We learned the incredibly sad news this morning (via NPR) that actor Fred Ward has died at the age of 79, the actor, of course, loved by horror fans for his role in Tremors.
NPR reports that Ward died on Sunday, May 8. “The cause of death was not specified.”
Fred Ward played the sympathetic Earl Bassett in the original 1990 Tremor, which, along with Kevin Bacon’s Valentine McKee, saved Perfection from the Deadly Graboids.
Until Bacon returned for Tremors II: Aftershocks, Fred Ward took center stage in a solo outing, repeating the role of Earl Bassett in the sequel to the original 1996 classic.
Elsewhere in the horror genre, Fred Ward plays Det. Harry Philip Lovecraft in Cast a Deadly Spell from 1991, a Lovecraft detective story that has built a cult over the years.
Fred Ward also appeared in Escape from Alcatraz, The Right Stuff, Miami Blues, The Player, Naked Gun 33 1/3, The Crow: Salvation and Road Trip, as well as True Detective.
“The unique thing about Fred Ward is that you never knew where he would appear, his career choices were so unpredictable,” said publicist Ron Hoffman in a statement shared by NPR. He could play as many different characters as Remo Williams, a cop trained by Chiun, the lord of Sinanju (Joel Gray), to become an unstoppable killer in Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, or Earl Bass, who, along with Kevin Bacon, the fighting giant, worm-like monsters thirsty for human flesh in the “cult” horror film / comedy, Tremors (1990), or the detective in the indie film Two Small Bodies (1993), directed by underground director Beth B., or the terrorist, who plans to blow up the Oscars in The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Last Insult (1994) or the father of the protagonist in Jennifer Lopez’s revenge thriller Enough (2002). “
Fred Ward is survived by his 27-year-old wife Marie-France Ward and son Django Ward.
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