Ned Thomas Beatty (July 6, 1937 – June 13, 2021) was an American actor. In a career that spanned five decades, he appeared in more than 160 film and television roles. Throughout his career, Beatty gained a reputation for being "the busiest actor in Hollywood". His film appearances included Deliverance (1972), White Lightning (1973), All the President's Men (1976), Network (1976), Superman (1978), Superman II (1980), Back to School (1986), Rudy (1993), Shooter (2007) and voice roles in Toy Story 3 (2010), and Rango (2011). He also had the series regular role of Stanley Bolander in the first three seasons of the hit NBC TV drama Homicide: Life on the Street.
Beatty was nominated for an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, an MTV Movie Award for Best Villain, and a Golden Globe Award; he also won a Drama Desk Award.
Early life
Beatty was born on July 6, 1937, in Louisville, Kentucky, to Margaret (née Fortney) and Charles William Beatty. He had an older sister, Mary. In 1947, Beatty began singing in gospel and barbershop quartets in St. Matthews, Kentucky, and at his local church. He graduated from Eastern High School and subsequently received a scholarship to sing in the a cappella choir at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky; he attended but did not graduate.
In 1956, Beatty made his stage debut at age 19, appearing in Wilderness Road, an outdoor-historical pageant located in Berea, Kentucky. During his first ten years of theater, he worked at Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia, the State Theatre of Virginia. Returning to Kentucky, Beatty worked in the Louisville area through the mid-1960s, at the Clarksville Little Theater (Indiana) and the newly founded Actors Theater of Louisville. His time at the latter included a run as Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman in 1966.
Career
Throughout his career, Beatty had no regrets about mostly playing only supporting roles: "[Leading roles] are more trouble than they're worth. I feel sorry for people in a star position. It's unnatural". Beatty admitted that most of the people who worked on the film did not want to do that scene, but it was an important one. The film was the fifth highest grossing that year, and also featured "Dueling Banjos" as its theme tune, which went on to be a number one hit record. In 1972, he also appeared in The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, a western with Paul Newman.
In 1973, Beatty had roles in The Thief Who Came to Dinner, The Last American Hero, and White Lightning. The latter film reunited Beatty with his Deliverance co-star Burt Reynolds. The next year, he appeared in the television miniseries The Execution of Private Slovik and in the two-part episode of The Rockford Files, "Profit and Loss".
In 1976, he also appeared in The Big Bus, Silver Streak, and Mikey and Nicky.
In the middle of the 1980s, Beatty appeared in the comedy film Restless Natives (1985), directed by Michael Hoffman. By the end of the 1980s, Beatty appeared in another comedy film, as the academic "Dean Martin" in Back to School (1986), starring Rodney Dangerfield. He played a corrupt cop in the 1987 American neo-noir crime film The Big Easy, directed by Jim McBride and starring Dennis Quaid, and continued with a spy drama, The Fourth Protocol (1987), opposite Michael Caine and Pierce Brosnan.
In 1988, Beatty appeared with the main character Thelonious Pitt in Shadows in the Storm, and reunited with Burt Reynolds and Christopher Reeve for the comedy film Switching Channels, his fifth time in a movie with Reynolds. He appeared in a 1998 sports-drama film written and directed by Spike Lee and starring Denzel Washington, He Got Game. In 1999, Beatty returned to work with Cookie's Fortune, Life, and Spring Forward.
thumb|right|Beatty in 1996
2000s
In the beginning of the 2000s, he was a member of the original cast of the television police drama reunion film Homicide: The Movie (2000), reprising his role of Detective Stanley Bolander. In 2002, he appeared in Peter Hewitt's film Thunderpants. In 2003, he portrayed a simple sheriff in Where the Red Fern Grows.
Beatty also enjoyed a career as a stage actor, including a run in the Broadway and London productions of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with Brendan Fraser and Frances O'Connor. He won a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play for playing Big Daddy in a production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
In the middle of the 2000s, Beatty appeared in the television film The Wool Cap (2004) with William H. Macy, and in 2005, in an American independent film directed and written by Ali Selim, Sweet Land. In March 2006, Beatty received the RiverRun International Film Festival's "Master of Cinema" Award (the highest honor of the festival), in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
At the end of the 2000s, Beatty portrayed a corrupt U.S. Senator in the film version of Stephen Hunter's novel Point of Impact titled Shooter (2007), directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring Mark Wahlberg, Michael Peña, and Danny Glover; in a drama film written and directed by Paul Schrader, The Walker (2007), and as the honorable U.S. Congressman Doc Long in the true story Charlie Wilson's War (2007), with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, directed by Mike Nichols. He also worked with Tommy Lee Jones in the thriller In the Electric Mist (2009).
2010s
In 2010, Beatty starred in the thriller The Killer Inside Me (2010), which was part of the Sundance Film Festival. He also voiced Lots-O'-Huggin' Bear in the 2010 Disney/Pixar film Toy Story 3 (2010) opposite Charlie Wilson's War costar Tom Hanks, who was reprising his role of Woody from the first two films. playing the role of Tortoise John. He appeared briefly in the film Funny Guy and in the film Rampart (2011), opposite Woody Harrelson, which is set in 1999 Los Angeles. Beatty's final television appearance was in sitcom television series Go On (2013), starring Matthew Perry.
Beatty's next film was The Big Ask (2013), a dark comedy about three couples who head to the desert to help their friend heal after the death of his mother. The film featured Gillian Jacobs, Zachary Knighton, David Krumholtz, Melanie Lynskey, Ahna O'Reilly, and Jason Ritter, and was directed by his son Thomas Beatty and Rebecca Fishman. His other 2013 film was Baggage Claim, an American comedy film directed by David E. Talbert and written by Talbert based on his book of the same name, opposite Paula Patton, Adam Brody, Djimon Hounsou, Taye Diggs, Christina Milian and Derek Luke, which was also Beatty's final film role before his retirement.
Personal life and death
thumb|right|Beatty in 2006
Beatty was married four times. His first wife was Walta Chandler; they were married from 1959 until 1968 and had four children. His second wife was actress Belinda Rowley; they were married from 1971 to 1979 and had two children.
On June 29, 2012, Beatty attended a 40th anniversary screening of Deliverance at Warner Bros., with Burt Reynolds, Ronny Cox and Jon Voight.
He supported Jesse Jackson's 1988 presidential campaign.
Beatty died at his home in Los Angeles, on June 13, 2021, at the age of 83.
Filmography
Film
{|class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Year
!Films
!Role
! Notes
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1972
| Deliverance
| Bobby Trippe
|
|-
| The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
| Tector Crites
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1973
| The Thief Who Came to Dinner
| Deams
|
|-
| The Last American Hero
| Hackel
|
|-
|White Lightning
| Sheriff J.C. Connors
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1975
| W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings
| 'Country Bull' Jenkins
|
|-
| Nashville
| Delbert Reese
|
|-
| rowspan="5" | 1976
| All the President's Men
| Martin Dardis
|
|-
| The Big Bus
| Scotty 'Shorty Scotty'
|
|-
| Network
| Arthur Jensen
| Nominated – Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
|-
| Silver Streak
| FBI Agent Bob Stevens / Bob Sweet
|
|-
| Mikey and Nicky
| Kinney
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1977
| Exorcist II: The Heretic
| Edwards
|
|-
| Alambrista!
| Anglo Coyote
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1978
| Gray Lady Down
| Mickey
|
|-
| The Great Bank Hoax
| Julius Taggart
|
|-
| Superman
| Otis
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1979
| Promises in the Dark
| Bud Koenig
|
|-
| Wise Blood
| Hoover Shoates
|
|-
| 1941
| Ward Douglas
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1980
| The American Success Company
| Mr. Elliott
|
|-
|Hopscotch
| G.P. "See you next Tuesday" Myerson
|
|-
| Superman II
| Otis
|
|-
| 1981
| The Incredible Shrinking Woman
| Dan Beame
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1982
|The Toy
| Sydney Morehouse
|
|-
|The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez
| Lynch Mob Leader
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1983
| Stroker Ace
| Clyde Torkle
|
|-
| Touched
| Herbie
|
|-
| 1985
| Restless Natives
| Bender
|
|-
| 1986
| Back to School
| Dean David Martin
|
|-
| rowspan="4" | 1987
| The Big Easy
| Jack Kellom
|
|-
| The Fourth Protocol
| General Pavel Borisov
|
|-
| Rolling Vengeance
| 'Tiny' Doyle
|
|-
| The Trouble with Spies
| Harry Lewis
|
|-
| rowspan="6" | 1988
| Shadows in the Storm
| Thelonious Pitt
|
|-
| Switching Channels
| Roy Ridnitz
|
|-
| The Unholy
| Lieutenant Stern
|
|-
| Midnight Crossing
| Ellis
|
|-
| After the Rain
| Kozen
|
|-
| Purple People Eater
| Sam Johnson
|
|-
| rowspan="5" | 1989
| Time Trackers
| Harry Orth
|
|-
| Physical Evidence
| James Nicks
|
|-
| Tennessee Nights
| Charlie Kiefer
|
|-
| Chattahoochee
| Dr. Harwood
|
|-
| Ministry of Vengeance
| Reverend Bloor
|
|-
| rowspan="7" | 1990
| Going Under
| Admiral Malice
|
|-
| Big Bad John
| Charlie Mitchelle
|
|-
| Angel Square
| Officer Ozzie O'Driscoll
|
|-
| A Cry in the Wild
| Jake Holcomb
|
|-
| Repossessed
| Ernest Weller
|
|-
| Fat Monroe
| Fat Monroe
| Short
|-
| Captain America
| Sam Kolawetz
|
|-
| 1991
| Hear My Song
| Josef Locke
| Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture<br />IGN Award for Favorite Villain<br />Nominated –IGN Movie Award for Best Ensemble Cast<br />Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Villain
|-
| Kojak
| Det. Dan Corrigan
| Episode: "The Marcus-Nelson Murders"
|-
| Dying Room Only
| Tom King
| Television film
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1974
| The Rockford Files
| Leon Fielding
| Episode: "Profit and Loss"
|-
| The Execution of Private Slovik
| Father Stafford
| Television film
|-
| rowspan="7" | 1975
| Lucas Tanner
| Harold Ogden
| Episode: "A Touch of Bribery"
|-
| The Deadly Tower
| Allan Crum
| Television film
|-
| M*A*S*H
| Colonel Hollister
|Episode: "Dear Peggy"
|-
|Gunsmoke
|Karp
|Episode: "The Hiders"
|-
| rowspan="3" |1989
| Spy
| Thomas Ludlow
| Television film
|-
| Last Train Home
| Cornelius van Horne
| Nominated – Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Special
|-
| B.L. Stryker
| Ryan Quinn
| Episode: "The King of Jazz"
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1990
| It's Garry Shandling's Show
| Himself
| Episode: "The Wedding Show"
|-
| The Tragedy of Flight 103: The Inside Story
| Edward C. Acker
| Television film
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1992
| Road to Avonlea
| Wally Higgins
| Episode: "The Calamitous Courting of Hetty King"
|-
| 2008
| Law & Order
| Judge Malcolm Reynolds
| Episode: "Zero"
|-
| 2013
| Go On
| Coach Spence
| Episode: "Go Deep"
|}
Video games
{|class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Notes
|-
| 1994
| Loadstar: The Legend of Tully Bodine
| Sheriff Francis Wompler
| Appears in live action video sequences
|-
| 2010
| Toy Story 3: The Video Game
| Lots-O'-Huggin' Bear
| Voice
|}
Theater
{|class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Notes
|-
| 1968
| The Great White Hope
| Various
| Replacement
|-
| 2004
| Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
| Big Daddy Pollitt
| Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play
|}
Awards and nominations
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Award
! Category
! Nominated work
! Result
! Ref.
|-
| 1976
| Academy Awards
| Best Supporting Actor
| Network
|
| align="center"|
|-
| 2004
| Drama Desk Awards
| Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play
| Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
|
| align="center"|
|-
| 1991
| Golden Globe Awards
| Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
| Hear My Song
|
| align="center"|
|-
| 2011
| MTV Movie & TV Awards
| Best Villain
| Toy Story 3
|
| align="center"|
|-
| 1990
| Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Special
| Last Train Home
|
|-
| 1999
| Online Film & Television Association
| Best Ensemble
| Cookie's Fortune
|
|-
| 2006
| RiverRun International Film Festival
| Master of Cinema
|
|
|}
See also
- List of people from the Louisville metropolitan area
References
External links
- Ned Beatty Interview by Beth Stevens on Broadway.com