A man who portrayed one of the most iconic villains in horror movie history, and also a familiar face in Downeast Maine has died.

Gunnar Hansen, who portrayed the maniacal Leatherface in the original 1974 horror classic Texas Chainsaw Massacre passed away at his Northeast Harbor home Saturday. The actor and author had been suffering with pancreatic cancer. He was 68.

Hansen, who was born in Iceland, first moved to Maine when he was five. At the age of eleven his family moved to the Austin, Texas area. While attending school in Austin, Hansen auditioned for Texas Chainsaw Massacre. He gave up acting after the movie and became a writer, years later he would begin acting again, and appear in more than 20 films.

Hansen eventually moved back to Maine where he had spent the past 40 years. In 2013, Hansen wrote "Chainsaw Confidential," a behind-the-scenes look at the classic horror flick.

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