Man Mauled by Dogs at Ving Rhames' Home

Man Mauled by Dogs at Ving Rhames' Home

Two dogs belonging to actor Ving Rhames apparently mauled a man to death at the star's home Friday, authorities said.

The 40-year-old victim, who has not been identified, had lived on the property and worked as a caretaker at the home for about two years, police said. He was among those responsible for caring for the dogs, said Los Angeles police Officer Sandra Gonzalez. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.

Three bull mastiffs and an English bulldog were seized by animal services, police said.

"Two of those dogs appeared to be responsible for the tragic death," said Officer Jason Lee, adding that several dogs remain at the property.

Police were called at about 7:15 a.m. by someone reporting a dead body at the home in Brentwood. Gonzalez didn't know who made the call.

"The victim had a large number of bites and scratches which appear to be dog bites," Lt. Ray Lombardo said during a press conference.

The victim was found on the front lawn, Gonzalez said.

An autopsy was scheduled for Monday, said Capt. Ed Winter of the coroner's office.

"It's premature to say how he died," Winter said. "We don't know if he was attacked by the dogs and suffered a heart attack."

Rhames, 46, an action star who appeared in the "Mission Impossible" series, was not home at the time of the attack, Gonzalez said. The actor told Time magazine in 2001 that he had "eight Fila Brasileiro mastiffs the national dog of Brazil, also used by U.S. Marines in jungle warfare."

Calls to Rhames' agent, Steve Muller, were not returned.

Dogs Apparently Kill Man at Actor's Home

Two dogs belonging to actor Ving Rhames apparently mauled a man to death at the star's home Friday, authorities said.

The 40-year-old victim, who has not been identified, had lived on the property and worked as a caretaker at the home for about two years, police said. He was among those responsible for caring for the dogs, said Los Angeles police Officer Sandra Gonzalez. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.

Three bull mastiffs and an English bulldog were seized by animal services, police said.

"Two of those dogs appeared to be responsible for the tragic death," said Officer Jason Lee, adding that several dogs remain at the property.

Police were called at about 7:15 a.m. by someone reporting a dead body at the home in Brentwood. Gonzalez didn't know who made the call.

"The victim had a large number of bites and scratches which appear to be dog bites," Lt. Ray Lombardo said during a press conference.

The victim was found on the front lawn, Gonzalez said.

An autopsy was scheduled for Monday, said Capt. Ed Winter of the coroner's office.

"It's premature to say how he died," Winter said. "We don't know if he was attacked by the dogs and suffered a heart attack."

Rhames, 46, an action star who appeared in the "Mission Impossible" series, was not home at the time of the attack, Gonzalez said. The actor told Time magazine in 2001 that he had "eight Fila Brasileiro mastiffs the national dog of Brazil, also used by U.S. Marines in jungle warfare."

Calls to Rhames' agent, Steve Muller, were not returned.

Rhames' Dog Victim Suffered from Heart Attack

HOLLYWOOD - The caretaker attacked by dogs reportedly belonging to Ving Rhames died from a heart attack, police have claimed.

The deceased man, who has yet to be named, was pronounced dead on the scene in front of Rhames' Brentwood, California, home on Friday morning.

The Pulp Fiction star was not at home at the time of the mauling, and is thought to be out of the country shooting a movie.

Authorities have taken away four large dogs--three mastiffs and one bulldog--but cops believe the man is likely to have suffered a cardiac arrest as he was running away from the canines, because none of the wounds from the attack appear to have been life threatening.

TMZ.com claims the 40-year-old man had been working as a live-in caretaker for Rhames for two years and had been caring and feeding the dogs every day.

It is still not known who made the emergency call to police as nobody was on the property when authorities arrived at the scene.

Man Killed by Dogs at Actor Ving Rhames' L.A. Home

LOS ANGELES - Dogs apparently belonging to Mission: Impossible star Ving Rhames attacked and killed a caretaker at the actor's Los Angeles home on Friday, police said.

The caretaker, whose name was not immediately released, was found dead on lawn of Rhames' home in the exclusive Brentwood neighborhood, Los Angeles police spokeswoman Sandra Gonzalez said.

"This morning at 7:15 a.m. We got a call of a dead body," Gonzalez said. "We found the body of a male, approximately 40 years old, on the front lawn, who had been mauled by dogs."

Gonzalez said there was no one else around when officers arrived and that four dogs, identified as mastiffs, were taken into custody by animal control officers.

Ving Rhames

This physically imposing African-American character player, often with a shaved head and earring, has embodied complex and credible heavies and flawed men of authority on stage and screen. A native of NYC's Harlem, Rhames was educated at the High School of the Performing Arts and Juilliard before acting on and off-Broadway. He segued to TV with stints on the daytime soaps "The Guiding Light" and "Another World". Rhames first gained notice playing a young incarnation of writer James Baldwin's father in the autobiographical "Go Tell It On the Mountain" (PBS, 1984), delivering a vigorous performance as a young Baptist preacher attempting to escape the strictures of the 1920s South....

Full Biography

This physically imposing African-American character player, often with a shaved head and earring, has embodied complex and credible heavies and flawed men of authority on stage and screen. A native of NYC's Harlem, Rhames was educated at the High School of the Performing Arts and Juilliard before acting on and off-Broadway. He segued to TV with stints on the daytime soaps "The Guiding Light" and "Another World". Rhames first gained notice playing a young incarnation of writer James Baldwin's father in the autobiographical "Go Tell It On the Mountain" (PBS, 1984), delivering a vigorous performance as a young Baptist preacher attempting to escape the strictures of the 1920s South. Rhames was even more intense in Paul Schrader's "Patty Hearst" (1988) as the terrifying yet charismatic "Field Marshall" Cinque, leader of the self-styled revolutionary Symbionese Liberation Army and chief kidnapper and tormentor of the young heiress.
Rhames often turned up as a Vietnam combatant: on Broadway in "The Boys of Winter" (1985), as part of an ensemble boasting Matt Dillon and Wesley Snipes; in a TV guest spot on the CBS war drama, "Tour of Duty"; in Brian De Palma's "Casualties of War" (1989); and in "Jacob's Ladder" (1990). Back on the home front, he was a hardworking, supportive, and loving husband to Whoopi Goldberg in the civil rights era drama, "The Long Walk Home" (1990). More typically, Rhames was a street kingpin who exploits fellow homeless men in a shelter in "The Saint of Fort Washington" (1993). He revealed a flair for comedy as an uptight Secret Service man in "Dave" (1993), and brought a distinctive blend of suaveness and menace to his portrayal of crime boss Marsellus Wallace in "Pulp Fiction" (1994). The surprising box-office success of the latter would be a career turning point though the effects were not immediately apparent.

Rhames turned up in a major supporting role of Garvey, a militant de-programmer of "buppies", in the poorly received (and barely released) satire, "DROP Squad" (1994). He also lent his formidable presence to the rogues' gallery in the remake of "Kiss of Death" (1995). Rhames' most high-profile roles, up to that date, came in two major 1996 summer movies: Brian De Palma's "Mission: Impossible", as Tom Cruise's computer expert sidekick, and "Striptease" as Demi Moore's protector. He had his first starring role in "Dangerous Ground" (1997), an adventure set in South Africa with rapper-actor Ice Cube. Rhames has also worked regularly in TV since the mid-80s, most notably in the title role of HBO's acclaimed "Don King: Only in America" (1997).

Rhames continued to work steadily in a wide range of memorable roles throughout the next several years. He supported George Clooney as his partner in crime in 1998's "Out of Sight"(which also starred a pre-pop diva Jennifer Lopez); he was Sean Connery's backup in 1999's "Entrapment" and returned to his sidekick role in 2000's "Mission Impossible II." In 2001, Rhames was cast as a recurring character in the police drama "UC: Undercover" and also played an ambiguous father figure to Tyrese in John Singleton's "Baby Boy." After making his presence known in the television projects "Sins of the Father" and "Little John" (both in 2002), The actor returned to the big screen taking on the role of a heavyweight champion who challenges the former prison boxing champion (played by Wesley Snipes) in "The Undisputed" (2002). He went from prisoner to policeman the following year, as he portrayed the Assistant LAPD Chief dealing with the mean streets of South Central in "Dark Blue," which also co-starred Kurt Russell and Scott Speedman as less-than-honest policemen.

In “Dawn of the Dead” (2004), a re-envisioning of George Romero’s horror classic from 1978, Rhames played a police officer in a post-apocalyptic world who leads a group of ragtag survivors in a battle against rampaging zombies. Rhames relished the role of hero and being able to run around with a pump shotgun. He next starred in “Animal” (2005), a straight-to-video drama depicting Rhames as sociopathic gangsta released from prison and determined to live the straight life after reading Malcolm X. He returns home where friends and family are wary of his strange behavior, as he tries to convince his son (Terrence Howard) not to follow in his footsteps. Rhames then made the leap to series television, starring in the contemporary remake of the 1970s classic cop show, “Kojak” (USA Network, 2004-2005). Originally planned as a series of TV movies, USA Network aired a two-hour pilot and ordered an additional nine episodes. Mediocre ratings for the first airing, however, forced the cable channel to put the project on hold. Meanwhile, Rhames joined co-star Tom Cruise for “Mission: Impossible 3” (2006), the third installment to the franchise directed this time by “Lost” creator J.J. Abrams.