Actor James Handy was killed in a stabbing at a Tarzana home on Wednesday morning, and Los Angeles police on Thursday identified the 81-year-old as the victim and said a 44-year-old man who lived there had been booked on suspicion of murder. Authorities said Michael Gledhill, who lives at the Erwin Street home with his mother, flagged down officers and told them he was the person they were looking for.
Police said West Valley area patrol officers responded around 9:30 a.m. after a 911 caller said, “I am the son of man. I just killed the man of sin.” Officers found Handy in the front yard, unconscious and suffering from a stab wound to the chest. Paramedics took him to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The killing puts a familiar face from film and television at the center of a violent scene inside a private home. Handy had more than 150 acting credits and worked across stage, television and film since the 1970s, with roles in The Verdict, Logan, Jumanji, Top Gun: Maverick and Arachnophobia. In 2022, he played a bartender alongside Jennifer Connelly in Top Gun: Maverick, a small part in a franchise that still draws attention years later.
That film credit is part of why Handy’s death is landing so hard now, but it is not the only reason. He was also a Vietnam veteran, and close friends said he had been with his girlfriend for more than a decade. Friends of the couple said Gledhill appeared to have developed later-onset schizophrenia sometime last year and had moved into a renovated garage living space on the property, while investigators said they believed the killing was an isolated incident.
That leaves the central question unanswered: what drove Gledhill to attack Handy. Police said Gledhill was booked on suspicion of murder and that his bail was set at $2 million, while the investigation continues. For Handy’s family and friends, the identification on Thursday turned a shocking morning call in Tarzana into a case that is still missing its motive.
