Wilford Brimley | |
---|---|
Born | Anthony Wilford Brimley September 27, 1934 Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S. |
Died | August 1, 2020 85) St. George, Utah, U.S. | (aged
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1967–2017 |
Spouses | Lynne Bagley (m. 1956;died 2000)Beverly Berry (m. 2007) |
Children | 4 |
Military career | |
Allegiance | United States |
Branch | United States Marine Corps |
Years of service | 1953–1956 |
Rank | Sergeant |
Battles/wars | Korean War |
Anthony Wilford Brimley (September 27, 1934 – August 1, 2020) was an American actor. [1] After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and working odd jobs in the 1950s, Brimley started working as an extra and stuntman in Western films in the late 1960s. He became an established character actor in the 1970s and 1980s in films such as The China Syndrome (1979), The Thing (1982), Tender Mercies (1983), The Natural (1984), and Cocoon (1985). Brimley was known for playing characters at times much older than his age. He was the long-term face of American television advertisements for the Quaker Oats Company. [2] He also promoted diabetes education and appeared in related television commercials for Liberty Medical, a role for which he became an Internet meme.
Anthony Wilford Brimley was born in Salt Lake City on September 27, 1934, [2] [3] the son of Lola (née Nelson) and real estate broker Wilford Brimley. [4] His paternal grandfather was an Englishman from Wigan, while his paternal grandmother's parents were a Scottish couple from Glasgow. His mother was half Danish and also had English, German, Swiss, and Welsh ancestry. [5] Prior to a career in acting, he dropped out of high school at age 14 and worked as a cowboy in Arizona, Idaho, and Nevada.
Brimley joined the Marines in 1953 and served in the Aleutian Islands for three years. [6] He also worked as a bodyguard for businessman Howard Hughes [7] as well as a ranch hand, wrangler, and blacksmith. [3] He then began shoeing horses for film and television. At the behest of his close friend and fellow actor Robert Duvall, he began acting in the 1960s as a riding extra and stunt man in westerns. [8] In 1979, he told the Los Angeles Times that the most he ever earned in a year as an actor was $20,000. [5] He had no formal training as an actor, and his first experience in acting in front of a live audience was in a theater group at the Los Angeles Actors' Theater. [9]
Brimley's onscreen breakthrough came when he was cast in the popular 1970s television series The Waltons as Walton's Mountain resident and blacksmith Horace Brimley; he made seven appearances between 1974 and 1977. [3]
His first credited feature film performance was in The China Syndrome (1979) [3] as Ted Spindler, a friend and coworker of plant shift supervisor Jack Godell (portrayed by Jack Lemmon). That same year, he appeared in the Robert Redford/Jane Fonda feature film "The Electric Horseman" cast as simply "The Farmer" while assisting Redford and Fonda's characters evade troopers while transporting the horse in a cattle hauler. Later, Brimley made a brief but pivotal appearance in Absence of Malice (1981) as the curmudgeonly, outspoken Assistant Attorney General James A. Wells. In the movie The Thing (1982) he played the role of Blair, a biologist among a group of men at an American research station in Antarctica who encounter a dangerous alien that can perfectly imitate other organisms. [10]
Brimley's close friend Robert Duvall (who also appeared in The Natural) was instrumental in securing for him the role of Harry in Tender Mercies (1983). Duvall, who had not been getting along with director Bruce Beresford, wanted "somebody down here that's on my side, somebody that I can relate to." [11] Beresford felt Brimley was too old for the part but eventually agreed to the casting. Brimley, like Duvall, clashed with the director; during one instance when Beresford tried to advise Brimley on how Harry would behave, Duvall recalled Brimley responding: "Now look, let me tell you something, I'm Harry. Harry's not over there, Harry's not over here. Until you fire me or get another actor, I'm Harry, and whatever I do is fine 'cause I'm Harry." [11]
Brimley then appeared as Pop Fisher, world-weary manager of a slumping baseball team, in The Natural (1984). Brimley appeared in the 1984 film Country as Otis, the patriarch of a family farm, which took a sobering look at farms in crisis in the 1980s. Shortly thereafter, Brimley secured his first leading role in Ron Howard's Cocoon (1985), portraying Ben Luckett, leader of a group of geriatrics who encounter a magically reinvigorating swimming pool by their retirement home. Brimley was only 49 when he was cast in the role, and turned 50 during filming; he was at least 20 years younger than any of the actors playing the other retirement home residents. In order to look the part, Brimley bleached his hair and moustache to turn them gray, and had wrinkles and liver spots drawn on his face. [12] He also starred in Cocoon: The Return , a 1988 sequel.
Through these and other roles, Brimley became widely known for portraying gruff or stodgy old men, most notably on the 1980s NBC drama series Our House, also starring Deidre Hall, Chad Allen, and Shannen Doherty. One exception was when he played William Devasher, sinister head of security for a Mafia-associated law firm, in the Tom Cruise film The Firm (1993). [13]
After portraying the father of Kevin Kline in In & Out (1997), Brimley retreated from Hollywood in favor of involvement in more independent productions. He made an auspicious mainstream comeback with the TNT film Crossfire Trail (2001), co-starring with Tom Selleck (whom he had previously worked with in the 1980s film High Road to China ). He played an intimidating United States Postmaster General in a 1997 episode of Seinfeld ("The Junk Mail"), who forces Kramer to end his boycott of the mail service. [14] After several more years of independent film and TV acting, Brimley had a supporting role in Did You Hear About the Morgans? (2009), making witty exchanges with star Hugh Grant. [15]
Brimley frequently appeared in commercials, including a series of commercials for Quaker Oats, [8] a campaign which became famous for his repeating their slogan "It's the right thing to do." [16] [17] Developed by advertising agency Jordan, McGrath, Case & Taylor, the campaign began in 1987. [18] Brimley appeared in numerous television advertisements for Liberty Medical, a company specializing in home delivery of medical products (including diabetes testing supplies). [19] He appeared in commercials for the American Diabetes Association [20] and was the voice-over for a Bryan Foods television commercial campaign. [21]
Brimley has been described as "a fine singer with a warm, rich voice". [22] In 1993, Brimley sang with the Cal State Northridge Jazz Band for a concert benefiting the college's Jazz Endowment Scholarship Fund. In 2004, he released This Time, The Dream's On Me, an album of jazz standards named after the Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer-penned title track. [22] [23] He was also an accomplished harmonica player; during his 2011 appearance on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Brimley performed a lively rendition of "Oh! Susanna" much to the delight, and surprise, of Ferguson and the studio audience. [24] In 2013, Riders in the Sky partnered with Brimley to produce the album Home on the Range, which featured him singing a variety of country and folk songs. [25]
Brimley was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. [26] He was married to Lynne Bagley from July 6, 1956, until her death in June 2000. They had four sons together: James Charles, John Michael, William Carmen, and Lawrence Dean. [27] He married Beverly Berry on October 31, 2007. [7] They split their time between homes in Greybull, Wyoming, and Santa Clara, Utah. [28] In 2009, they founded the nonprofit organization Hands Across the Saddle (HATS) in the Bighorn Basin. [29]
Diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 1979, Brimley began working to raise awareness of the disease. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) honored him in 2008 with an award to recognize his lifetime of service. [30] The ADA presented the award to him at the Port St. Lucie headquarters of Liberty Medical on December 19, 2008. [31] He visited Veterans Administration hospitals and communities to advise patients on how to manage their diseases. His talks about diabetes became an internet phenomenon and a meme due to Brimley's dialectal pronunciation of "diabetes", often rendered as "diabeetus" ( /ˌdaɪəˈbiːtəs/ ), contrasting with his overall serious tone. [32]
Brimley supported advertisements to have Utah allow horse-race gambling. [33] He spoke against the banning of cockfighting in New Mexico on the basis of his support of individual rights. [34] He also spoke at a 1998 Phoenix rally opposing an Arizona ballot proposition to ban cockfighting, arguing that a ban could lead to efforts to restrict the use of hunting dogs, which opponents of cockfighting called a distraction from the issue. [35] Brimley enjoyed playing poker [36] and played in the World Series of Poker Main Event. [37]
Brimley lent his support to John McCain in the 2008 United States presidential election. [38] In the days leading up to his selection for vice president, McCain jokingly stated that he would pick Brimley: "He's a former Marine and great guy and he's older than I am, so that might work." [39]
Brimley died at a hospital in St. George, Utah, on August 1, 2020, at age 85 after suffering from a kidney condition for two months. [40]
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1968 | Bandolero! | Stuntman | Uncredited | [43] |
1969 | True Grit | Minor Role | ||
1971 | Lawman | Marc Corman | ||
1979 | The China Syndrome | Ted Spindler | ||
The Electric Horseman | Farmer | |||
1980 | Brubaker | Rogers | ||
Borderline | USBP Agent 'Scooter' Jackson | |||
1981 | Absence of Malice | Assistant U.S. Attorney General James A. Wells | ||
1982 | Death Valley | The Sheriff | ||
The Thing | Dr. Blair | |||
1983 | Tender Mercies | Harry | ||
10 to Midnight | Captain Malone | |||
High Road to China | Bradley Tozer | |||
Tough Enough | Bill Long | |||
1984 | Harry & Son | Tom Keach | ||
The Hotel New Hampshire | Bob 'Iowa Bob' | |||
The Stone Boy | George Jansen | |||
The Natural | 'Pop' Fisher | |||
Country | Otis | |||
Terror in the Aisles | Dr. Blair | Archival footage | ||
1985 | Cocoon | Ben Luckett | ||
Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins | CURE Director Harold W. Smith | |||
1986 | Jackals | Sheriff Mitchell | ||
Shadows on the Wall | Floyd Buckman | |||
1987 | End of the Line | Will Haney | ||
1988 | Cocoon: The Return | Ben Luckett | ||
1990 | Eternity | King / Eric | ||
1992 | Where the Red Fern Grows: Part II | Grandpa Will | Direct-to-video | |
1993 | The Firm | Bill Devasher | ||
Hard Target | Uncle Clarence Douvee | |||
1994 | Heaven Sent | Al (Security Guard) | ||
1995 | Mutant Species | Devro | ||
Last of the Dogmen | Narrator | Voice Uncredited | [44] | |
1996 | My Fellow Americans | Joe Hollis | ||
1997 | In & Out | Frank Brackett | ||
Lunker Lake | The Storyteller | |||
1998 | Chapter Perfect | Chief Hawkins | ||
Progeny | Dr. David Wetherly | |||
A Place to Grow | Jake | |||
Summer of the Monkeys | Grandpa Sam Ferrans | |||
2000 | Comanche | Doctor | ||
2001 | Brigham City | Stu | ||
PC and the Web | Unknown | |||
2002 | Resurrection Mary | Morty | ||
2003 | The Road Home | Coach Weaver | ||
2009 | The Path of the Wind | Harry Caldwell | ||
Did You Hear About the Morgans? | Earl Granger | |||
2016 | Timber the Treasure Dog | 'Hawk' Jones | ||
2017 | I Believe | Pastor | Final film role | [45] |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1974–1977 | The Waltons | Horace Brimley | 10 episodes |
1975 | Kung Fu | Blacksmith | Episode: "One Step to Darkness"; as A. Wilford Brimley |
1976–1977 | The Oregon Trail | Ludlow | Episodes: Pilot, "Hard Ride Home"; as A. Wilford Brimley |
1979 | The Wild Wild West Revisited | Grover Cleveland | Television film; credited as Wilford A. Brimley |
1980 | Amber Waves | Pete Alberts | Television film |
Roughnecks | Willie Clayton | ||
Rodeo Girl | 'Bingo' Gibbs | ||
1981 | The Big Black Pill | Wally Haskell | Television film; aka. Joe Dancer |
1985 | Murder in Space | Dr. Andrew McCallister | Television film |
Ewoks: The Battle for Endor | Noa | ||
1986 | Thompson's Last Run | 'Red' Haines | |
Act of Vengeance | Tony Boyle | ||
1986–1988 | Our House | Gus Witherspoon | Main role |
1989 | Billy the Kid | Governor Lew Wallace | |
1991 | Blood River | US Marshal Winston Patrick Culler | |
1992 | The Boys of Twilight | Deputy Bill Huntoon | |
1995 | Walker, Texas Ranger | Burt Mueller | Episode: "War Zone" |
Op Center | Admiral Troy Davis | ||
The Good Old Boys | C.C. Tarpley | Television film | |
1997 | Seinfeld | US Postmaster General Henry Atkins | Episode: "The Junk Mail" |
2001 | Crossfire Trail | Joe Gill | Television film |
The Ballad of Lucy Whipple | Deputy Ambrose Scraggs | ||
2011 | The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson | Guest | Late night talk show |
2021 | Yellowstone | Old cowboy (uncredited) | Episode: "Under a Blanket of Red" Posthumous release |
Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1987 | CableACE Awards | Actor in a Movie or Miniseries | Act of Vengeance | Nominated | [46] |
2005 | Golden Boot Awards | Golden Boot | — | Won | [46] |
2013 | Maverick Movie Awards | Best Supporting Actor: Short | Masque | Nominated | [47] |
Ronald William Howard is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. Howard started his career as a child actor before transitioning to directing films. Over his six decade career, Howard has received two Academy Awards, four Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Grammy Award. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2003 and was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 2013. Howard has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions in film and television.
Tender Mercies is a 1983 American drama film directed by Bruce Beresford, featuring Robert Duvall as singer-songwriter Mac Sledge in a performance that won him an Academy Award. The Oscar-winning screenplay by Horton Foote focuses on Mac Sledge (Duvall), a former country music star whose career and relationship with his ex-wife and daughter were wrecked by alcoholism. Recovering from his affliction, Sledge seeks to turn his life around through his relationship with a young widow and her son in rural Texas. The supporting cast includes Tess Harper, Betty Buckley, Wilford Brimley, Ellen Barkin and Allan Hubbard.
Robert Selden Duvall is an American actor and filmmaker. With a career spanning seven decades, he is the recipient of an Academy Award, four Golden Globe Awards, a BAFTA Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
Olive Oyl is a cartoon character created by E. C. Segar in 1919 for his comic strip Thimble Theatre. The strip was later renamed Popeye after the sailor character that became the most popular member of the cast; however, Olive Oyl was a main character for a decade before Popeye's 1929 appearance.
Bruce Beresford is an Australian film director and screenwriter. He has made more than 30 feature films over a 50-year career, both locally and internationally in the United States.
Quisp is a sugar-sweetened breakfast cereal from the Quaker Oats Company. It was introduced in 1965 and continued as a mass-market grocery item until the late 1970s. Subsequently, the Quaker Oats Company marketed Quisp sporadically, and with the advent of the Internet, began selling it primarily online. Quisp made its return to supermarkets as a mass-market grocery item in late 2012.
Cocoon is a 1985 American science fiction comedy-drama film directed by Ron Howard and written by Tom Benedek from a story by David Saperstein. The film stars Don Ameche, Wilford Brimley, Hume Cronyn, Brian Dennehy, Jack Gilford, Steve Guttenberg, Maureen Stapleton, Jessica Tandy, Gwen Verdon, Herta Ware, Tahnee Welch, and Linda Harrison, and follows a group of elderly people rejuvenated by aliens.
Cocoon: The Return is a 1988 American science fiction comedy-drama film directed by Daniel Petrie and written by Stephen McPherson. The film serves as the sequel to the 1985 film Cocoon. All of the starring actors from the first film reprised their roles in this film, although Brian Dennehy only appears in one scene at the end of the film. Unlike its predecessor, the film was neither a commercial nor a critical success.
Dana Hill was an American actress and voice actress. She was known for playing Audrey Griswold in National Lampoon's European Vacation, and also known for her roles in Shoot the Moon and Cross Creek. As a voice actress, she was known for her work as Max Goof in Goof Troop. Hill had diabetes that affected physical growth, which meant that she often played children into adolescence and beyond.
The Electric Horseman is a 1979 American western comedy-drama film starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda and directed by Sydney Pollack. The film is about a former rodeo champion who is hired by a cereal company to become its spokesperson and then runs away on a $12 million electric-lit horse and costume he is given to promote it in Las Vegas after he finds that the horse has been abused.
Dana Gould is an American stand-up comic, actor, writer and voice artist who has been featured on HBO, Showtime, and Comedy Central. He voiced the titular character in the Gex franchise, and wrote for The Simpsons between 2001 and 2007.
Tessie Jean Harper is an American actress. She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her first film role in 1983's Tender Mercies, and for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1986 film Crimes of the Heart. Her other film appearances include Flashpoint (1984), Ishtar (1987), Far North (1988), and No Country for Old Men (2007). She also had a recurring role on the first three seasons of Breaking Bad (2008–2010).
Liberty Medical Supply, Inc. is a home delivery service that sells diabetes testing supplies, prescription drugs, urology supplies, and ostomy supplies directly to consumers. The company was a subsidiary of Medco Health Solutions, Inc., which purchased Liberty Medical and its parent company, PolyMedica, in 2007. After Express Scripts acquired Medco, they sold Liberty Medical in December 2012 to members of its management team, and it now operates again as an independent company. Liberty Medical's corporate headquarters is located in Port St. Lucie, Florida. The company was one of the city's largest employers with as many as 2,432 employees in 2012. By the end of 2013, the company headquarters employed as few as 940 employees, adding to the community's jobless rate of over 9%, and implemented 20% pay cuts for all employees.
Little Mikey is a fictional boy played by John Gilchrist in an American television commercial promoting Quaker Oats' breakfast cereal Life. The ad was created by art director Bob Gage, who also directed the commercial. It first aired in 1971. The popular ad campaign featuring Mikey remained in regular rotation for more than 12 years and was one of the longest continuously running commercial campaigns.
Harry & Son is a 1984 American drama film directed by Paul Newman, who also stars. The screenplay by Newman and Ronald Buck focuses on the relationship between a blue-collar worker and his son, who fails at various odd jobs while aspiring to be a writer. Joanne Woodward, Ellen Barkin, Ossie Davis, Wilford Brimley, and Judith Ivey also star. The film also features Morgan Freeman.
Harry J. Beresford was an English-born actor on the American stage and in motion pictures. He used the professional name Harry J. Morgan early in his career.
The Stone Boy is a 1984 American drama film directed by Christopher Cain and starring Robert Duvall, Frederic Forrest, Glenn Close, Wilford Brimley, Linda Hamilton, Dean Cain and Jason Presson. It is based on the 1957 short story "The Stone Boy" by American author Gina Berriault.
Act of Vengeance is a 1986 television movie starring Charles Bronson, Ellen Burstyn, Wilford Brimley, and Keanu Reeves in an early role.
The Quaker Oats Company, known as Quaker, is an American food conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois. As Quaker Mill Company, the company was founded in 1877 in Ravenna, Ohio. In 1881, Henry Crowell bought the company and launched a national advertising campaign for Quaker Oats.
Timber the Treasure Dog is a 2016 American family film directed by Ari Novak and starring Wilford Brimley and featuring the voice of Kix Brooks as the titular character. The film was released to DVD and streaming platforms on January 5, 2016.
Of course, Brimley has been around a lot of famous people. He was a bodyguard for reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes, although he doesn't care to discuss that very much. "He was a good guy," he said, adding that Hughes paid him well. Hughes preferred to hire members of the Church of Latter-day Saints as aides and staffers, and Brimley himself is a member of the LDS church
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)