Richard Farnsworth

Richard W. Farnsworth (September 1, 1920 – October 6, 2000) was an American actor and stuntman. He is best known for his performances in The Grey Fox (1982), for which he received a Golden Globe Award nomination, and The Straight Story (1999), for which he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. His sudden death followed a long struggle with prostate cancer.

Personal life

Farnsworth was born on September 1, 1920 in Los Angeles, California, to a housewife mother and an engineer father.^[1] He was raised during the Great Depression. When he was seven, Farnsworth's father died. He then lived with his aunt, mother, and two sisters in Downtown Los Angeles.

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

On October 6, 2000, after a long battle with metastatic prostate cancer, Farnsworth committed suicide by shooting himself at his ranch.^[2] He is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles in the Columbarium of Purity (N-63294) beside his wife, Margaret née Hill (1919–1985).^[3][4]

Career

Stuntwork

In 1937, age 16, Farnsworth was working as a stable hand at a polo field in Los Angeles for six dollars a week when he was offered employment with better pay as a stuntman. He rode horses in films such as The Adventures of Marco Polo featuring Gary Cooper and performed horse-riding stunts in films including A Day at the Races (1937) and Gunga Din (1939). Farnsworth was employed on the set of Spartacus (1960) for eleven months where he drove a chariot.

Acting

From stunt work, 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).

Farnsworth received his first acting credit in 1963 and went on to act in western films and also television shows. He had a role in Roots (1977). In 1992, he co-starred with Wilford Brimley in The Boys of Twilight. His 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). Another prominent role was the suspicious sheriff in the film version of Stephen King's Misery (1990).

Farnsworth became well known in the Pacific Northwest as the groundskeeper who saw the mythical "Artesians" in the 1980s Olympia Beer advertising campaign.

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)

• Genie Award for Best Performance by a Supporting Actor (nominated)

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 1560 Vine Street on August 17, 1992.^[5][6]

Filmography

Television

See also

• "Richard Farnsworth". The Times. October 9, 2000. Retrieved 2009-10-19. 
• "Richard Farnsworth, Stunt Man And 2-Time Oscar Nominee, 80". The New York Times. October 8, 2000. Retrieved 2009-10-19. 
• "Actor Richard Farnsworth dies". BBC News. October 7, 2000. Retrieved 2009-10-19. 

References

External links

• Richard Farnsworth at the Internet Movie Database
• Richard Farnsworth at AllMovie
• Richard Farnsworth at Find a Grave
• Richard Farnsworth at NNDB
• 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