Richard Farnsworth

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.
Cause of death	Suicide by gunshot
Resting place	Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) 34°08′42″N 118°19′12″W / 34.145°N 118.320°W / 34.145; -118.320
Occupation	Stuntman, actor
Years active	1937–1999
Spouse(s)	Margaret Hill ​ ​ (m. 1947; died 1985)​
Children	2

Richard William Farnsworth (September 1, 1920 – October 6, 2000) was an American actor and stuntman. He is best known for his performances in Comes a Horseman (1978), for which he received an Academy Award nomination for the Best Supporting Actor, The Grey Fox (1982), for which he received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama, Anne of Green Gables (1985), Misery (1990), and The Straight Story (1999), for which he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Early 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.^{[citation needed]}

Career[]

Stunt work[]

In 1937, age 16, Farnsworth was working as a stable hand at a polo field in Los Angeles for $6 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 11 months in which he drove a chariot.^{[citation needed]}

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). In 1960, Farnsworth (credited as Dick Farnsworth) appeared as a Gault ranch hand in the TV Western Laramie in the episode titled "Street of Hate".

Farnsworth received his first acting credit in 1963 and went on to act in Western films and 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). In 1985, he was the brother to Marilla and father figure to Anne in Anne of Green Gables. Other prominent roles include wealthy and ruthless oil man in The Two Jakes (1990) and 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

On October 6, 2000, suffering from terminal cancer that left him partially paralyzed and in great pain, 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.^{[citation needed]}

Awards and nominations[]

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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 (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 August 17, 1992; the star is located at 1560 Vine Street.^[3][4]

Filmography[]

Television[]

References[]

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 original on January 2, 2013. Retrieved October 19, 2009.

External links[]

• Richard Farnsworth at IMDb
• Richard Farnsworth at AllMovie
• 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