He is survived by his wife of 27 years, Marie-France Ward, and a son, Django Ward. The veteran character actor Fred Ward, best known for appearances in The Right Stuff, Tremors and Short Cuts, has died aged 79. Ward won a Golden Globe and the Venice Film Festival ensemble prize for his performance in Short Cuts in 1993, his biography said. 'I am sad to announce the passing of acclaimed actor Fred Ward, who passed away on Sunday, May 8, 2022, at age 79,' Ron Hofmann, a representative for Ward, said in a statement to FOX News Digital. That same year he appeared in the action movie Uncommon Valor with Gene Hackman and in the drama Silkwood with Meryl Streep. LOS ANGELES - Fred Ward, a longtime actor best known for his roles in films like 'Tremors' and 'The Right Stuff,' has died. In 1983 he portrayed Mercury 7 astronaut Virgil "Gus" Grissom in the adaptation of Tom Wolfe's book, The Right Stuff. He played everything from an astronaut, cowboy, Vietnam war soldier, a chain-smoking police detective-turned-assassin, to a hero battling giant worms, the release said. I will always remember chatting about his love of Django Reinhardt and jazz guitar during our long hot days in the high desert. When it came to battling underground worms I couldn’t have asked for a better partner. "The unique thing about Fred Ward is that you never knew where he was going to pop up, so unpredictable were his career choices," the release said. But his breakthrough role came when he played opposite Clint Eastwood in the 1979 film Escape from Alcatraz. He made his first American film appearance playing a cowboy in the 1975 film, Hearts of the West. His career spanned more than four decades, starting with foreign films in the early 1970s and stretched through 2015 with his final role in the television series True Detective, according to his online IMBD page. Ward took a roundabout way into acting, after serving three years in the US Air Force in the 1960s and then working as an Alaskan lumberjack, a boxer where his nose was broken three times and a short-order cook, according to a biography provided by Hofmann. No cause or place of death was released, as per his family's wishes, publicist Ron Hofmann said. When “Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins” came out in 1985, Times film critic Jack Mathews called Ward “the most interesting action star to emerge from the movies this year.” The actor had signed on for three “Remo Williams” movies but made only the one.Fred Ward was among the cast of 'The Right Stuff.' Photo: Supplied / AFP That film, which won four Oscars off of its eight nominations, gave Ward’s career a big boost. And Ward would go on to star alongside Shepard in 1983’s “The Right Stuff,” where he played astronaut Gus Grissom in the adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s bestseller. Ward’s first major film role was in the 1979 movie “Escape From Alcatraz,” starring Clint Eastwood. “Decent and modest and utterly professional, he disarmed with a smile that was at once warm and mischievous.” “I mourn the loss of Fred Ward, who was so kind to me when we worked together on Remo Williams,” Mulgrew tweeted. His former co-star Kate Mulgrew also paid tribute Friday. His characters felt like they lived a full life and we’re only seeing a part of it and that’s a magic trick done right in front of you and very luckily captured in light forever,” tweeted fellow actor Diedrich Bader. “Fred Ward was seemingly incapable of being inauthentic. (Eric Charbonneau / Invision / Associated Press)
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