JIM KRUT – Much more than a world-famous zombie
Jim Krut has acted on camera in 15 films, performed extensively on stage and appeared on various television programs. He is also a published research author, a former newspaper and magazine editor and media communications executive. In one of the most memorable scenes from George Romero’s 1978 classic movie “Dawn of the Dead,” a helicopter blade slashes the top off zombie Jim Krut’s head at the Monroeville Airport near Pittsburgh, Pa. The Helicopter Zombie scene has been called one of the top five zombie death scenes in cinema. The Bravo TV Network has featured it as one of the Top 100 Scariest Movie Moments. Formerly a stage actor with two Pittsburgh theatre companies, Jim performed extensively in the United States, did tech work with The Living Theatre and has appeared at Scotland’s Edinburgh Theatre Fringe Festival. His stage acting and directing credits in central Pennsylvania include dramatic roles in “Dracula,” “Sister Mary Ignatius,” “Little Egypt,” “American Buffalo” and “The Triangle Factory Fire Project.” |
In recent years on screen, Jim has portrayed a ruthless government official in “Deadlands 2: Trapped,” a desperate news reporter in “Flesh of the Living,” a power plant operator in “The Guatemalan Handshake,” and a doctor in “The Maladjusted.” He also appears as a minister in the supernatural suspense thriller “Ghosting,” and plays an undercover hitman in the 2018 film “A Host of Sparrows.”
On television, he has portrayed a judge in the Lifetime Network’s courtroom drama of “Twisted Fate,” appeared on Netflix’s “House of Cards” and performed on a Bill Moyers' special for public television. A former vice president of communications for a cooperative electric utility, he has written and voiced numerous radio and tv spots, and produced videos and publications. He is the recipient of several national awards for his writing and photography. The 2014 printing of the book “The Fight for Power,” about the turbulent 75-year history of a Pennsylvania electric cooperative, culminated his nearly three years of research, writing and editing. The publication has won national recognition for special publications. Jim is a decorated combat veteran of the Vietnam War, where he enlisted as a medic. Jim continues to appear as a guest at film and comic conventions throughout the US, as well as Germany and the UK, celebrating the zombie film genre. |