Wilford Brimley, ‘Cocoon’ and ‘Natural’ actor, dies at 85
By: BY LYNN ELBER - ASSOCIATED PRESS
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Wilford Brimley, ‘Cocoon’ and ‘Natural’ actor, dies at 85
Wilford Brimley, who worked his way up from movie stunt rider to indelible character actor in films including “Cocoon” and “The Natural,” has died.
Actor Wilford Brimley attends the premiere of 'Did You Hear About The Morgans' at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York. Brimley, who worked his way up from stunt performer to star of film such as “Cocoon” and “The Natural,” has died. He was 85. AP Photo/Evan Agostini
LOS ANGELES — Wilford Brimley, who worked his way up from movie stunt rider to an indelible character actor who brought gruff charm, and sometimes menace, to a range of films that included “Cocoon,” “The Natural” and “The Firm,” has died. He was 85.
Brimley’s manager Lynda Bensky said the actor died Saturday morning in a Utah hospital. He was on dialysis and had several medical ailments, she said.
The mustached Brimley was a familiar face for a number of roles, often playing characters like his grizzled baseball manager in “The Natural” opposite Robert Redford’s bad-luck phenomenon. He also worked with Redford in “Brubaker” and “The Electric Horseman.”
Brimley’s best-known work was in “Cocoon,” in which he was part of a group of seniors who discover an alien pod that rejuvenates them. The 1985 Ron Howard film won two Oscars, including a supporting actor honor for Don Ameche.
Brimley also starred in “Cocoon: The Return,” a 1988 sequel.
For years he was pitchman for Quaker Oats and in recent years appeared in a series of diabetes spots that turned him at one point into a social media sensation.
“Wilford Brimley was a man you could trust,” Bensky said in a statement. “He said what he meant and he meant what he said. He had a tough exterior and a tender heart. I’m sad that I will no longer get to hear my friend’s wonderful stories. He was one of a kind.”
Barbara Hershey, who met Brimley on 1995′s “Last of the Dogmen,” called him “a wonderful man and actor. … He always made me laugh.”
Though never nominated for an Oscar or Emmy Award, Brimley amassed an impressive list of credits. In 1993’s John Grisham adaptation “The Firm,” Brimley starred opposite Tom Cruise as a tough-nosed investigator who deployed ruthless tactics to keep his law firm’s secrets safe.
John Woo, who directed Brimley as Uncle Douvee in 1993′s “Hard Target,” told The Hollywood Reporter in 2018 that the part was “the main great thing from the film. I was overjoyed making those scenes and especially working with Wilford Brimley.”
A Utah native who grew up around horses, Brimley spent two decades traveling around the West and working at ranches and race tracks. He drifted into movie work during the 1960s, riding in such films as “True Grit,” and appearing in TV series such as “Gunsmoke.”
He forged a friendship with Robert Duvall, who encouraged him to seek more prominent acting roles, according to a biography prepared by Turner Classic Movies.
Brimley, who never trained as an actor, saw his career take off after he won an important role as a nuclear power plant engineer in “The China Syndrome.”
“Training? I’ve never been to acting classes, but I’ve had 50 years of training,” he said in a 1984 Associated Press interview. “My years as an extra were good background for learning about camera techniques and so forth. I was lucky to have had that experience; a lot of newcomers don’t.”
“Basically my method is to be honest,” Brimley said told AP. “The camera photographs the truth — not what I want it to see, but what it sees. The truth.”
Brimley had a recurring role as a blacksmith on “The Waltons” and the 1980s prime-time series “Our House.”
Another side of the actor was his love of jazz. As a vocalist, he made albums including “This Time the Dream’s On Me” and “Wilford Brimley with the Jeff Hamilton Trio.”
In 1998, he opposed an Arizona referendum to ban cockfighting, saying that he was “trying to protect a lifestyle of freedom and choice for my grandchildren.”
In recent years, Brimley’s pitchwork for Liberty Mutual had turned him into an internet sensation for his drawn out pronunciation of diabetes as “diabeetus.” He owned the pronunciation in a tweet that drew hundreds of thousands of likes earlier this year .
Brimley is survived by his wife Beverly and three sons.
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Sorry to see this - he was one of my favourite character actors. The article indicated that he was friends with Robert Duvall, but did not mention that Brimley played a musician's agent/manager in Duvall's movie "Tender Mercies". RIP Wilfred. You were one of a kind.
Bummer, I liked him.
Semper Fi brother and RIP
Never knew that he was a singer.
RIP
I think my favorite performance of his was in absence of malice with Sally Fields and Paul Newman when he played the US government investigator. I actually believed him when he said he was going to leave that room with someones ass in his briefcase when he was done. and he left with more than one .
He played a wicked bugger in The Firm ......
John Grisham's stories are my favourite novels, and they made excellent movies as well, even if there are differences between the novel and the movie - The Firm is a good example of that.
Yep, damn good novelist if you like those sorts of stories.
Which I do as well.
They were among favourites for many years as well.
(I don't remember if I ever mentioned this, but when I went for vocational counseling one of the best career choices for me was supposedly law. (Although I never pursued it). I think I would have been very good at it and would've really enjoyed it.)
I've read 19 of them. Give me a year or two in between and I can read them over again, which I've already done. I can't put his novels down once I've started reading them. Of course, the profession I retired from could have something to do with it.
He was great ! God speed Mr. Brimley.
One of my all time favorite character actors. I love his performance in Absence of Malice; especially when he fired Eliott Rosen.
yep that's the end of the one I mentioned above.
A sad loss. I knew who he was from seeing him in Quaker Oats commercials. When I told my wife, however, she told me that he played a bartender in the TV series Walker, Texas Ranger. Once she told me, I remembered hearing his voice. My wife watches cop shows all the time. I generally don't, even the best of them are totally unrealistic.
He had a great voice - unique. If you just heard him but didn't see him you'd have still known it was him. I don't think of him as in the photo with the article - this is what he always looked like to me - a cantankerous S.O.B.
He was only 50 when he was in Cacoon in 1985.
Good point...but then again it seems that now-a-days much of real life actually seems pretty unrealistic as well!
I always liked him and accepted his mustached-look as typical. Cocoon was an all-time favorite of mine. If I liked watching movies over it would be one I could do that with easily. Sadly, for me, I don't like repeating movies. I do sometimes, but mostly not. I don't know why either. (You see a lot more when you repeat a movie I've noticed.). Did I ever watch Cocoon the Return? I'm sure I did. Delightful too. (I'm sure.) Great feelings from him (though, I mostly thought of him as 'typical essential character ensemble fare.')
I saw this and thought it was a big bummer. He always reminded me of my uncle Bill. If I can find a picture, I will post, but I don't think I have any here at my house.
Today, I eat my Quaker High Fiber and Protein Oatmeal in honor of a great character actor. Salute!