Richard Farnsworth Biography

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 as a baseball coach in The Natural in 1984.

In 1999, Farnsworth 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 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	'	Jockey (uncredited)
1938	'	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	'	Minor Role (uncredited)
1949	Mighty Joe Young	Cowboy (uncredited)
1953	Arena	Cowboy (uncredited)
1953	Arrowhead	Cavalryman (uncredited)
1953	'	(uncredited)
1955	'	Anchor Rider (uncredited)
1956	'	Chariot Driver (uncredited)
1957	'	(uncredited)
1957	'	Posse Man (uncredited)
1960	Spartacus	Salt Mine Slave / Gladiator / Slave General (uncredited)
1963	'	Thug	Short film
1966	Duel at Diablo	Wagon Driver #1 (uncredited)
1966	Texas Across the River	Medicine Man
1968	'	(uncredited)
1970	Monte Walsh	Cowboy
1972	'	Henry Williams
1972	Pocket Money	Man (uncredited)
1972	Ulzana's Raid	Trooper
1972	'	Outlaw
1973	'	Walker
1973	Papillon	Manhunter (uncredited)
1974	Blazing Saddles	Sheriff (uncredited)
1975	'	Mover (uncredited)
1976	'	Stagecoach Driver
1976	'	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	'	Wild Bill Hickok
1982	'	Bill 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	'	Red Blow
1984	Rhinestone	Noah
1985	Into the Night	Jack Caper
1985	Sylvester	Foster
1985	Space Rage	Colonel
1988	'	Percy
1990	'	Earl Rawley
1990	Misery	Buster
1990	Havana	Professor
1991	Highway to Hell	Sam
1994	'	Slim
1994	Lassie	Len Collins
1999	'	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	'	Henchman (uncredited)	Episode: "Fury at Red Gulch" Episode: "The Desperate Sheriff"
1954	'	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	'	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	'	Bolin	Episode: "The Odyssey of Jubal Tanner"
1966	'	Businessman	Episode: "Image of Yesterday"
1967	Cimarron Strip	Dusty Rhodes Benefiel	Episode: "Journey to a Hanging" Episode: "The Battleground"
1970	'	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	'	Ranger J.W. Stevens	TV movie
1981	'	Jason Stayvey	TV movie
1981	'	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	'	Cody McPherson	TV series
1993	'	Frank Morgan	TV movie
1998	Best Friends for Life	Will Harper	TV movie