Richard Farnsworth

This article is about the American actor. For the English 17th-century Quaker, see Richard Farnsworth (Society of Friends). This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2013) Richard Farnsworth , Richard Farnsworth in The Straight Story Born (1920-09-01)September 1, 1920, Los Angeles, California, U.S. Died October 6, 2000(2000-10-06) (aged 80), Lincoln, New Mexico, U.S. Cause of death Suicide Residence Lincoln, New Mexico Occupation Actor Years active 1937-99 Known for The Grey Fox, The Straight Story, Misery Home town Los Angeles Spouse(s) Margaret Hill (1947-85) (her death) 2 children Children Diamond Farnsworth (b. 1949), Missy Farnsworth Richard W. Farnsworth (September 1, 1920 - October 6, 2000) was an American actor and stuntman. His film career began in 1937; however, he achieved his greatest success for his performances in The Grey Fox (1982) and The Straight Story (1999), for which he received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actor. Early life: Farnsworth was born in Los Angeles, California, to a housewife mother and an engineer father. He was raised during the Great Depression. He lived with his aunt, mother, and two sisters in downtown Los Angeles after his father died when he was seven years old. Career: He was working as a stable hand at a polo field in Los Angeles for six dollars a week when he was offered a chance to make seven dollars a day plus a box lunch as a stuntman. In 1937, when he was sixteen, he started by riding horses in films such as The Adventures of Marco Polo with Gary Cooper. He performed several horse-riding stunts in such films as the Marx Brothers' A Day at the Races (1937) and Gunga Din (1939). What differentiated Farnsworth from other western actors was his gradual transition into acting from stunt work. He made uncredited appearances in numerous films, including Gone with the Wind (1939), Red River (1948), The Wild One (1953), and The Ten Commandments (1956). He was on the set of Spartacus (1960) for eleven months. He laughed when he said he did not look like a gladiator but drove a chariot. However, it was not until 1963 that he finally received his first acting credit. Farnsworth's acting career was largely in western films, although he did appear in the 1977 television miniseries Roots and the short-lived but critically acclaimed 1992 summer replacement The Boys of Twilight. He also appeared in television commercials. Farnsworth became well known in the Pacific Northwest for portraying the groundskeeper who saw the mythical "Artesians" in the 1980s Olympia Beer ad campaign. In 1979, Farnsworth was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Comes a Horseman. However, his breakthrough came when he played stagecoach robber Bill Miner in the 1982 Canadian film The Grey Fox, for which he won a Genie Award. In 1985, he appeared in the Canadian miniseries Anne of Green Gables, winning a Gemini Award for his performance as Matthew Cuthbert. Another of his prominent roles was as a suspicious sheriff in the film version of Stephen King's Misery (1990). He also appeared in The Natural in 1984. In 1999, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for The Straight Story. When David Lynch asked to see if he wanted to be in the simple but emotional movie The Straight Story, Farnsworth had no idea who he was. Farnsworth did not like violence or swearing, and so his agent was very careful to tell him that Lynch was the director who had made The Elephant Man. Fortunately, he liked this movie. When Farnsworth and Lynch met, he reiterated his dislikes. Lynch reassured him that there would be none of that in the movie. The role, a rarity for a man his age, showed Hollywood that "there's a lot of talent out there." Farnsworth has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1560 Vine Street. In 1997, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Personal life and death: Farnsworth was married to Margaret "Maggie" Hill for 38 years. She was the mother of his two children, Diamond and Missy. She died in 1985. Toward the end of his life, he met Jewly Van Valin on the bridle trail, a stewardess 35 years his junior. Farnsworth and Van Valin started riding together and were engaged. He was well liked and busy in his community of Lincoln, New Mexico, where he had a 60-acre (240,000 m) ranch and moved after his wife's death. Farnsworth was the spokesman for the Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium, an annual event in Ruidoso, New Mexico. He made a video with cowboy poet Waddie Mitchell called Buckaroo Bard. He also helped with the 'Last Great Cattle Drive of This Millennium' in 1999. Shortly before his death, he was presented with an award from the Governor of New Mexico for Excellence and Achievement in the Arts. Farnsworth was diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer in the early 1990s. By 1999, he had been diagnosed as having terminal bone cancer. He made the movie The Straight Story while in considerable pain. Not wanting to live his life in pain, Farnsworth committed suicide by shooting himself at his ranch in Lincoln, New Mexico. He is interred with his wife Margaret in the Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. Filmography: Film Year Title Role Notes 1937 Day at the Races, AA Day at the Races Jockey (uncredited) 1938 Adventures of Marco Polo, TheThe Adventures of Marco Polo Mongol Warrior (uncredited) 1939 Gunga Din Bit Part (uncredited) 1939 Gone with the Wind Soldier (uncredited) 1943 This Is the Army Soldier (uncredited) 1948 Red River Dunston Rider (uncredited) 1948 Paleface, TheThe Paleface Minor Role (uncredited) 1949 Mighty Joe Young Cowboy (uncredited) 1953 Arena Cowboy (uncredited) 1953 Arrowhead Cavalryman (uncredited) 1953 Wild One, TheThe Wild One (uncredited) 1955 Violent Men, TheThe Violent Men Anchor Rider (uncredited) 1956 Ten Commandments, TheThe Ten Commandments Chariot Driver (uncredited) 1957 Tin Star, TheThe Tin Star (uncredited) 1957 Hard Man, TheThe Hard Man Posse Man (uncredited) 1960 Spartacus Salt Mine Slave / Gladiator / Slave General (uncredited) 1963 Jolly Genie, TheThe Jolly Genie Thug Short film 1966 Duel at Diablo Wagon Driver #1 (uncredited) 1966 Texas Across the River Medicine Man 1968 Stalking Moon, TheThe Stalking Moon (uncredited) 1970 Monte Walsh Cowboy 1972 Cowboys, TheThe Cowboys Henry Williams 1972 Pocket Money Man (uncredited) 1972 Ulzana's Raid Trooper 1972 Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, TheThe Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean Outlaw 1973 Soul of Nigger Charley, TheThe Soul of Nigger Charley Walker 1973 Papillon Manhunter (uncredited) 1974 Blazing Saddles Sheriff (uncredited) 1975 Apple Dumpling Gang, TheThe Apple Dumpling Gang Mover (uncredited) 1976 Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox, TheThe Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox Stagecoach Driver 1976 Outlaw Josey Wales, TheThe Outlaw Josey Wales Comanchero (uncredited) 1977 Another Man, Another Chance Stagecoach Driver 1977 Roots Slave Catcher 1978 Comes a Horseman Dodger National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor, National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor (tied with Robert Morley in Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?), Nominated - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Nominated - New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor (2nd place) 1980 Tom Horn John C. Coble 1980 Ruckus Sheriff Jethro Pough 1980 Resurrection Esco 1981 Legend of the Lone Ranger, TheThe Legend of the Lone Ranger Wild Bill Hickok 1982 Grey Fox, TheThe Grey Fox Miner Genie Award for Best Performance by a Foreign Actor, London Film Critics Circle Award for Actor of the Year (tied with James Mason in The Shooting Party), Taormina Film Fest: Golden Mask, Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama 1982 Waltz Across Texas Frank Walker 1983 Independence Day Evan 1984 Natural, TheThe Natural Red Blow 1984 Rhinestone Noah 1985 Into the Night Jack Caper 1985 Sylvester Foster 1985 Space Rage Colonel 1988 River Pirates, TheThe River Pirates Percy 1990 Two Jakes, TheThe Two Jakes Earl Rawley 1990 Misery Buster 1990 Havana Professor 1991 Highway to Hell Sam 1994 Getaway, TheThe Getaway Slim 1994 Lassie Len Collins 1999 Straight Story, TheThe Straight Story Alvin Straight Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival: Best Actor, Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead, New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor, Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actor, Nominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor, Nominated - Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor, Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, Nominated - Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor, Nominated - Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor (2nd place), Nominated - Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor, Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, Nominated - Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor (2nd place) Television Year Title Role Notes 1951 Adventures of Kit Carson, TheThe Adventures of Kit Carson Henchman (uncredited) Episode: "Fury at Red Gulch", Episode: "The Desperate Sheriff" 1954 Adventures of Kit Carson, TheThe Adventures of Kit Carson Army Wagon Driver Episode: "The Gatling Gun" 1955 Soldiers of Fortune Gaucho (uncredited) Episode: "The General" 1956 Zane Grey Theater Trooper Episode: "Star Over Texas" 1958 Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok Butler Episode: "Jingles on the Jailroad" 1958 Cimarron City Ira Youngman (uncredited) Episode: "Twelve Guns" 1959 State Trooper Caleb Smith Episode: "Lonely Valley" 1959 Rebel, TheThe Rebel Trooper Episode: "Yellow Hair" 1960 Wanted: Dead or Alive Rance, Hal Episode: "The Partners", Episode: "To the Victor" 1960 Laramie Gault Ranch Hand, Manley (uncredited) Episode: "Street of Hate", Episode: "Ride into Darkness" 1961 Laramie Hank Episode: "The Tumbleweed Wagon" 1965 Big Valley, TheThe Big Valley Bolin Episode: "The Odyssey of Jubal Tanner" 1966 Big Valley, TheThe Big Valley Businessman Episode: "Image of Yesterday" 1967 Cimarron Strip Dusty Rhodes, Benefiel Episode: "Journey to a Hanging", Episode: "The Battleground" 1970 High Chaparral, TheThe High Chaparral Lloyd Episode: "The Long Shadow" 1971 Bonanza Sourdough Episode: "Top Hand" 1972 Bonanza Tate, Troy Episode: "The Saddle Stiff", Episode: "He Was Only Seven" 1974 Honky Tonk Driver TV movie 1975 Strange New World Elder TV movie 1977 Roots Slave Catcher TV miniseries 1977 Little House on the Prairie Wall Episode: "Quarantine" 1981 Texas Rangers, TheThe Texas Rangers Ranger J.W. Stevens TV movie 1981 Few Days in Weasel Creek, AA Few Days in Weasel Creek Jason Stayvey TV movie 1981 Cherokee Trail, TheThe Cherokee Trail Ridge Fenton TV movie 1983 Travis McGee Van Harder TV movie 1983 Ghost Dancing Russ Ward TV movie 1985 Wild Horses Chuck Reese TV movie 1985 Chase Judge Grand Pettitt TV movie, Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or Television Film 1985 Anne of Green Gables Matthew Cuthbert TV movie, Gemini Award for Best Performance by a Supporting Actor 1987 CBS Summer Playhouse Carl Episode: "Travelin' Man" 1987 Highway to Heaven Grandpa Jet Sanders Episode: "A Dream of Wild Horses" 1989 Red Earth, White Earth Helmer TV movie 1989 Desperado: The Outlaw Wars Sheriff Campbell, Bisby Arizona TV movie 1992 Boys of Twilight, TheThe Boys of Twilight Cody McPherson TV series 1993 Fire Next Time, TheThe Fire Next Time Frank Morgan TV movie 1998 Best Friends for Life Will Harper TV movie

Source: Wikipedia

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