Go Hot Dog, go!
Posted on 05/13/2022 9:14:36 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Actor Fred Ward has died, according to his publicist, Ron Hofmann.
The star, who brought gentlemanly gruffness to films that included The Right Stuff, Tremors, Henry and June and The Player died Sunday, May 8 at the age of 79. No cause of death was given.
Ward brought reservoirs of tenderness to his tough guy roles, and plenty of street credibility. A former boxer, lumberjack and short-order cook who served in the U.S. Air Force, Ward went to acting school and got his start when he moved to Rome as a young man and worked as a mime, then a voice-over actor. That led to a few appearances in TV productions by Italian neorealist pioneer Roberto Rossellini, and then Hollywood. Ward made his U.S. movie debut as a convict in the Clint Eastwood movie Escape from Alcatraz in 1979.
"The unique thing about Fred Ward is that you never knew where he was going to pop up, so unpredictable were his career choices," Hofmann wrote in an email. "He could play such diverse characters as Remo Williams, a cop trained by Chiun, Master of Sinanju (Joel Grey) to become an unstoppable assassin in Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, or Earl Bass, who, alongside Kevin Bacon, battle giant, worm-like monsters hungry for human flesh in 'cult' horror/comedy film, Tremors (1990), or a detective in the indie film Two Small Bodies (1993) directed by underground filmmaker Beth B., or a terrorist planning to blow up the Academy Awards in The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994), or the father of the lead character in Jennifer Lopez's revenge thriller Enough (2002)."
Ward is survived by his wife of 27 years, Marie-France Ward and his son Django Ward.
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.
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.”
I particularly liked him in The Right Stuff and Remo Williams. Too bad Remo didn't catch fire and become a series.
Timerider?
And decades later, it turned out...he was right.
He was great as Gus Grissom. RIP.
I really liked him in Tremors.
remo williams...
i still quote the line... get in get out. like a duck mating...
good movie. great actor.
RIP
Yep!!!
Go Hot Dog, go!
I think that's it.
Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swan. A fun movie with a built-in paradox. The gift.
I agree. Fun movie, Alec Baldwin's inclusion notwithstanding. R.I.P. Fred
“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
He died in the tragic Apollo 1 fire, along with Ed White and Roger Chaffee.
Real American Heroes.
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.
he was great in the first Tremors.....I seem to like the 2nd tier actors better than the supposed top tiers.....
Was he DJ Qualls in Road Trip?
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