Richard Farnsworth(1920-2000)
- Actor
- Stunts
- Soundtrack
An American stuntman who, after more than 30 years in the business,
moved into acting and became an acclaimed and respected character
actor, Richard Farnsworth was a native of Los Angeles. He grew up
around horses and as a teenager was offered an opportunity to ride in
films. He appeared in horse-racing scenes and cavalry charges unbilled,
first as a general rider and later as a stuntman. His riding and
stunting skills gained him regular work doubling stars ranging from
Roy Rogers to
Gary Cooper, and he often doubled
the bad guy as well. Although. like most stuntmen, he was occasionally
given a line or two of dialogue, it was not until Farnsworth was over
50 that his natural talent for acting and his ease and warmth before
the camera became apparent. When he won an Academy Award nomination for
his role in
Comes a Horseman (1978), it came
as a surprise to many in the industry that this "newcomer" had been
around since the 1930s. Farnsworth followed his Oscar nomination with a
number of finely wrought performances, including
The Grey Fox (1982) and
The Natural (1984). In 1999 he came
out of semi-retirement for a tour-de-force portrayal in
The Straight Story (1999).
