Richard Farnsworth biography

Synopsis

Early Life

Actor, stuntman. Born September 1, 1920, in Los Angeles, California. A third-generation Californian, Farnsworth left school at age 15, during the Great Depression, and began working as a stable hand at a local polo barn. In the mid-1930s, he began riding competitively on the Southwestern rodeo circuit; his experience riding broncos allowed him to find work as a stuntman in films, beginning with the 1938 feature The Adventures of Marco Polo, starring Gary Cooper. He later quit the competitive rodeo circuit and focused exclusively on his film career.

Highlights as a Stuntman

In his four decades as a movie stuntman, Farnsworth appeared in over 300 films. Some of his most memorable film gigs included the Howard Hawks-John Wayne classic Red River (1948); the epic Cecil B. DeMille production of The Ten Commandments (1956), in which he drove a chariot; and Stanley Kubrick's Spartacus (1960), in which he doubled for Kirk Douglas as a sword-fighting gladiator. Besides Douglas and Cooper, he also doubled for such leading actors as Henry Fonda, John Ireland, and Joel McCrea. Farnsworth also appeared in such leading Western television series as Zorro, The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickock, and Bonanza.

Acting Success

A shy and unassuming man, Farnsworth was reluctant to move into speaking parts in films after at least one unsuccessful attempt near the beginning of his career. In 1976, he finally had his first significant speaking role, as a stagecoach driver in The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox, starring Goldie Hawn and George Segal. Two years later, he nabbed an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Comes a Horseman (1978), directed by Alan J. Pakula and starring James Caan, Jane Fonda, and Jason Robards. Deciding to move away from stunt work and concentrate solely on acting, Farnsworth had supporting roles in several other films, including Resurrection (1980), starring Ellen Burstyn, and Tom Horn (1980), starring Steve McQueen, before landing his first starring role, at age 63, as the real-life bandit Bill Miner in the acclaimed film The Grey Fox (1983), for which he earned a Golden Globe nomination.

A year later, Farnsworth played a baseball coach in the film version of Bernard Malamud’s novel The Natural (1984), starring Robert Redford. He also appeared in the well-rated PBS miniseries Anne of Green Gables, co-starring Colleen Dewhurst, in 1986. In 1990, the still spry septuagenarian appeared in three major films: Havana, starring Redford; The Two Jakes, starring Jack Nicholson; and Misery, starring Caan and Kathy Bates.