Gunnar Hansen Video | Celebrity Interview and Paparazzi

Gunnar Milton Hansen (born March 4, 1947) is an Icelandic-born actor and author best known for playing the mentally impaired cannibal Leatherface in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974). Hansen was born in Reykjavík, Iceland, and moved to the United States when he was five. He lived in Maine until age eleven, when his family moved to Texas, where he attended both Austin High School and the University of Texas at Austin. He majored in English and mathematics as an undergraduate, and then went to graduate school in Scandinavian Studies and English. His first job out of high school was as a... MORE

Gunnar Milton Hansen (born March 4, 1947) is an Icelandic-born actor and author best known for playing the mentally impaired cannibal Leatherface in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974). Hansen was born in Reykjavík, Iceland, and moved to the United States when he was five. He lived in Maine until age eleven, when his family moved to Texas, where he attended both Austin High School and the University of Texas at Austin. He majored in English and mathematics as an undergraduate, and then went to graduate school in Scandinavian Studies and English. His first job out of high school was as a computer operator, before he began theater work during college. He was also a football player during high school, and for a while a bar bouncer. In 1973, just after finishing graduate school, Hansen heard that The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was being filmed in Austin and decided to try out. He got the part of Leatherface, the masked killer in the movie. Hansen apparently visited and studied special needs kids in order to determine mannerisms for Leatherface. After the success of the movie, Hansen co-starred in Demon Lover, but after the experience he decided not to continue acting, instead pursuing a LESS