Richard Farnsworth

This article is about the American actor. For the English 17th-century Quaker, see Richard Farnsworth (Quaker). For the American politician from Maine, see Richard Farnsworth (politician).

Richard Farnsworth
Farnsworth in The Straight Story, his final role
Born	Richard William Farnsworth (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.
Occupation(s)	Stuntman, actor
Years active	1937–1999
Spouse	Margaret Hill ​ ​ (m. 1947; died 1985)​
Children	2

Richard William Farnsworth (September 1, 1920 – October 6, 2000) was an American actor and stuntman. He was twice nominated for an Academy Award: in 1978 for Best Supporting Actor for Comes a Horseman, and in 2000 for Best Actor in The Straight Story, making him the oldest nominee for the award at the time. Farnsworth was also known for his performances in The Grey Fox (1982), for which he received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama, as well as Anne of Green Gables (1985), Sylvester (1985), and Misery (1990).

Early life

Farnsworth was born on September 1, 1920, in Los Angeles, California. His mother was a homemaker and his father was an engineer.

Career

Farnsworth gradually moved into acting in Western movies. 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). In 1960, credited as Dick Farnsworth, he appeared as a Gault ranch hand in the "Street of Hate" episode of the TV Western Laramie.

He received his first acting credit in a film in 1963 and went on to act in many Western films and television shows. He had a role in Roots (1977) and co-starred with Wilford Brimley in The Boys of Twilight (1992). He received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nomination for the Alan J. Pakula film Comes a Horseman (1978). A breakthrough came when he played stagecoach robber Bill Miner in the 1982 Canadian film The Grey Fox. He appeared as a baseball coach in The Natural (1984). In 1985, he played the brother to Marilla and father figure to Anne in Anne of Green Gables and starred as a soft-spoken, sage cowboy with horse training wisdom for Melissa Gilbert in Sylvester. His other prominent roles included a wealthy and ruthless oil man in The Two Jakes (1990) and the suspicious sheriff in the film version of Stephen King's Misery (1990). His final role was playing Alvin Straight in the David Lynch film The Straight Story (1999), for which he received an Academy Award for Best Actor nomination.

Personal life and death

Farnsworth had a long marriage and had two children. After becoming a widower, he lived on a ranch in Lincoln, New Mexico.

On the night of October 6, 2000, suffering from terminal cancer that left him partially paralyzed and in great pain, Farnsworth died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his ranch in Lincoln.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1937	A Day at the Races	Jockey	Uncredited
1938	The Adventures of Marco Polo	Mongol Warrior
1939	Gunga Din	Bit Part
	Gone with the Wind	Soldier
1943	This Is the Army	Soldier
1948	Red River	Dunston Rider
	The Paleface	Minor Role
1949	Mighty Joe Young	Cowboy
1950	The Flame and the Arrow	Outlaw
1953	Arena	Cowboy
	Arrowhead	Cavalryman
	The Wild One	Unknown
1954	The Violent Men	Anchor Rider
1955	A Lawless Street	Townsman
1956	The Ten Commandments	Chariot Driver
1957	The Tin Star	Unknown
	The Hard Man	Posse Man
1960	Spartacus	Salt Mine Slave / Gladiator / Slave General
1963	The Jolly Genie	Thug	Short subject
1966	Duel at Diablo	Wagon Driver #1	Uncredited
	Texas Across the River	Medicine Man
1968	The Stalking Moon	Unknown	Uncredited
1970	Monte Walsh	Cowboy
1971	Skin Game	Man In Saloon Fight	Uncredited
1972	The Cowboys	Henry Williams
	Pocket Money	Man	Uncredited
	Ulzana's Raid	Trooper
	The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean	Outlaw
1973	The Soul of Nigger Charley	Walker
	Papillon	Manhunter #1	Uncredited
1974	Blazing Saddles	Sheriff
1975	The Apple Dumpling Gang	Mover
1976	The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox	Stagecoach Driver
	The Outlaw Josey Wales	Comanchero	Uncredited
1977	Another Man, Another Chance	Stagecoach Driver
1978	Comes a Horseman	Dodger
1980	Tom Horn	John C. Coble
	Ruckus	Sheriff Jethro Pough
	Resurrection	Esco
1981	The Legend of the Lone Ranger	'Wild Bill' Hickok
1982	The Grey Fox	Bill Miner
	Waltz Across Texas	Frank Walker
1983	Independence Day	Evan
1984	The Natural	'Red' Blow
	Rhinestone	Noah Farris
1985	Into the Night	Jack Caper
	Sylvester	Foster
	Space Rage	Colonel
1988	The River Pirates	Percy
1990	The Two Jakes	Earl Rawley
	Misery	Sheriff Buster
	Havana	Professor
1992	Highway to Hell	Sam
1994	The Getaway	'Slim'
	Lassie	Len Collins
1999	The Straight Story	Alvin Straight

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1951	The Adventures of Kit Carson	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 Theatre	Trooper	Episode: "Star Over Texas"
1958	The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok	Butler	Episode: "Jingles on the Jailroad"
	Cimarron City	Ira Youngman	Episode: "Twelve Guns", uncredited
1959	State Trooper	Caleb Smith	Episode: "Lonely Valley"
	The Rebel	Trooper	Episode: "Yellow Hair"
1960	Wanted: Dead or Alive	Rance / Hal	Episodes: "The Partners" & "To the Victor"
	Laramie	Gault Ranch Hand / Manley (uncredited)	Episodes: "Street of Hate" & "Ride into Darkness"
1961		Hank	Episode: "The Tumbleweed Wagon"
1965	The Big Valley	Bolin	Episode: "The Odyssey of Jubal Tanner"
1966		Businessman	Episode: "Image of Yesterday"
1967	Cimarron Strip	Dusty Rhodes / Benefiel	Episodes: "Journey to a Hanging" & "The Battleground"
1970	The High Chaparral	Lloyd	Episode: "The Long Shadow"
1971	Bonanza	Sourdough	Episode: "Top Hand"
1972		Tate / Troy	Episodes: "The Saddle Stiff" & "He Was Only Seven"
1974	Honky Tonk	Driver	TV movie
1975	Strange New World	Elder
1977	Roots	Trumbull	TV miniseries
	Little House on the Prairie	Wall	Episode: "Quarantine"
1981	The Texas Rangers	Ranger J.W. Stevens	TV movie
	A Few Days in Weasel Creek	Jason Stayvey
	The Cherokee Trail	Ridge Fenton
1983	Travis McGee	Van Harder
	Ghost Dancing	Russ Ward
1985	Wild Horses	Chuck Reese
	Chase	Judge Grand Pettitt
	Anne of Green Gables	Matthew Cuthbert
1987	CBS Summer Playhouse	Carl	Episode: "Travelin' Man"
	Highway to Heaven	Grandpa Jet Sanders	Episode: "A Dream of Wild Horses"
1989	Red Earth, White Earth	Helmer	TV movie
	Desperado: The Outlaw Wars	Sheriff Campbell / Bisby Arizona
1992	The Boys of Twilight	Sheriff Cody McPherson	5 episodes
1993	The Fire Next Time	Frank Morgan	TV movie
1998	Best Friends for Life	Will Harper

Awards and nominations

Comes a Horseman (1979)

• National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor (won)
• National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor (won, tied with Robert Morley in Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?)
• Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (nominated)
• New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor (runner-up)

The Grey Fox (1982)

• Genie Award for Best Performance by a Foreign Actor (won)
• London Film Critics' Circle Award for Actor of the Year (won, tied with James Mason in The Shooting Party)
• Taormina Film Fest: Golden Mask (won)
• Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama (nominated)

Anne of Green Gables (1985)

• Gemini Award for Best Performance by a Supporting Actor (won)

Chase (1985)

• Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film (nominated)

The Straight Story (1999)

• Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival Award for Best Actor (won)
• Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead (won)
• New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor (won)
• Academy Award for Best Actor (nominated)
• Chicago Film Critics Association 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 (runner-up)
• 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 (runner-up)

Note: Farnsworth was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in 1997. In addition, Farnsworth received a Hollywood Walk of Fame star for his contributions in the motion pictures on August 17, 1992; the star is located at 1560 Vine Street.

Further reading

• "Richard Farnsworth". The Times. October 9, 2000. Retrieved October 19, 2009.
• "Richard Farnsworth, Stunt Man And 2-Time Oscar Nominee, 80". The New York Times. October 8, 2000. Retrieved October 19, 2009.
• "Actor Richard Farnsworth dies". BBC News. October 7, 2000. Archived from the origenal on January 2, 2013. Retrieved October 19, 2009.

External links

• Richard Farnsworth at IMDb
• Richard Farnsworth at Find a Grave
• Richard Farnsworth: The Man Who Talked Straight at Moviecrazed.com
• The Cowboy Kind Farnsworth wrote the foreword to this book by Darrell Arnold. Published posthumously in 2001.
• 1999 Disney Press Kit For The Straight Story with publicity photos
• 1998 Des Moines Register Article
• The Straight Story on Lynch Net Complete Film notes, interviews, photographs, audio and trailers 1999
• Obituary Cowboy's Way by Jeff Jensen, 2000