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Iconic Actor, Who Got His Big Break In His 60s, Turns 83<\/a> originally appeared on Parade<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n Anyone who says it’s too late to shoot for the moon has likely never met Tobin Bell<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The actor, perhaps best known for his chilling performance as Jigsaw in the Saw<\/em> film franchise, recently turned 83, but if you watch any of his recent work, he’s still in his prime.<\/p>\n Unlike a lot of Hollywood stars, who are cast in their breakout roles in their twenties or thirties, Bell had to wait a few decades longer to earn household recognition. In fact, Bell was in his sixties when he landed the role of a lifetime. But, playing one of the most legendary villains in horror cinema history was never exactly what he had in mind.<\/p>\n \u201cI always thought I was going to be a romantic leading man,\u201d Tobin told the LA Times<\/a><\/em> in 2024. While Bell certainly had the chops\u2014 he studied with Oscar-winner Ellen Burstyn at the Actors Studio in New York City throughout the 1970s\u2014 he never quite made the cut. He landed bit parts and small roles, but it wasn’t enough to be an actor full-time.<\/p>\n \u201cI worked at 53 part-time jobs to keep myself going for more than 20 years in New York,\u201d he said. \u201cI loaded trucks, parked cars at the Hilton garage, bused tables, waited tables, tended bar. I worked as background and a stand-in in 35 films before I ever spoke.\u201d<\/p>\n To date, Bell has over 100 films and shows under his belt, and he is a living, breathing example that the age-old saying, “there are no small parts, only small actors,” is completely true.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve learned more doing crap than I’ve learned doing good stuff,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause you have to try to make it better, more interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n By the early aughts, Bell had been cast as the dark and mysterious father of Patrick Dempsey’s character on Once and Again.<\/em> Amy Lippens, the same casting director that cast the ABC series, was working on assembling the cast for the first Saw<\/em> film, and Bell’s sharp, one-of-a-kind voice immediately came to mind for the role of Jigsaw. At the time, Bell was in his early sixties, but he knew he was about to embark on something big.<\/p>\n “The attractiveness of the film, for me, was: I had never worked with Danny Glover, and I wanted to work with him,” he said in a 2017 interview<\/a>. “I thought that three guys locked in a room was, like\u2026 no one was making films about three guys locked in a room. And it threw to Waiting For Godot<\/em>, for me, on some level.”<\/p>\n From there, the rest is nothing short of film history. Bell has reprised his iconic role in seven subsequent films, sending chills down spines around the world. And, the octogenarian has no intention of slowing down or retiring his iconic character.<\/p>\n “I’m really excited about continuing to develop him,\u201d he told the LA Times<\/em>. \u201cJohn Kramer is not done. There\u2019s more to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n