Charming star was perfect foil
Fred Ward Actor BORN DECEMBER 30, 1942 – DIED MAY 8, 2022, AGED 79
FREDWARD regularly played second fiddle to leading male stars in a career spanning five decades but the versatile actor, with a laconic charm and tenderness, always proved memorable.
He was best known for playing handyman Earl Bass who battled giant underground worms alongside Kevin Bacon's Val McKee in the 1990 B-movie cult classic Tremors.
Elsewhere he imbued astronaut “Gus” Grissom with vulnerability in Philip Kaufman's 1983 film The Right Stuff based on Tom Wolfe's book of the same name.And he played a hard-nosed detective whose dentures are stolen in 1990's Miami Blues.
Freddie Joe Ward was born in San Diego, California, to Fred Frazier Ward and Juanita.
His father was an alcoholic who was frequently in jail. His mother remarried when he was three to a fairground worker.
Before becoming an actor, Ward spent three years in the US Air Force, then worked in a succession of blue-collar jobs as a lumberjack, short-order cook and boxer.
He studied acting at New York's Herbert Berghof Studio and spent time in Europe dubbing Italian films into English. This led to his first starring roles in two Italian films.
Upon his return to the US, he starred opposite Sissy Spacek as a truck driver in 1974 comedydrama Ginger In The Morning.
The following year he had an uncredited part in Hearts Of The West.
Ward came to prominence as prisoner John Anglin in 1979's Escape From Alcatraz, starring opposite Clint Eastwood. His other notable films were Robert Altman's Short Cuts and Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult.
He died of undisclosed causes and is survived by his third wife, Marie-France, and his son Django from his second marriage.