‘Tremors’ and ‘The Right Stuff’ actor Fred Ward has died

nme.com:

Tremors, The Right Stuff, The Player and Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, has died aged 79.His death was confirmed to the New York Post by his publicist Ron Hofmann, who revealed that the actor passed away last Sunday (May 8).“I am sad to announce the passing of acclaimed actor Fred Ward, who passed away on Sunday, May 8, 2022, at age 79,” Hofmann’s statement read. “The Golden Globe winner, actor and producer is best known for The Right Stuff, Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, Tremors, Miami Blues, Henry & June, The Player and Short Cuts.”No cause of death has been revealed, but Hofmann did share the actor’s finals wishes: “It was Fred Ward’s wish that any memorial tributes be made in the form of donations to the Boston University Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center.

Please visit https://bit.ly/BUSMCTE or contact 617-358-9535 for more information.”A former boxer, lumberjack and short-order cook who served in the U.S.

Air Force, Ward, a San Diego native known for bringing a gentlemanly tenderness to the tough guy roles he played, began his career starring alongside Clint Eastwood in 1979’s Escape From Alcatraz.Ward went on to play a motorcycle racer in Timerider: The Adventures Of Lyle Swann (1982), a former Vietnam War tunnel rat in Ted Kotcheff’s Uncommon Valor (1983) and a cop who battles a psychotic criminal (Alec Baldwin) and loses his dentures in George Armitage’s Miami Blues (1990).“The unique thing about Fred Ward is that you never knew where he was going to pop up, so unpredictable were his career choices,” Hofmann wrote in an email (via NPR). “He could play such diverse characters as Remo Williams, a cop trained by Chiun, Master of Sinanju (Joel Grey) to become an unstoppable assassin in Remo.