Joe Don Baker Dies: ‘Walking Tall' Star Who Appeared In Three James Bond Films Was 89
A cause of death was not disclosed.
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Born February 12, 1936, in Groesbeck, Texas, Baker played football for North Texas State College and, upon graduating in 1959, served a two-year stint in the Army before moving to New York City to study acting at the Actor's Studio. He would remain a lifelong member of the famed organization.
After some time performing on the New York stage – he appeared on Broadway in 1963's Marathon '33 and, a year later, in Blues for Mister Charlie. He then moved to Los Angeles and launched a TV and film career that included guest appearances on such series as Honey West, Gunsmoke, The Big Valley, Mission: Impossible, Lancer and The Streets of San Francisco, among many others. Early film roles included small parts in Cool Hand Luke and The Valachi Papers.
His signature role came in 1973, when he took up a four-foot-long hickory club as the weapon of choice for Walking Tall's justice-seeking Sheriff Buford Pusser. Critics may have scoffed, but the movie, directed by Phil Karlson, was a hit with audiences caught up in the 1970s vigilante-film craze that included Death Wish, Dirty Harry and even Taxi Driver.
Georgia-based rock band Drive-By Truckers dedicated a three-song run on its 2004 album The Dirty South to Pusser and Walking Tall, telling the tell from the other side of the law on 'The Boys From Alabama,' 'Cottonseed' and 'The Buford Stick.'
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Standing at 6'2″ and with the broad frame of the linebacker he was in college, Baker had a prolific screen career playing tough guys on both sides of the law throughout the 1970s and '80s in such movies as Charley Varrick (1973), Mitchell (1975) and Speedtrap (1977). Comedy roles increasingly made their way to Baker in the 1980s and 1990s, including another police chief role in the 1985 Chevy Chase comedy Fletch and, in 1996, Tim Burton's Mars Attacks!
Other memorable roles included a baseball player known as The Whammer opposite Robert Redford in The Natural (1984) and, in 1991, a corrupt investigator in Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear.
He toplined the NBC crime drama Eischied, playing the NYPD's tough chief of detectives who had a soft side for his pet cat. The series debuted in September 1979 but lasted just one season.
Baker also appeared in three James Bond films of the 1980s and '90s. He played a bad guy in The Living Daylights (1987) opposite Timothy Dalton as Bond, and a 007 ally CIA agent in the Pierce Brosnan-led GoldenEye (1995) and Tomorrow Never Dies (1997).
After appearing in nearly 60 movies throughout his career, Baker retired in 2012. His marriage in 1969 to Maria Dolores Rivero-Torres ended with divorce in 1980. Baker is survived by extended family in Groesbeck, Texas. A funeral service to honor his life will be held Tuesday in Mission Hills, California.
Erik Pedersen contributed to this report.
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At the time of his release, CBC reported that Glowatski was living 'part-time in an apartment and going to school' but felt as if he 'had a big letter "C" for criminal, tattooed on his forehead.' He has since stayed away from the spotlight and has not commented on Under the Bridge. In 2005, Ellard was ultimately sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for seven years. It wasn't until 2017 that Ellard was granted day parole—meaning she would be allowed to navigate society during the day and return to a facility at night. By the time she requested a parole extension in 2018, Ellard had changed her name to Kerry Marie Sim. She had also, at last, confessed to her role in Reena's murder. (According to Godfrey, she described her involvement as such: '[Reena] drowned and I put her in the water.') Today, Ellard a.k.a. Sim lives in a residential facility in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. Having given birth to her first child in prison and her second while on day parole, she has 'often blamed [her] inability to move forward on the requirement to reside at the community-based residential facility, the high cost of living, parenting struggles as a single mother, and [her] ex-spouse abandoning [her] and [her] children,' according to parole documents cited by CBC. She is not allowed any contact with the Virk family. ELLE Collective is a new community of fashion, beauty and culture lovers. For access to exclusive content, events, inspiring advice from our Editors and industry experts, as well the opportunity to meet designers, thought-leaders and stylists, become a member today HERE.
