LAMAMIMET

James Handy was born on March 19, 1945, in New York and began his acting career with the 1977 film Taps. Over the next four decades he built a reputation as a reliable character actor, appearing in a wide range of movies and television series.

He is perhaps best remembered for his supporting roles in popular films such as Jumanji (1995), Arachnophobia (1990), and Top Gun: Maverick (2022), where he played a bartender. Handy also appeared in Logan (2017) and had recurring television parts, including Arthur Devlin on Alias and Lou Handleman on Profiler, as well as guest spots on NYPD Blue, Law & Order, and The Young and the Restless.

Handy continued to work steadily into his eighties, accumulating more than 150 acting credits. On June 3, 2026, he was found with multiple stab wounds at a Los Angeles residence and was pronounced dead at age 81. Police identified his girlfriend’s son, Michael Gledhill, as the suspect, and the case was treated as an isolated incident.