Obituaries : Barton Heyman; 3 Words Won Character Actor Fame

Barton Heyman, a veteran character actor who won widespread attention as the prison guard who uttered the cryptic title words of the 1995 film “Dead Man Walking,” has died. He was 59.

Heyman died Wednesday of heart failure at his home in New York City.

Portraying the captain of prison guards, he issued the film’s warning as he cleared the way for the condemned murderer played by Sean Penn. The durable Heyman said that the three words earned him more fame than anything in his long career on stage, screen and television.

Born in Washington, Heyman studied theater arts at UCLA. Among his other films were “Billy Bathgate,” “Bonfire of the Vanities,” “Awakenings,” “The Exorcist,” “California Dreaming” and “Bang the Drum Slowly.”

He also worked steadily in movies made for television and in such series as “Law and Order,” “Kate & Allie,” “Kojak,” “Serpico” and various soap operas.

Onstage, he was a familiar face in classic and Shakespearean works, including “A Doll’s House,” “Henry V,” “Midsummer Night’s Dream” and an autobiographical work by Czech playwright Vaclav Havel titled “A Private View.”

On Broadway, Heyman appeared in “Indians,” “Sleep,” “The Enclave” and “The Trial of the Catonsville Nine.”

The actor is survived by one son and two grandchildren.