Donald Gibb, the actor best known for playing bellowing frat boy Frederick Aloysius 'Ogre' Palowaski in Revenge of the Nerds, has died at the age of 71, his family confirmed in a statement released in the United States on Friday. The cause of death has not been disclosed, and no official medical details have been made public.
Gibb's death follows a career that threaded its way through some of the most recognisable cult films and television shows of the 1980s and 1990s. To many viewers, he was the hulking comic menace yelling 'Nerds!' in Jeff Kanew's 1984 college comedy. To others, he was Ray Jackson, the bruising brawler opposite Jean-Claude Van Damme in the 1988 martial arts film Bloodsport. His death also comes just months after fellow Revenge of the Nerds star Robert Carradine died on 23 February, also aged 71, a coincidence that has not gone unnoticed by fans of the franchise.
