American actor and stuntman (1920-2000). Born in Los Angeles, he grew up around horses and became an expert rider. When he was still a teenager, he was offered the opportunity to ride in movies. He first appeared in horse-racing scenes and cavalry charges and later graduated to doing stunt work, doubling for everyone from Roy Rogers to Gary Cooper.
Some 30 years after he started working in film, when he was over 50 years old, Farnsworth finally began to appear in films as a real actor and quickly earned an Academy Award nomination for his role in 1978's "Comes a Horseman". He became known as a respected character actor. After retiring, he decided to take another turn at acting and earned another Oscar nomination in 1999's "The Straight Story" (he was the oldest male actor to ever be nominated).
Farnsworth committed suicide at his ranch in Lincoln, New Mexico, in September 2000. He had been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Farnsworth's movies include: "Comes a Horseman", "Tom Horn", "The Legend of the Lone Ranger", "The Grey Fox", "Waltz Across Texas", "The Natural", "Rhinestone", "The Two Jakes", "Misery", "Havana", and "The Straight Story". He worked as a stuntman in films like "Spartacus", "The Tin Star", "The Wild One", "Red River", "The Outlaw", "The Adventures of Marco Polo", and "A Day at the Races".
Research from the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com) |
