day.

One of his biggest successes came on The ‘Burbs, when he beat out Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis to land the part of Tom Hanks neighbour in the film. Much of his dialogue was ad-libbed by Ducommun, who had a background in stand-up comedy. That background would lead him to hosting two HBO comedy specials in 1989 and 1992.

Ducommun would act in several popular television shows over the years as well including NYPD Blue, Murphy Brown and Nash Bridges.

He would pass away in Vancouver due to diabetic ketoacidosis.