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Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Joe Don Baker Dies: ‘Walking Tall' Star Who Appeared In Three James Bond Films Was 89
Joe Don Baker, the actor who as the real-life Sheriff Buford Pusser in the 1973 vigilante film Walking Tall carried a big stick to mete out his own Tennessee brand of justice, died May 7, his family has announced. He was 89. A cause of death was not disclosed. More from Deadline 2025 Deaths Photo Gallery: Hollywood & Media Obituaries Samuel French Dies: 'Killers Of The Flower Moon' & 'Fear The Walking Dead' Actor Was 45 Mark Gaines Dies: Longtime Universal Distribution Exec Was 77 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.' Saying Goodbye: A Video Tribute To The Hollywood & Media Figures We've Lost In 2025 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. Best of Deadline 2025 Deaths Photo Gallery: Hollywood & Media Obituaries Where To Watch All The 'Mission: Impossible' Movies: Streamers With Multiple Films In The Franchise Everything We Know About 'My Life With The Walter Boys' Season 2 So Far
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Samuel French Dies: ‘Killers Of The Flower Moon' & ‘Fear The Walking Dead' Actor Was 45
Samuel French, an actor who has appeared in Killers of the Flower Moon and Fear the Walking Dead, has died. He was 45. According to French's friend and collaborator Paul Sinacore, who directed his final performance in the upcoming film Towpath, French died on May 9. More from Deadline 2025 Deaths Photo Gallery: Hollywood & Media Obituaries 2024 Hollywood & Media Deaths: Photo Gallery & Obituaries Mark Gaines Dies: Longtime Universal Distribution Exec Was 77 Sinacore remembered French as a 'dear friend and an incredible actor,' praising his performance as Detective Bernard Crooke in Towpath, which also stars Eric Roberts and is now in post-production. 'Together, we were on an extraordinary journey, giving everything we had to realize a shared creative vision,' said Sinacore in a statement. 'Samuel carried a fire for acting that burned in every frame — unfiltered, fearless, and alive. He gave himself completely to the work, and it showed. I am deeply saddened by his loss and only wish he could have seen the final cut. He was one of a kind, and he will remain in our hearts forever. My heart goes out to his family, and especially to his daughter — he loved her deeply and spoke of her often with pride and tenderness.' DEADLINE RELATED VIDEO: Born January 26, 1980 in Waco, Texas, French made his onscreen debut as Gavin McDonough in the History Channel limited series Texas Rising (2015), which also stars Bill Paxton, Kris Kristofferson, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Chad Michael Murray, Crispin Glover, Ray Liotta, Brendan Fraser and more. After playing Ben in a 2020 episode of AMC's Fear the Walking Dead, French shared the screen with Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese's Oscar-nominated historical epic Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), playing Agent CJ Robinson. French is survived by his daughter Madison and her mother Melinda Acosta; as well as French's parents Thomas and Evelyn; and his brothers Andy and Danny. Best of Deadline Everything We Know About Ari Aster's 'Eddington' So Far Everything We Know About 'Nobody Wants This' Season 2 So Far List Of Hollywood & Media Layoffs From Paramount To Warner Bros Discovery To CNN & More
