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Actor Fred Ward dies. He had the right stuff in movies from 'Tremors' to 'The Player'
NPR ^ | May 13, 2022 | Neda Ulaby

Posted on 05/13/2022 9:14:36 AM PDT by BenLurkin

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To: MrRelevant
Remo Williams

I read all those paperbacks back in the '70's.

Ward starred in the only Remo Williams movie ever made, I thought there'd be more.

41 posted on 05/13/2022 11:33:17 AM PDT by PROCON (Sic Semper Tyrannis)
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To: fishtank

My favorite Earl Smooter quotes:

“You can’t ride two horses with one ass sugarbee.”
“Careful, you just killed the state bird of Alabama!”
“C’mon, c’mon, let’s not let all the bought air out.”


42 posted on 05/13/2022 11:39:28 AM PDT by FamiliarFace (I wish “smart resume” would work for the real world so I could FF through the Burden admin BS.)
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To: BenLurkin
IMO he was the perfect choice to be Gus Grissom in The Right Stuff.
43 posted on 05/13/2022 11:48:01 AM PDT by pfflier
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To: BenLurkin
He was probably born in the wrong time. He usually played stern, gruff, manly types. Had he been around during the hey-day of westerns and films noir, there would have been a ton of rolls for him. He didn't fit in well in the sensitive guy era.

I particularly liked him in The Right Stuff and Remo Williams. Too bad Remo didn't catch fire and become a series.

44 posted on 05/13/2022 12:08:04 PM PDT by Sans-Culotte (11/3-11/4/2020 - The USA became a banana republic.)
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To: BenLurkin
RIP tough guy, I saw Remo Williams on opening night!
45 posted on 05/13/2022 12:14:39 PM PDT by Vision (Elections are one day. Reject "Chicago" vote harvesting. Election Reform Now. Obama is an evildoer.)
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To: usurper

Timerider?


46 posted on 05/13/2022 12:53:22 PM PDT by Disambiguator
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To: Alas Babylon!

And decades later, it turned out...he was right.


47 posted on 05/13/2022 1:04:50 PM PDT by M1903A1 ("We shed all that is good and virtuous for that which is shoddy and sleazy...and call it progress" )
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To: BenLurkin; Impy; BillyBoy; GOPsterinMA; NFHale; LS; campaignPete R-CT; AuH2ORepublican; Clemenza; ..

He was great as Gus Grissom. RIP.


48 posted on 05/13/2022 1:05:02 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (Plugs the Pedo - The Shart Heard 'Round The World)
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To: BenLurkin

I really liked him in Tremors.


49 posted on 05/13/2022 1:11:02 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (Florida: America's new free zone.)
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To: V_TWIN

remo williams...

i still quote the line... get in get out. like a duck mating...

good movie. great actor.

RIP


50 posted on 05/13/2022 1:13:45 PM PDT by teeman8r (Armageddon won't be pretty, but it's not like it's the end of the world or something )
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To: FamiliarFace

Yep!!!


51 posted on 05/13/2022 1:25:35 PM PDT by fishtank (The denial of original sin is the root of liberalism.)
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To: struggle

Go Hot Dog, go!

52 posted on 05/13/2022 1:34:29 PM PDT by NohSpinZone (First thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers)
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To: Disambiguator
Timerider?

I think that's it.

53 posted on 05/13/2022 2:02:33 PM PDT by usurper
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To: usurper

Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swan. A fun movie with a built-in paradox. The gift.


54 posted on 05/13/2022 3:14:03 PM PDT by JustaTech (A mind is a terrible thing)
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To: whinecountry
He was excellent as a down-on-his-luck cop in “Miami Blues.”

I agree. Fun movie, Alec Baldwin's inclusion notwithstanding. R.I.P. Fred

55 posted on 05/13/2022 3:17:06 PM PDT by BillyBonebrake
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To: M1903A1; BenLurkin; telescope115; struggle; Alas Babylon!; pfflier; fieldmarshaldj

“He played Gus Grissom in “The Right Stuff”. A great portrayal of somebody who knew he was being screwed over for something not his fault.” [M1903A1, post 24]

Col Gus Grissom’s Mercury capsule was fished out of the Atlantic in July 1999.

Analysis of the machinery and circuitry was inconclusive at that time.

Subsequent digital film enhancement and interpretation indicates static discharge from the recovery helicopter may have ignited the initiator for the explosive bolts on the hatch - before the helo could hook up.

The hatch jettison system on Mercury capsules were a last-minute modification are were not tested extensively. Grissom was present at the only ground test a short time before his suborbital flight.

System documentation is spotty in the archives. Best remaining data indicates fulminate of mercury was the initiating explosive. It’s notoriously unstable and very sensitive to electrical discharges. It was used in percussion caps and priming compounds, but was dropped from production of ammunition in the 1890s because it attacks brass.

Helicopters are notorious for building up static electrical charges. The possibility that electrical discharges during spacecraft recovery operations could pose risks was recognized early on and written about in NASA manuals.

Several authors have suggested that Grissom panicked and manually blew the hatch. Unlikely: at the time, he was the most experienced Air Force test pilot among the initial seven astronauts. He’d flown 100 combat missions during the Korean War, in the F-86.

https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/sinking-liberty-bell-7-gus-grissoms-near-fatal-mission

https://astronomy.com/news/2021/07/did-static-electricity-blow-the-hatch-of-liberty-bell-7


56 posted on 05/13/2022 10:05:03 PM PDT by schurmann
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To: schurmann
Great post.

He died in the tragic Apollo 1 fire, along with Ed White and Roger Chaffee.

Real American Heroes.

57 posted on 05/14/2022 6:00:40 AM PDT by Alas Babylon! (Rush, we're missing your take on all of this!)
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To: Alas Babylon!

RIP. I’d like to think Gus came to shake Fred’s hand in the afterlife for giving him a fair portrayal in the movie.


58 posted on 05/14/2022 12:54:55 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (Plugs the Pedo - The Shart Heard 'Round The World)
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To: PROCON

he was great in the first Tremors.....I seem to like the 2nd tier actors better than the supposed top tiers.....


59 posted on 05/14/2022 1:06:27 PM PDT by cherry (;)
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To: cherry

Was he DJ Qualls in Road Trip?


60 posted on 05/15/2022 4:43:02 AM PDT by deek69
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