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Variety October 16, 2000 |
OBITUARIES. RICHARD FARNSWORTH Longtime character actor and stuntman Richard Farnsworth, who received best actor Oscar and Golden Globes nominations this year for his role in director David Lynch's "The Straight Stow," shot himself to death at his home near Lincoln, N.M., on Oct. 6. Farnsworth, who had been diagnosed with terminal bone cancer, was 80. At 79, Farnsworth was the oldest best actor nominee in Academy history. He won the nom for his portrayal of Alvin Straight, an elderly man who drove his lawnmower from Iowa to Wisconsin to see his dying brother. The role also earned him the New York Film Critics award for best actor and the Independent Spirit Award for best male lead. Police said Farnsworth was found dead at the residence he shared with his fiancee, Jewel Van Valin. "This was an obvious self-inflicted gunshot," Sheriff Tom Sullivan said. Farnsworth spent four decades as a stuntman, doubling for Roy Rogers much of the time. His weathered face and crystal blue eyes earned him roles in some of Hollywood's most popular movies, but Farnsworth did not land his first significant speaking role until his mid-50s: as the stagecoach driver in "The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox" (1976), starring Goldie Hawn and George Segal. Farnsworth, who enjoyed a six-decade career in film, essayed roles in "Tom Horn" (1980), "The Natural" (1984), "Havana" (1990), "Misery" (1990) and "The Getaway" (1994). He received an Academy Award nomination for supporting actor for his role in 1978's "Comes a Horseman" and won a Canadian Genie Award as best foreign actor for the 1982 film "The Grey Fox." Recently, Farnsworth received a special award from the National Cowboy Symposium in Lubbock, Texas. The actor attended the 1999 Telluride Film Fest in support of "The Straight Story." Though using a cane, he tolerated the 9,000-foot altitude better than many of his younger colleagues. Farnsworth, who was born in Los Angeles, learned to ride a horse at the age of 10 and dropped out of high school at 15, taking a job as a stable boy at a polo barn. In 1937, two Paramount employees ventured into the stable looking for ponies and told Farnsworth the studio was looking for someone who could ride horses. He took the job. His feature debut came in 1938 as a stunt rider costumed as one of the Mongolian hordes in "The Adventures of Marco Polo." During the next 30 years, he doubled for Roy Rogers and other Western stars; appeared in the John Wayne classic "Red River" in 1948; drove a chariot in "The Ten Commandments"; and did an 11-month gig as Kirk Douglas' double in "Spartacus." A cowboy off-screen as well as on, Farnsworth remained active in rodeo competition until 1946. In 1961, Farnsworth co-founded the Stuntman's Assn., which lobbied for better working conditions. He had been a stuntman and stunt coordinator on more than 300 films and television programs by the time he retired from stuntwork in 1977. At that point, he said, "the ground started getting really hard." By the 1960s he had graduated to character roles and a decade later was acting on a regular basis. Farnsworth's wife of 38 years, Maggie, died in 1985. He is survived by daughter Missy and son Richard "Diamond" Farnsworth, who followed in his footsteps as a stuntman. Doug Galloway and Bill Higgins |