Fred Ward, star of ‘The Right Stuff,’ ‘Remo Williams’ and ‘Tremors,’ dies at 79

  • November 25, 2023

Fred Ward, an individual actor and producer who starred in “The proper Stuff,” “Tremors” and “Remo Williams: the adventure starts off evolved,” has died at 79.

Publicist Ron Hofmann showed to USA. today that Ward died Sunday. Ward had a regular presence on screen since the past due Nineteen Seventies, garnering his first principal role alongside Clint Eastwood in 1979’s “escape from Alcatraz.” Ward memorably performed Mercury 7 astronaut Virgil “Gus” Grissom in 1983’s area epic “The right Stuff” however also tackled large monster worms’ facet by facet with Kevin 1st baron Beaverbrook inside the 1990 cult horror comedy “Tremors.”

Born in San Diego, Ward’s pre-acting jobs – such as three years inside the Air pressure and stints as a short-order prepare dinner, boxer and lumberjack – prepared for the difficult-guy roles he’d be recognized for in his Hollywood profession.

Remembering the ones, we lost: superstar Deaths 2022

Fred Ward, seen right here at L.A.’s Leo Carillo nation Park in 1994, has died at the age of 79.

Ward headlined the 1985 action journey “Remo Williams: the journey begins,” wherein he performed a cop skilled to come to be an assassin by way of a martial-arts master (Joel grey). It turned out to be a failed franchise automobile, but Ward had noteworthy roles in a pair of 1990 films: He starred as creator Henry Miller in “Henry & June,” the first NC-17 film, also providing Uma Thurman, and he played a Miami detective hunting down Alec Baldwin’s ex-con in the neo-noir darkish comedy “Miami Blues.” (Ward himself sold the e book rights for Charles Willeford’s novel two years earlier than.)

similarly, Ward had a position as a studio security chief in Robert Altman’s “The player” and a television anchor in Tim Robbins’ “Bob Roberts” – both in 1992 – and become a terrorist planning to detonate a bomb at the Oscars in the 1994 spoof “The bare Gun 33 1/3: The final Insult.”

Ward also played a number of dads, in comedies like 2000’s “avenue ride,” 2001’s “summer season trap” and 2011’s “30 minutes of less” in addition to the 2002 revenge thriller “sufficient” wherein he turned into Jennifer Lopez’s on-display father.

The actor additionally worked on the small-screen, including elements in the disaster miniseries “10.5” and indicates “In plain Sight,” “the USA of Tara,” “grey’s Anatomy,” “Leverage” and “proper Detective.”

A painter overdue in lifestyles, Ward is survived by his wife of 27 years, Marie-France Ward, and son Django Ward.

Actor Fred Ward has died, in step with his publicist, Ron Hofmann.

The famous person, who introduced gentlemanly gruffness to films that blanketed the proper Stuff, Henry and June and the participant died Sunday, may 8 on the age of 79. No cause of loss of life become given.

Ward brought reservoirs of tenderness to his hard man roles, and lots of street credibility. A former boxer, lumberjack and short-order prepare dinner who served inside the U.S. Air force, Ward went to acting faculty and were given his start whilst he moved to Rome as a younger guy and labored as a mime, then a voice-over actor. That led to a few appearances in television productions by using Italian neorealist pioneer Roberto Rossellini. Ward made his U.S. film debut as a convict alongside Clint Eastwood in get away from Alcatraz in 1979.

“The specific issue about Fred Ward is that you never knew in which he changed into going to pop up, so unpredictable have been his profession selections,” Hofmann wrote in an electronic mail. “He ought to play such various characters as Remo Williams, a cop trained by way of Chiun, grasp of Sin Anju (Joel gray) to grow to be an unstoppable assassin in Remo Williams: the journey starts off evolved, or Earl Bass, who, alongside Kevin Sir Francis Bacon, conflict giant, trojan horse-like monsters hungry for human flesh in ‘cult’ horror/comedy movie, Tremors (1990), or a detective within the indie movie  Small our bodies (1993) directed by underground filmmaker Beth B., or a terrorist planning to explode the Academy Awards in the naked Gun 33 1/3: The very last Insult (1994), or the daddy of the lead character in Jennifer Lopez’s revenge mystery enough (2002).”

Ward is survived with the aid of his wife of 27 years, Marie-France Ward and his son Django Ward. 

(CNN)Fred Ward, a veteran character actor in movie and tv, has died, in step with his publicist Ron Hofmann.

Ward, recognized for his work in “The proper Stuff,” “quick Cuts,” and numerous different movies, died on may additionally eight at age 79.

No reason of dying become given.

Ward began performing within the early Nineteen Seventies, following three years of carrier inside the U.S. Air pressure. A renaissance guy, Ward also did stints as a quick-order cook dinner, a boxer, and worked as a lumberjack in Alaska. His first predominant function got here in the Clint Eastwood movie “escape from Alcatraz” in 1979.

Fred Ward in the 1983 film “The proper Stuff.”

In “The right Stuff,” Ward portrayed actual-life Mercury 7 astronaut Virgil “Gus” Grissom. He switched gears in “Henry & June,” playing chain-smoking, hard-ingesting writer Henry Miller, who travels to Paris in 1931 to complete his e-book “Tropic of most cancers.”

In 1988, Ward offered the film rights to “Miami Blues,” which showcased Ward as Hoke Mosely, a veteran Miami detective looking to corral a slick ex-con.

Ward later joined forces with Robert Altman in “The participant,” performed a gangster in Alan Rudolph’s “Equinox,” and become a television information anchor in Tim Robbins’ “Bob Roberts.” In 1993, he played one among 3 friends who find a corpse whilst fishing in “brief Cuts.”

“The precise component approximately Fred Ward is that you never knew wherein he become going to pop up, so unpredictable had been his career choices,” Hofmann stated in an emailed assertion. 

some of Ward’s other film credits consist of “summer time capture,” “candy domestic Alabama” and “Abandon.” In tv, Ward regarded in “the United States of Tara,” “gray’s Anatomy,” “Leverage,” “proper Detective” and amongst different collection.

additionally, an artist, in recent years Ward directed some of his innovative talent to painting.

he’s survived through his spouse of 27 years, Marie-France Ward and his son Django Ward.

CNN’s Miguel Marquez contributed to this tale.’

Fred Ward, the erstwhile lumberjack known for playing no-nonsense guys of motion in such movies as Remo Williams: the adventure starts, Tremors and the proper Stuff, has died. He turned into 79.

Ward died Sunday; his publicist Ron Hofmann introduced. No purpose or area of death turned into disclosed in keeping with the family’s desires.

The San Diego local delivered a proper electricity and gruff manner to his work. part Cherokee, he tapped into his historical past as a union activist and Meryl Streep’s workmate in Mike Nichols’ Silkwood (1983) and for his turns in Errol Morris’ the dark Wind (1991) and Michael Apted’s Thunder heart (1992).

Ward additionally portrayed a motorbike racer in Time rider: The Adventures of Lyle Swann (1982), a former Vietnam conflict tunnel rat in Ted Kercheff’s uncommon Valor (1983) and a rumpled cop who battles a psychotic crook (Alec Stanley Baldwin) and loses his dentures in George Armitage’s Miami Blues (1990).

“Ward has performed many heroes, every with a subtlety that eliminated them from the cardboard cutout figures that they may had been,” the Chicago Tribune ‘s Julia Cameron wrote in a 1985 profile of the actor. “In many approaches, his work, like that of Robert Duvall, may be regarded as a meditation on America’s notions of masculinity.”

Ward also starred as tough-ingesting expatriate creator Henry Miller, who has ménage trois in Paris in 1931 along with his spouse (Uma Thurman) and another creator (Maria de Medeiros), in Philip Kaufman’s Henry & June (1990), the primary NC-17 movie to play in theaters.

“My rear end seemed to have something to do with [that rating],” he stated in an interview with The Washington publish.

For Robert Altman, Ward was the pinnacle of studio protection inside the player (1992) and shared Golden Globe and Venice film pageant ensemble prizes for his performance in brief Cuts (1993).

His exceptional risk at superstardom came when he turned into forged as the name man or woman in Remo Williams: the journey starts off evolved (1985).

The Orion photographs release, primarily based at the popular The Destroyer novels, become designed to kick off a franchise centering on an American version of James Bond. (It turned into directed by way of man Hamilton and written by Christopher timber, veterans of 007 films, and Ward signed on for three Remo Williams installments.)

Ward’s Remo became a big apple cop who is taught martial arts talents through a Korean grasp (Joel gray) as he turns into a murderer for a secret authority’s agency. however, in spite of a neat action series atop scaffolding masking the Statue of Liberty, the film did poorly at the container office, and the adventure, sadly, ended just as it changed into getting began.

Ward, but, did get two chances to play Earl Bass, the resilient Nevada handyman who fights off creepy crawlers, first in Tremors (1990) and then in a 1996 direct-to-video sequel.

And as astronaut Virgil “Gus” Grissom in Kaufman’s The proper Stuff (1983), Ward become “earthy and unpretentious in what’s perhaps the movie’s most traumatic function,” THR wrote in its assessment.

Frederick Joseph Ward was born in San Diego on Dec. 30, 1942. He moved round loads as a teenager, together with his dad regularly at odds with the law.

“My father did a variety of time,” he advised the Tribune. “He changed into in jail when I was born, were given out briefly to have a good time the beginning after which went proper lower back. He became simply the sort of man who got into trouble. Alcohol became the actual hassle, under all of the relaxation.

“Whilst I used to be three, my mother left my father. She left me along with her mom in Texas while she went to New Orleans to installation a life for us. After some time, she dispatched for me. She supported us by way of working in bars. In 5 years, we lived in 5 one-of-a-kind places. Then she married my stepfather, who was with the carnie. maybe that’s wherein my restlessness comes from. I inherited it.”

Ward spent three years inside the U.S. Air force, serving as an airborne radar technician in Goose Bay, Labrador, Canada. After the provider, he ventured to the big apple and studied performing at Herbert Berghof’s studio for six months in 1964.

The 5-foot-nine Ward then did some newbie boxing, become a logger and lumberjack in Alaska and landed elements in early performs written by way of his destiny proper Stuff co-star, Sam Shepard, in San Francisco.

Fred Ward’s Biography

Freddie Joe Ward changed into born on 30 December 1942, in San Diego, California America, of element-Cherokee descent, and is a version, producer, and actor, in all likelihood great regarded for working inside the film “escape from Alcatraz” along Clint Eastwood. other exceptional initiatives he’s been regarded for encompass “Southern comfort”, “Miami Blues”, and “The very last Insult”. All of his endeavors have helped positioned his net really worth to in which it’s far these days.

How wealthy is Fred Ward? As of early-2017, resources inform u. s. net really worth that is at $3 million, earned via achievement in his diverse endeavors, which includes many person roles and also version shoots with different famous names, together with Linda Evangelista, Dree Hemingway and Lara Stone. All of these achievements ensured the location of his wealth.

Fred Ward net worth $3 million

previous to starting his appearing career, Ward served for 3 years in the US Air force, and then could strive his hand at boxing, also working as a lumberjack, janitor, and quick-order cook. Fred then determined to visit the Herbert Berghof Studio to have a look at acting; he lived in Rome, dubbing Italian movies and also appearing in films with the aid of Roberto Rossellini.

within the early Nineteen Seventies, Fred lower back to America and commenced doing experimental theatre; he additionally located himself working on tv. one among his first movie appearances was 1975’s “Hearts of the West” wherein he performed a cowboy, which eventually cause his first predominant movie function in “escape from Alcatraz” gambling John Anglin. In 1981, he changed into forged in “Southern comfort” playing a violent countrywide Guardsman, however the following 12 months turned into given his first starring position in “Time rider: the journey of Lyle Swann”. He endured growing his internet worth with different tasks which includes “The proper Stuff” and “Silkwood”, and in 1985, Fred might end up the identify hero of “Remo Williams: the adventure starts”, based totally on “The Destroyer” series of novels, but the film didn’t do in addition to anticipated. He then went directly to do numerous low budget productions before returning to film in 1988’s “Off Limits”. His net really worth was nevertheless rising.

In 1990, Ward have become part of the film “Tremors” alongside Kevin 1st Baron Beaverbrook. His reputation could keep to growth thanks to cult traditional, and might additionally help increase his net well worth in addition. He then continued with “Henry & June” alongside Uma Thurman and “Miami Blues” with Alec Stanley Baldwin. In 1991, he became part of “solid a deadly Spell” as personal detective HP Lovecraft, and went on with different tasks including “Thunder heart”, “Equinox”, and “4 Eyes Six guns”. In 1993, Fred changed into solid in “short Cuts”, and the ensemble could win a Golden Globe Award. He also reprised his role in “Tremors II: Aftershocks”, accompanied by using a component in “First Do No harm” with Meryl Streep.

In 2001 he became part of “complete Disclosure” which earned him a nomination for a Video most effective Award, then starred in “candy domestic Alabama”. He became additionally part of “sufficient”, “Abandon”, “The remaining journey”, and “Coast to Coast”, before taking a quick break from performing, returning to tv in 2006 as a guest in “grey’s Anatomy”. certainly, one of his brand-new tasks are “2 weapons” in which he appears alongside Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington.

For his private existence, it’s miles recognized that Fred was married to Silvia Ward and they have a son. After their divorce, he married Marie-France Boisselle in 1995, however in 2013 she filed for divorce, but they eventually reconciled. The couple currently reside in Venice, California.