The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Character You Likely Forgot Viggo Mortensen Played

Most people probably know Viggo Mortensen primarily for playing the hero Aragorn in Peter Jackson's "The Lord of The Rings" trilogy. However, that's only scratching the surface of the Danish-American actor's career. From working with David Cronenberg on "A History of Violence" and "Eastern Promises," to playing the famed psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud in "A Dangerous Method," Mortensen is much more than an epic fantasy actor.

Regardless of the genre, Mortensen bears a solid reputation as an artistic talent who isn't afraid to take risks. Aside from acting, Mortensen has also dabbled in music, photography, and poetry (via Encyclopedia Britannica). He definitely isn't someone who you would expect to show up in a third-rate slasher flick from the 1990s. However, Mortensen did just that ... albeit long before he gained international renown for playing Aragorn. As a result, you likely forgot that Mortensen played a character in the third entry in the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" franchise, and here's who he was.

It's funny to think that 11 full years before Viggo Mortensen appeared in "The Lord of the Rings," he portrayed a hick cannibal in one of the least successful horror films of its time. 

The future Aragorn played the role of Edward "Tex" Sawyer — a member of the illustrious and cannibalistic Sawyer clan — in "Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III." Along with the eponymous Leatherface (R.A. Mihailoff) and the rest of the Sawyer clan, Tex conspired to catch, kill, and eat the film's wayward protagonists. He, of course, somewhat succeeds in these endeavors, but is unfortunately (for him) not one of the Sawyer clan-members to make it to the end of the film. Instead, he is killed during its final act by Benny (Ken Foree), who lights Tex on fire.

As funny as it may be to see Aragorn put on a bad Texan accent and get lit up like the Griswolds' Christmas tree in "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation," the third "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" movie just couldn't cut it in theaters. Today, the film holds less than a 20% on Rotten Tomatoes, and it was considered by most as a complete financial failure: In its opening weekend, the film made roughly $2.7 million, and grossed less than $6 million overall, seeing a drop of 58% revenue between its first and second weeks (via Box Office Mojo). The end result of that, unfortunately, is that Viggo Mortensen's time as a cannibal serial killer gets woefully forgotten by most moviegoers, even though it was certainly memorable.