In Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, set on the last day of school in 1976, Nicky Katt played Clint, the menacing older bully who picks fights at the town’s pool hall. It was a small part in a film that launched a generation of stars, and it made Katt one of the most recognisable character actors of the 1990s. He died at his apartment in Burbank, California, on April 8, 2025. He was 54. The Los Angeles County medical examiner ruled that he died by suicide, and his sister, Elise Ravenscroft, said he had fought depression bravely but quietly.
A working actor
Katt began acting as a child in commercials and television and moved into films in the 1990s. After Dazed and Confused he appeared in Gregg Araki’s The Doom Generation, Kathryn Bigelow’s Strange Days, Joel Schumacher’s A Time to Kill and Batman & Robin, and in 2000 played a stockbroker in Boiler Room. He worked several times with Linklater, including in SubUrbia and Waking Life, and with Steven Soderbergh.
Harry Senate
His best-known television role was Harry Senate, a sarcastic, unconventional geology teacher who takes on the “Dungeon” class of troubled students, in David E. Kelley’s Fox drama Boston Public. He joined in 2000 and left during the third season, when his character had a breakdown and took a leave of absence. His last acting credit was an episode of the drama series Casual in 2018.
His death
Katt’s attorney, John Sloss, confirmed his death. His sister’s statement about the depression he had lived with was reported by the Los Angeles Times and other outlets after the medical examiner’s ruling was released.
Katt never became a leading man, but he worked for some of the best directors of his generation, among them Linklater, Bigelow, Soderbergh and Araki. If you are struggling, in the US you can call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be reached on 116 123.