Quaker Oats guy, actor Wilford Brimley dies
ST. GEORGE, Utah — Wilford Brimley, who worked his way up from movie stunt rider to an indelible character actor who brought gruff charm, and sometimes menace, to a range of films that included “‘Cocoon,”’ “‘The Natural”’ and “‘The Firm,”’ has died.
He was 85. He was on dialysis and had several medical ailments.
The moustached Brimley was a familiar face for a number of roles, often playing characters like his grizzled baseball manager in
“‘The Natural”’ opposite
Robert Redford’s bad-luck phenomenon. He also worked with Redford in
“‘Brubaker”’ and “‘The
Electric Horseman”’ and
Paul Newman in “‘Absence of Malice.”’
Brimley’s best-known work was in “‘Cocoon,”’ in which he was part of a group of seniors who discover an alien pod that rejuvenates them. The 1985 Ron Howard film won two Oscars, including a supporting actor honour for Don Ameche. Brimley himself was never nomianted for an Oscar.
For years he was pitchman for Quaker Oats and in recent years appeared in a series of diabetes spots that turned him at one point into a social media sensation.
A Utah native who grew up around horses, Brimley spent two decades travelling around the West and working at ranches and race tracks. He drifted into movie work during the 1960s, riding in such films as “‘True Grit,”’ and appearing in TV series such as “‘Gunsmoke.”’
Before landing his first significant film role in 1979’s “‘The China Syndrome”’ opposite Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon and Michael Douglas, Brimley apeared on eight episodes of “The Waltons.”