R.I.P. Wilford Brimley

WILFORD BRIMLEY actor, cowboy, blacksmith, and warrior in the fight against the deadly DIABEEDUS passed away on Saturday.

He was 85 years old.

His agent says he had been in the hospital with various issues. He was also on dialysis.

Brimley really was a rancher, a rodeo rider, and a blacksmith. He was also a bodyguard for eccentric millionaire HOWARD HUGHES.

In the ’60s, he started working as an extra on TV Westerns like “Gunsmoke” and “Bonanza”. He once said, quote, “We used to saddle up, and they’d give us a breechcloth and Indian wig, rub some body makeup all over us, and we’d be Indians fleeing over the hills from the soldiers.

“Then we’d change into soldier uniforms and go back and chase ourselves over the same roads.”

He went on to a pretty legendary career, with memorable parts in classic movies like “Cocoon”, “The Firm”, “Absence of Malice”, “The Natural”, the 1982 remake of “The Thing”, and “The China Syndrome”.

Here’s one of my personal favorite scenes of him — being a really bad guy from “The Firm”

On TV, he had a recurring role as Horace Brimley on “The Waltons”. He also starred on the NBC drama “Our House” from 1986 to 1988.

But he became just as well known for his DIABEEDUS thanks to a series of commercials he did for Liberty Medical.

He also did several commercials for Quaker Oats.

Wilford is survived by his second wife Beverly and three sons. (He was married to his first wife Lynne for 44 years until her death in 2000. He married Beverly in 2007.)

 

(Source: Hollywood Reporter)