Richard Farnsworth
| Richard Farnsworth | |
|---|---|
Farnsworth in The Straight Story, his final role
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| Born |
Richard W. Farnsworth September 1, 1920 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Died | October 6, 2000 (aged 80) Lincoln, New Mexico, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Suicide by gunshot |
| Resting place |
Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) Los Angeles, California 34°08′42″N 118°19′12″E / 34.145°N 118.320°E |
| Occupation | Stuntman, actor |
| Years active | 1937–1999 |
| Known for | |
| Home town | Los Angeles, California |
| Spouse(s) | Margaret Hill (1947–85; her death) |
Richard W. Farnsworth (September 1, 1920 – October 6, 2000) was an American actor and stuntman. He is best known for his performances in The Grey Fox (1982), for which he received a Golden Globe Award nomination, and The Straight Story (1999), for which he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. His sudden death followed a long struggle with prostate cancer.
Farnsworth was born on September 1, 1920 in Los Angeles, California, to a housewife mother and an engineer father. He was raised during the Great Depression. When he was seven, Farnsworth's father died. He then lived with his aunt, mother, and two sisters in Downtown Los Angeles.
Farnsworth enjoyed a long marriage and had two children. After becoming a widower, he lived on a ranch in Lincoln, New Mexico.
On October 6, 2000, after a long battle with metastatic prostate cancer, Farnsworth committed suicide by shooting himself at his ranch. He is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles in the Columbarium of Purity (N-63294) beside his wife, Margaret née Hill (1919–1985).
In 1937, age 16, Farnsworth was working as a stable hand at a polo field in Los Angeles for six dollars a week when he was offered employment with better pay as a stuntman. He rode horses in films such as The Adventures of Marco Polo featuring Gary Cooper and performed horse-riding stunts in films including A Day at the Races (1937) and Gunga Din (1939). Farnsworth was employed on the set of Spartacus (1960) for eleven months where he drove a chariot.
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