Taking Chances like Gunnar Hansen

When a tall man entered the small airplane at the Bangor Airport, people got out of his way, curling out of the aisle, further into their seats. He was so big, so full of presence. He took up space.

When the flight attendant said that the plane was over its weight capacities, that same man stood up and volunteered to disembark.

“That’s so kind,” someone murmured.

“Do you know who that is?” someone else asked.

“Yeah, the nice guy who just gave up his seat so the rest of us can fly.”

And in that one second, that’s who Gunnar Milton Hansen was.

Born in Iceland, Gunnar Milton Hansen was most well known for being the terrifying Leatherface in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. When he portrayed the killer, he was 6'4 and 300 pounds. He was someone who terrified millions. But in real life? Hansen’s face was kind and his huge presence: funny, often self-effacing, and sweet.

How did a Hollywood actor end up in Maine? He already spent time there. He was born in Reykjavík to a dentist (Skuli). His mother Sigrid was from Norway, and she moved with him the United States when he was five. They lived an unspecified coastal town in the state until he was eleven and then they moved to Austin.