Actor Fred Ward dies, a face with a character from the cinema of the 90s
Actor and producer Fred Ward, Golden Globe winner for his role in The Hollywood Game, has died at the age of 79, according to his press agent and has been reported on social media.
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Ward played Henry Miller in Henry and June (1990), played the part of Clint Eastwood in Escape from Alcatraz (1979), had a memorable role in the Tom Wolfe adaptation of The Glory Men (1983), participated as part of a great cast in Robert Altman's Crossed Lives (1993) and, among many others, starred alongside Kevin Bacon in the horror film Tremors (1990).
“Something unique about Fred Ward is that you never knew where he was going to appear, how unpredictable the choices he made for his career were,” his publicist has said.
He began his dedication to cinema in the 1970s, after three years of military service in the US Air Force and after spending short periods as a cook, boxer and lumberjack in Alaska. Escape from Alcatraz was his first major role. His past in military aviation allowed him to nail the role of Gus Grisson in Philip Kaufman's film The Right Stuff, where several test pilots from an Air Force Base try to break the sound barrier.
He also participated in television series such as the second season of True Detective, United State of Tara or Grey's Anatomy. His career as a producer began in 1988, when he bought the rights to the novel Miami Blue, which spawned a film with Alec Baldwin and Jennifer Jason Leigh.
He had been retired from the cinema for a few years and dedicated himself to painting. His family has reported that it has been the actor's wish that the tributes to his memory be directed in the form of a donation to a neuropathology research department at Boston University.
