Richard Farnsworth

Farnsworth worked between 1920 and 2000 across television actor, film actor, stunt performer and actor. This article rests on 9 published texts and 22 scholarly references drawn from named institutional registers. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.

• Name — Richard Farnsworth • Birth Name — Richard William Farnsworth • Born — 1 September 1920 • Birthplace — Fairfield, Washington, U.S. • Died — 6 October 2000 • Place of death — Lincoln, New Mexico, U.S. • Resting Place — Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills, California • Occupation — Stuntman, actor • Years Active — 1937–1999 • Children — 2

Farnsworth was born on September 1, 1920, in Fairfield, Washington. His mother was a homemaker and his father was an engineer. After high school he enlisted in the United States Air Force during WWII, where he served as a pilot in the 344th Bombardment Group with the rank of First Lieutenant and received the Silver Star medal for gallantry and bravery in combat.

Farnsworth gradually moved into acting in Western movies. He made uncredited appearances in numerous films, including Gone with the Wind (1939), Red River (1948), The Wild One (1953), and The Ten Commandments (1956). In 1960, credited as Dick Farnsworth, he appeared as a Gault ranch hand in the "Street of Hate" episode of the TV Western Laramie. He received his first acting credit in a film in 1963 and went on to act in many Western films and television shows. He had a role in Roots (1977) and co-starred with Wilford Brimley in The Boys of Twilight (1992). He received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the Alan J. Pakula film Comes a Horseman (1978). A breakthrough came when he starred as stagecoach robber Bill Miner in the 1982 Canadian film The Grey Fox. He appeared as a baseball coach in The Natural (1984). In 1985, he played the brother to Marilla and father figure to Anne in Anne of Green Gables and starred as a soft-spoken, sage cowboy with horse training wisdom for Melissa Gilbert in Sylvester. His other prominent roles included a wealthy and ruthless oil man in The Two Jakes (1990) and the suspicious sheriff in the film version of Stephen King's Misery (1990). His final role was playing Alvin Straight in the David Lynch film The Straight Story (1999), for which he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Farnsworth had a long marriage and had two children. After becoming a widower, he lived on a ranch in Lincoln, New Mexico. On the night of October 6, 2000, suffering from terminal cancer that left him partially paralyzed and in great pain, Farnsworth died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his ranch in Lincoln.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1951 — The Adventures of Kit Carson — Henchman (uncredited) — Episode: "Fury at Red Gulch" Episode: "The Desperate Sheriff" • 1954 — Army Wagon Driver — Episode: "The Gatling Gun" • 1955 — Soldiers of Fortune — 'Gaucho' (uncredited) — Episode: "The General" • 1956 — Zane Grey Theatre — Trooper — Episode: "Star Over Texas" • 1958 — The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok — Butler — Episode: "Jingles on the Jailroad" • Cimarron City — Ira Youngman — Episode: "Twelve Guns", uncredited • 1959 — State Trooper — Caleb Smith — Episode: "Lonely Valley" • The Rebel — Trooper — Episode: "Yellow Hair" • 1960 — Wanted: Dead or Alive — Rance / Hal — Episodes: "The Partners" & "To the Victor" • Laramie — Gault Ranch Hand / Manley (uncredited) — Episodes: "Street of Hate" & "Ride into Darkness" • 1961 — Hank — Episode: "The Tumbleweed Wagon" • 1965 — The Big Valley — Bolin — Episode: "The Odyssey of Jubal Tanner" • 1966 — Businessman — Episode: "Image of Yesterday" • 1967 — Cimarron Strip — Dusty Rhodes / Benefiel — Episodes: "Journey to a Hanging" & "The Battleground" • 1970 — The High Chaparral — Lloyd — Episode: "The Long Shadow" • 1971 — Bonanza — Sourdough — Episode: "Top Hand" • 1972 — Tate / Troy — Episodes: "The Saddle Stiff" & "He Was Only Seven" • 1974 — Honky Tonk — Driver — TV movie • 1975 — Strange New World — Elder • 1977 — Roots — Trumbull — TV miniseries • Little House on the Prairie — Wall — Episode: "Quarantine" • 1981 — The Texas Rangers — Ranger J.W. Stevens — TV movie • A Few Days in Weasel Creek — Jason Stayvey • The Cherokee Trail — Ridge Fenton • 1983 — Travis McGee — Van Harder • Ghost Dancing — Russ Ward • 1985 — Wild Horses — Chuck Reese • Chase — Judge Grand Pettitt • Anne of Green Gables — Matthew Cuthbert • 1987 — CBS Summer Playhouse — Carl — Episode: "Travelin' Man" • Highway to Heaven — Grandpa Jet Sanders — Episode: "A Dream of Wild Horses" • 1989 — Red Earth, White Earth — Helmer — TV movie • Desperado: The Outlaw Wars — Sheriff Campbell / Bisby Arizona • 1992 — The Boys of Twilight — Sheriff Cody McPherson — 5 episodes • 1993 — The Fire Next Time — Frank Morgan — TV movie • 1998 — Best Friends for Life — Will Harper