The Thing
Incredibly, David made his big-screen debut (just a few years after graduating from Juilliard’s prestigious acting program) in this horror sci-fi classic from genre legend John Carpenter. Though he’s part of the Kurt Russell-led ensemble, his Childs stands out, partially because he’s one of two survivors at the film’s end, but also because he brings extreme heft to some of The Thing’s most memorable lines. Nobody else could deliver “I just cannot believe any of this voodoo bullshit” with such solemn, yet panic-inflected flair.
