NEW YORK (AP) – Fred Ward, a veteran actor who played intense roles in films such as “The Right Stuff,” “The Player” and “Tremors,” has passed away. He is 79 years old.
Ward died Sunday, his press secretary Ron Hoffman said Friday. The cause or place of death was not named according to the wishes of the family.
Ward won a Golden Globe and shared the Venice Film Festival Ensemble Award for his performance in Robert Altman’s “Short Cuts” and starred in the title role in Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins. He also reached new heights as Mercury 7 astronaut Virgil “Gus” Grissom in the 1983 Oscar-nominated film “The Right Stuff.”
“I was devastated to learn of my boyfriend Fred Ward’s death,” tweeted actor Matthew Molain, who co-starred with Ward in Alan Rudolf’s “Short Cuts” and Equinox. An intense facade that covers the emotions of the Pacific Ocean. Good luck friend. “
A former Alaskan boxer, gunsmith, and short-lived cook who served in the U.S. Air Force, Ward is a resident of San Diego that is part of the Cherokee. First starring role with Clint Eastwood in the 1979 film Escape from Alcatraz.
“I mourn the death of Fred Ward, who was so kind to me when we worked with Remo Williams,” actress Kate Malgrium wrote on Twitter. “Decent, unobtrusive and completely professional, he was disarmed with a smile that was both hot and wicked.”
Ward’s other roles include a distraught cop chasing a psychotic criminal played by Alec Baldwin in George Armitage’s “Miami Blues”. He is the wonderful and scary father Freddie Prince in the youngest character in “Summer Catch” and in the title character of David Speed in “Joe Dirt”.
Ward played President Reagan in the 2009 Cold War spy thriller “Farewell” and played a supporting role in the 2013 action film “2 Guns,” opposite Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg.
In the horror comedy Tremors, Ward portrays Kevin Bacon as a restorative couple who will eventually rescue a struggling community in the Nevada desert, surrounded by giant underground snakes.
In the sexual case, NC-17 “Henry & June” Ward showed more than just being smart. Based on Anna Nini’s book and directed by Philip Kaufman, Rose starred as novelist Henry Miller against Nini and her husband June. “My back seems to be involved (in this analysis),” he told the Washington Post.
He also reappeared as security director of Altman Studios in 1992 in the director’s Hollywood satire The Player and played Mike Nichols ‘Mick Nichols’ Silkwood in 1983.
Ward showed his comedians about a terror plot, which blew up the Academy Awards in the 1994 film Naked Guns 33 1/3: The Final Insult.
On the small screen he had recurring roles in NBC’s “ER,” the Lockhart role of Maura Tierney’s father in 2006-2007 and starred in series such as “Gray’s Anatomy”, “Leverage” and “Tara United States”. Ward most recently appeared in the second season of HBO’s “True Detective” as Colin Farrell’s retired detective. Ray Welcoro.
Ward is survived by his 27-year-old wife, Marie-Frances Ward, and his son Django Ward.
Source: Huffpost
