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American Military News
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- American Military News
Joe Don Baker, actor who wielded a big stick in ‘Walking Tall,' dies at 89
Joe Don Baker, the leading man turned character actor who broke out playing Sheriff Buford Pusser in the 1973 movie 'Walking Tall,' has died, his family announced online. The Texas-born tough guy died May 7 at age 89. No cause of death was given. Baker lived in Southern California when he died. 'Joe Don was a beacon of kindness and generosity. … Throughout his life, Joe Don touched many lives with his warmth and compassion, leaving an indelible mark on everyone fortunate enough to know him,' his family said. Born on Feb. 12, 1936, in Groesbeck, Texas, Baker played football and basketball well enough to earn a sports scholarship to North Texas State College — now University of North Texas — where he earned a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1958 and pledged to the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. Baker went into the U.S. Army for two years and then emerged in New York, where he studied at the Actors Studio and performed onstage. His acting career took off in the mid-1960s when he moved to Los Angeles, where he started with TV roles in shows like 'The High Chaparral' and 'Mission: Impossible' before taking the spotlight as a leading man in movies like 'Walking Tall' and 'Final Justice.' When he aged into character actor work, he played Claude Kersek in the 1991 Robert De Niro remake of 'Cape Fear,' Olaf Anderson in Eddie Murphy's 1992 movie 'The Distinguished Gentleman' and Tom Pierce in 1994's 'Reality Bites.' Baker played a villain in the 1987 James Bond movie 'The Living Daylights,' featuring Timothy Dalton as Bond, and then CIA agent Jack Wade in two Bond films starring Pierce Brosnan: 'GoldenEye' in 1995 and 'Tomorrow Never Dies' in 1997. He also spent a lot of time working in TV, playing the title cop role in 'Eischied' in 1979 — he often portrayed officers of the law — Big Jim Folsom in the 1997 miniseries 'George Wallace' and myriad other roles in shows including 'Ironside,' 'The Streets of San Francisco,' 'Gunsmoke' and 'Mod Squad.' As he moved around between TV and film, Baker was ahead of the curve in declaring Hollywood creativity dead. 'In Hollywood, they've chased away all the good writers,' he told The Times in 1986 when he was promoting the BBC-made miniseries 'Edge of Darkness' and strongly favoring foreign work over domestic. 'You never meet the writer when you're making a TV movie in America — they're too ashamed to show up and see how their work has been mangled by some committee. 'I hate the thought of showing up on another TV movie set in America,' he continued. 'All they care about here is whether you remember the words. In England they take the time to get everything right. I was there six months to make six hours. That's a little more than twice as long as it would take in America.' In the United States, Baker said, 'By the time the networks get through worrying about who they're gonna tick off, they wind up with nothing.' He said it was hard to get American studios interested in anything different. 'They want huge budgets, which are easier to steal from. The studios don't seem to mind losing hundreds of millions — they can write it all off. The rest of us can either pay to see their lousy movies or be taxed to cover their write-offs.' But 'Walking Tall,' the movie that made him, was based on the true story of a Tennessee sheriff whose life was turned tragic by criminals. During his six years in office, the real Pusser, known for carrying a big hickory stick he used as a weapon, fought a gang of bootleggers and con men who were operating along the Mississippi-Tennessee state line. He was shot and stabbed on several occasions and killed a thieving female motel owner who ambushed him. Then in 1967 he was waylaid in his car by criminals who shot him and killed his wife, Pauline. Pusser became a nationally known figure thanks to coverage on network news. Even though the movie took the usual Hollywood liberties with Pusser's life, the film played like a pure piece of American neo-realism: Audiences saw a strong family man who becomes politically involved only after being cheated at a local casino, beaten and left for dead. Elected sheriff, he becomes driven, fighting the local criminal syndicate, corrupt judges and state government officials. The film packed an emotional wallop. It was not an instant success, however, when it was first released in urban theaters and sold as a good-old-boy Southern law-and-order drama. 'The initial ads had me coming out of a swamp with slime coming off me and I had this little stick in my hand,' Baker told The Times in 2004, when a significantly reimagined 'Walking Tall' remake starring Dwayne Johnson was coming out. 'They were just terrible ads.' But outsized success in Asian markets led to a new marketing campaign that turned the movie into an American hit. 'I very seldom get good parts offered me now,' he said in 2004. 'I had better parts before I became a so-called star in 'Walking Tall.'' In a 2000 humor column, former Times columnist Chris Erskine lovingly called Baker 'one of the best bad actors ever.' Good parts or not, he won a Robert Altman Award at the Film Independent Spirit Awards in 2014 for his work in the 2012 Matthew McConaughey movie 'Mud,' where he played the father of a murdered man. It would be his final work before he retired. Baker was married for 11 years to Maria Dolores Rivero-Torres; the two had no children. A voracious reader and lover of cats and nature, the lifetime member of the Actors Studio 'is mourned by a small but very close circle of friends who will miss him eternally,' his family said. A funeral service will be held Tuesday morning at Utter McKinley Mortuary in Mission Hills. ___ © 2025 Los Angeles Times. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
The Advertiser
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Advertiser
US character actor, Bond star Joe Don Baker dead at 89
American character actor Joe Don Baker has died at the age of 89. The star, who featured in three 007 films and appeared alongside Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan in the blockbusters, died on May 7. Baker first appeared in Bond in the 1987 movie The Living Daylights as he portrayed the crazed arms dealer antagonist Brad Whitaker. He returned to the iconic spy series in 1995's GoldenEye as a good guy, playing the CIA agent Jack Wade before reprising the role in Tomorrow Never Dies in 1997. A statement from the actor's family read: "His intellectual curiosity made him a voracious reader, inspiring a great love of nature and animals, particularly cats. "Throughout his life, Joe Don touched many lives with his warmth and compassion, leaving an indelible mark on everyone fortunate enough to know him," the statement read. "As we say goodbye to Joe Don, we hold onto the memories and the love he shared with us. "Though he may no longer be with us in body, his spirit will always remain, a guiding light in the lives he touched. "Rest in peace, Joe Don. You will be dearly missed but never forgotten." Before coming to prominence in the Bond films, Baker enjoyed his breakthrough role as Sheriff Buford Presser in the acclaimed 1973 vigilante action movie Walking Tall and felt that the movie – which told the story of a real-life lawman who stopped crime in his Tennessee town - captured the US public's imagination at the time. He said during the 1990s: "In those days in the early '70s, I think a lot of people wanted to take a stick to (Richard) Nixon and all those Watergate guys. "(The film) touched a vigilante nerve in everybody who would like to do in the bad guys but don't have the power and would get in trouble if (they) did. But Buford was able to pull it off." He also featured in the 1985 BBC program Edge of Darkness, earning a BAFTA nomination. Other credits during nearly 50 years on screen include Chevy Chase's comedy Fletch, Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear and Tim Burton's sci-fi movie Mars Attacks. Baker never had any children but was married to Maria Dolores Rivero-Torres from 1969 to 1980. He is survived by relatives in his home city of Groesbeck in Texas. American character actor Joe Don Baker has died at the age of 89. The star, who featured in three 007 films and appeared alongside Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan in the blockbusters, died on May 7. Baker first appeared in Bond in the 1987 movie The Living Daylights as he portrayed the crazed arms dealer antagonist Brad Whitaker. He returned to the iconic spy series in 1995's GoldenEye as a good guy, playing the CIA agent Jack Wade before reprising the role in Tomorrow Never Dies in 1997. A statement from the actor's family read: "His intellectual curiosity made him a voracious reader, inspiring a great love of nature and animals, particularly cats. "Throughout his life, Joe Don touched many lives with his warmth and compassion, leaving an indelible mark on everyone fortunate enough to know him," the statement read. "As we say goodbye to Joe Don, we hold onto the memories and the love he shared with us. "Though he may no longer be with us in body, his spirit will always remain, a guiding light in the lives he touched. "Rest in peace, Joe Don. You will be dearly missed but never forgotten." Before coming to prominence in the Bond films, Baker enjoyed his breakthrough role as Sheriff Buford Presser in the acclaimed 1973 vigilante action movie Walking Tall and felt that the movie – which told the story of a real-life lawman who stopped crime in his Tennessee town - captured the US public's imagination at the time. He said during the 1990s: "In those days in the early '70s, I think a lot of people wanted to take a stick to (Richard) Nixon and all those Watergate guys. "(The film) touched a vigilante nerve in everybody who would like to do in the bad guys but don't have the power and would get in trouble if (they) did. But Buford was able to pull it off." He also featured in the 1985 BBC program Edge of Darkness, earning a BAFTA nomination. Other credits during nearly 50 years on screen include Chevy Chase's comedy Fletch, Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear and Tim Burton's sci-fi movie Mars Attacks. Baker never had any children but was married to Maria Dolores Rivero-Torres from 1969 to 1980. He is survived by relatives in his home city of Groesbeck in Texas. American character actor Joe Don Baker has died at the age of 89. The star, who featured in three 007 films and appeared alongside Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan in the blockbusters, died on May 7. Baker first appeared in Bond in the 1987 movie The Living Daylights as he portrayed the crazed arms dealer antagonist Brad Whitaker. He returned to the iconic spy series in 1995's GoldenEye as a good guy, playing the CIA agent Jack Wade before reprising the role in Tomorrow Never Dies in 1997. A statement from the actor's family read: "His intellectual curiosity made him a voracious reader, inspiring a great love of nature and animals, particularly cats. "Throughout his life, Joe Don touched many lives with his warmth and compassion, leaving an indelible mark on everyone fortunate enough to know him," the statement read. "As we say goodbye to Joe Don, we hold onto the memories and the love he shared with us. "Though he may no longer be with us in body, his spirit will always remain, a guiding light in the lives he touched. "Rest in peace, Joe Don. You will be dearly missed but never forgotten." Before coming to prominence in the Bond films, Baker enjoyed his breakthrough role as Sheriff Buford Presser in the acclaimed 1973 vigilante action movie Walking Tall and felt that the movie – which told the story of a real-life lawman who stopped crime in his Tennessee town - captured the US public's imagination at the time. He said during the 1990s: "In those days in the early '70s, I think a lot of people wanted to take a stick to (Richard) Nixon and all those Watergate guys. "(The film) touched a vigilante nerve in everybody who would like to do in the bad guys but don't have the power and would get in trouble if (they) did. But Buford was able to pull it off." He also featured in the 1985 BBC program Edge of Darkness, earning a BAFTA nomination. Other credits during nearly 50 years on screen include Chevy Chase's comedy Fletch, Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear and Tim Burton's sci-fi movie Mars Attacks. Baker never had any children but was married to Maria Dolores Rivero-Torres from 1969 to 1980. He is survived by relatives in his home city of Groesbeck in Texas. American character actor Joe Don Baker has died at the age of 89. The star, who featured in three 007 films and appeared alongside Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan in the blockbusters, died on May 7. Baker first appeared in Bond in the 1987 movie The Living Daylights as he portrayed the crazed arms dealer antagonist Brad Whitaker. He returned to the iconic spy series in 1995's GoldenEye as a good guy, playing the CIA agent Jack Wade before reprising the role in Tomorrow Never Dies in 1997. A statement from the actor's family read: "His intellectual curiosity made him a voracious reader, inspiring a great love of nature and animals, particularly cats. "Throughout his life, Joe Don touched many lives with his warmth and compassion, leaving an indelible mark on everyone fortunate enough to know him," the statement read. "As we say goodbye to Joe Don, we hold onto the memories and the love he shared with us. "Though he may no longer be with us in body, his spirit will always remain, a guiding light in the lives he touched. "Rest in peace, Joe Don. You will be dearly missed but never forgotten." Before coming to prominence in the Bond films, Baker enjoyed his breakthrough role as Sheriff Buford Presser in the acclaimed 1973 vigilante action movie Walking Tall and felt that the movie – which told the story of a real-life lawman who stopped crime in his Tennessee town - captured the US public's imagination at the time. He said during the 1990s: "In those days in the early '70s, I think a lot of people wanted to take a stick to (Richard) Nixon and all those Watergate guys. "(The film) touched a vigilante nerve in everybody who would like to do in the bad guys but don't have the power and would get in trouble if (they) did. But Buford was able to pull it off." He also featured in the 1985 BBC program Edge of Darkness, earning a BAFTA nomination. Other credits during nearly 50 years on screen include Chevy Chase's comedy Fletch, Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear and Tim Burton's sci-fi movie Mars Attacks. Baker never had any children but was married to Maria Dolores Rivero-Torres from 1969 to 1980. He is survived by relatives in his home city of Groesbeck in Texas.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Joe Don Baker, star of 'Walking Tall 'and the James Bond films 'Tomorrow Never Dies and GoldenEye,' dies at 89
Actor Joe Don Baker, best known for his role as Sheriff Buford Pusser in the unexpected 1973 box-office hit Walking Tall, died May 7, his family announced. He was 89. Baker's death was shared in an obituary, in which he is mourned by his "small but very close circle of friends who will miss him eternally." No cause of death was provided. Entertainment Weekly has reached out to the actor's reps for additional comment. "Joe Don was a beacon of kindness and generosity. His intellectual curiosity made him a voracious reader, inspiring a great love of nature and animals, particularly cats. Throughout his life, Joe Don touched many lives with his warmth and compassion, leaving an indelible mark on everyone fortunate enough to know him," his obituary reads. As remembered by his community, the Texas-born Baker was a college athlete before serving two years in the U.S. Army, and subsequently moving to New York to study at the Actor's Studio. The actor began his career with bit parts in movies and television — mostly westerns such as The Big Valley (1965-1969), Bonanza (1959-1973), Guns of the Magnificent Seven (1969), and Wild Rovers (1971) — before garnering mainstream attention with his supporting role alongside Steve McQueen in Sam Peckinpah's Junior Bonner (1972). It was a year later that Baker scored his breakthrough role as real-life Tennessee wrestler-turned-sheriff Buford Pusser in Walking Tall. Baker became known for his "tough guy" characters who walked on either side of the law, whether they were a rugged lawman or an intimidating villain. His ability to bounce between the two was most notably apparent in his appearance in three James Bond films in which he played two different characters on both sides of the law. He first portrayed villainous arms dealer Brad Whitaker in The Living Daylights, which starred Timothy Dalton in 1987. Baker returned to the franchise in 1995's GoldenEye and 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies as Pierce Brosnan's CIA associate Jack Wade. Baker would go on to appear in films like Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear, Congo, Mars Attacks!, Joe Dirt, and The Dukes of Hazzard. His last big-screen role was in the 2012 film Mud, before he retired from acting after performing in 57 movies, according to his obituary. "As we say goodbye to Joe Don, we hold onto the memories and the love he shared with us," the obituary concludes. "Though he may no longer be with us in body, his spirit will always remain, a guiding light in the lives he touched. Rest in peace, Joe Don. You will be dearly missed but never forgotten." Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
Los Angeles Times
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Joe Don Baker, actor who wielded a big stick in ‘Walking Tall,' dies at 89
Joe Don Baker, the leading man turned character actor who broke out playing Sheriff Buford Pusser in the 1973 movie 'Walking Tall,' has died, his family announced online. The Texas-born tough guy died May 7 at age 89. No cause of death was given. Baker lived in Southern California when he died. 'Joe Don was a beacon of kindness and generosity. ... Throughout his life, Joe Don touched many lives with his warmth and compassion, leaving an indelible mark on everyone fortunate enough to know him,' his family said. Born on Feb. 12, 1936, in Groesbeck, Texas, Baker played football and basketball well enough to earn a sports scholarship to North Texas State College — now University of North Texas — where he earned a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1958 and pledged to the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. Baker went into the U.S. Army for two years and then emerged in New York, where he studied at the Actors Studio and performed onstage. His acting career took off in the mid-1960s when he moved to Los Angeles, where he started with TV roles in shows like 'The High Chaparral' and 'Mission: Impossible' before taking the spotlight as a leading man in movies like 'Walking Tall' and 'Final Justice.' When he aged into character actor work, he played Claude Kersek in the 1991 Robert DeNiro remake of 'Cape Fear,' Olaf Anderson in Eddie Murphy's 1992 movie 'The Distinguished Gentleman' and Tom Pierce in 1994's 'Reality Bites.' Baker played a villain in the 1987 James Bond movie 'The Living Daylights,' featuring Timothy Dalton as Bond, and then CIA agent Jack Wade in two Bond films starring Pierce Brosnan: 'GoldenEye' in 1995 and 'Tomorrow Never Dies' in 1997. He also spent a lot of time working in TV, playing the title cop role in 'Eischied' in 1979 — he often portrayed officers of the law — Big Jim Folsom in the 1997 miniseries 'George Wallace' and myriad other roles in shows including 'Ironside,' 'The Streets of San Francisco,' 'Gunsmoke' and 'Mod Squad.' As he moved around between TV and film, Baker was ahead of the curve in declaring Hollywood creativity dead. 'In Hollywood, they've chased away all the good writers,' he told The Times in 1986 when he was promoting the BBC-made miniseries 'Edge of Darkness' and strongly favoring foreign work over domestic. 'You never meet the writer when you're making a TV movie in America — they're too ashamed to show up and see how their work has been mangled by some committee. 'I hate the thought of showing up on another TV movie set in America ,' he continued. 'All they care about here is whether you remember the words. In England they take the time to get everything right. I was there six months to make six hours. That's a little more than twice as long as it would take in America.' In the United States, Baker said, 'By the time the networks get through worrying about who they're gonna tick off, they wind up with nothing.' He said it was hard to get American studios interested in anything different. 'They want huge budgets, which are easier to steal from. The studios don't seem to mind losing hundreds of millions — they can write it all off. The rest of us can either pay to see their lousy movies or be taxed to cover their write-offs.' But 'Walking Tall,' the movie that made him, was based on the true story of a Tennessee sheriff whose life was turned tragic by criminals. During his six years in office, the real Pusser, known for carrying a big hickory stick he used as a weapon, fought a gang of bootleggers and con men who were operating along the Mississippi-Tennessee state line. He was shot and stabbed on several occasions and killed a thieving female motel owner who ambushed him. Then in 1967 he was waylaid in his car by criminals who shot him and killed his wife, Pauline. Pusser became a nationally known figure thanks to coverage on network news. Even though the movie took the usual Hollywood liberties with Pusser's life, the film played like a pure piece of American neo-realism: Audiences saw a strong family man who becomes politically involved only after being cheated at a local casino, beaten and left for dead. Elected sheriff, he becomes driven, fighting the local criminal syndicate, corrupt judges and state government officials. The film packed an emotional wallop. It was not an instant success, however, when it was first released in urban theaters and sold as a good-old-boy Southern law-and-order drama. 'The initial ads had me coming out of a swamp with slime coming off me and I had this little stick in my hand,' Baker told The Times in 2004, when a significantly reimagined 'Walking Tall' remake starring Dwayne Johnson was coming out. 'They were just terrible ads.' But outsized success in Asian markets led to a new marketing campaign that turned the movie into an American hit. 'I very seldom get good parts offered me now,' he said in 2004. 'I had better parts before I became a so-called star in 'Walking Tall.'' In a 2000 humor column, former Times columnist Chris Erskine lovingly called Baker 'one of the best bad actors ever.' Good parts or not, he won a Robert Altman Award at the Film Independent Spirit Awards in 2014 for his work in the 2012 Matthew McConaughey movie 'Mud,' where he played the father of a murdered man. It would be his final work before he retired. Baker was married for 11 years to Maria Dolores Rivero-Torres; the two had no children. A voracious reader and lover of cats and nature, the lifetime member of the Actors Studio 'is mourned by a small but very close circle of friends who will miss him eternally,' his family said. A funeral service will be held Tuesday morning at Utter McKinley Mortuary in Mission Hills. Freelance writer Lewis Beale contributed to this report.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Joe Don Baker, Actor Known for 'GoldenEye' and 'Cape Fear', Dies at 89
Joe Don Baker, who appeared in three James Bond movies and films like The Natural and Cape Fear, died at 89 on Wednesday, May 7 Baker's family announced his death in an obituary published on Tuesday, May 13; he was married for 11 years and had no children The actor "is mourned by a small but very close circle of friends who will miss him eternally," his obituary readsJoe Don Baker, a Hollywood actor whose career spanned nearly five decades on the screen, has died. He was 89. Baker's family announced his death in an obituary published on on Tuesday, May 13; Baker died on Wednesday, May 7, according to the obituary. A cause of death was not immediately provided. "Joe Don was a beacon of kindness and generosity," one section of his obituary reads. "His intellectual curiosity made him a voracious reader, inspiring a great love of nature and animals, particularly cats. Throughout his life, Joe Don touched many lives with his warmth and compassion, leaving an indelible mark on everyone fortunate enough to know him." Baker was born on Feb. 12, 1936, and grew up in Texas. He graduated from North Texas State College in 1958 after receiving an athletic scholarship. After college, Baker served in the U.S. Army for two years and then moved to New York City, where he studied acting at the famed Actor's Studio and began performing on the stage, according to his obituary. Baker's onscreen career began in 1965, when he appeared on one episode of the television series Honey West; he first made an appearance in a feature film in 1967's classic Cool Hand Luke. Throughout his career, Baker notably appeared in three different James Bond movies — as a villain in 1987's The Living Daylights, opposite Timothy Dalton's Bond, and a CIA spy in 1995's GoldenEye and 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies, with Pierce Brosnan's 007 — in addition to movies like The Natural, Walking Tail and Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. "As we say goodbye to Joe Don, we hold onto the memories and the love he shared with us," his obituary reads. "Though he may no longer be with us in body, his spirit will always remain, a guiding light in the lives he touched. Rest in peace, Joe Don. You will be dearly missed but never forgotten." Baker had not acted for the screen since he appeared in Matthew McConaughey's 2012 movie Mud. During his career, he received one nomination at the BAFTA Awards in 1986 for his work in the miniseries Edge of Darkness. According to Baker's obituary, he was married for 11 years and does not have any children. His funeral service will be held in Mission Hills, Calif., on Tuesday, May 20, at 10 a.m. local time. "He is survived by relations in his native Groesbeck, who will forever cherish his memory," Baker's obituary reads. "He is mourned by a small but very close circle of friends who will miss him eternally." Read the original article on People
