Dennis Weaver
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Billy Dennis Weaver (June 4, 1924 – February 24, 2006) was an American actor and president of the Screen Actors Guild, best known for his work in television and films from the early 1950s until just before his death in 2006. Weaver's two most famous roles were as Marshal Matt Dillon's deputy Chester Goode on the western Gunsmoke and as Deputy Marshal Sam McCloud on the police drama McCloud. He starred in the 1971 television film Duel, the first film of director Steven Spielberg. He is also remembered for his role as the twitchy motel attendant in Orson Welles's film Touch of Evil (1958).
Weaver was born June 4, 1924, in Joplin, Missouri, the son of Walter Leon "Doc" Weaver and his wife Lenna Leora (née Prather). Weaver wanted to be an actor from childhood. He lived in Shreveport, Louisiana, for several years and for a short time in Manteca, California. He studied at Joplin Junior College, then transferred to the University of Oklahoma at Norman, where he studied drama and was a track star, setting records in several events. During World War II, he served as a pilot in the United States Navy, flying Grumman F4F Wildcat fighter aircraft. After the war, he married Gerry Stowell (his childhood sweetheart), with whom he had three children. Under the name Billy D. Weaver, he tried out for the 1948 U.S. Olympic team in the decathlon, finishing sixth behind 17-year-old high school track star Bob Mathias. However, only the top three finishers were selected. Weaver later commented, "I did so poorly [in the Olympic Trials], I decided to ... stay in New York and try acting.
Career
Weaver's first role on Broadway came as an understudy to Lonny Chapman as Turk Fisher in Come Back, Little Sheba. He eventually took over the role from Chapman in the national touring company. Solidifying his choice to become an actor, Weaver enrolled in the Actors Studio, where he met Shelley Winters. In the beginning of his acting career, he supported his family by doing odd jobs, including selling vacuum cleaners, tricycles, and women's hosiery.
In 1952, Shelley Winters helped him get a contract from Universal Studios. He made his film debut that same year in the movie The Redhead from Wyoming. Over the next three years, he played in a series of movies, but still had to work odd jobs to support his family. In 1955 he appeared in an episode of The Lone Ranger "The Tell-Tale Bullet", which is viewable on YouTube. While delivering flowers, he heard he had landed the role of Chester Goode, the limping, loyal assistant of Marshal Matt Dillon (James Arness) on the new television series Gunsmoke. It was his big break; the show went on to become the highest-rated and longest-running live action series in United States television history (1955 to 1975), an honor now held by Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. In 1970, Weaver landed the title role in the NBC series McCloud, for which he received two Emmy Award nominations. The show, about a modern Western lawman who ends up in New York City, was loosely based on the Clint Eastwood film Coogan's Bluff.
Weaver married Gerry Stowell after World War II, and they had three sons: Richard, Robert, and Rustin Weaver. Gerry died April 26, 2016, at 90.
Death
Weaver died from prostate cancer at his home in Ridgway, Colorado, on February 24, 2006, at age 81. CLR
Fotos
Películas (63)
Home on the Range
2004 · Abner (voice)
Submerged
2000 · Buck Stevens
High Noon
2000 · Mart Howe
The Virginian
2000 · Sam Balaam
Escape from Wildcat Canyon
1998 · Grandpa Flint
Seduction in a Small Town
1997 · Sam Jenks
Stolen Women, Captured Hearts
1997 · Captain Farnsworth
Two Bits & Pepper
1995 · Sheriff Pratt
Greyhounds
1994 · Chance Wayne
Mastergate
1992 · Vice President Dale Burden
Earth and the American Dream
1992 · Reader (voice)
Great Adventurers & Their Quests: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
1990 · Narrator
Dennis Weaver's Earthship
1990
The Return of Sam McCloud
1989 · Sam McCloud
Disaster at Silo 7
1988 · Sheriff Ben Harlen
Walking After Midnight
1988 · Self
Bluffing It
1987 · Jack Duggan
Amy Grant: Headin' Home for the Holidays
1986 · Tom Miller
A Winner Never Quits
1986 · Mr. Wyshner
Going for the Gold: The Bill Johnson Story
1985 · Wally Johnson
Cocaine: One Man's Seduction
1983 · Eddie Gant
Don't Go to Sleep
1982 · Phillip
The Day the Loving Stopped
1981 · Aaron Danner
The Ordeal of Dr. Mudd
1980 · Dr. Samuel A. Mudd
Amber Waves
1980 · Elroy 'Bud' Burkhardt
Stone
1979 · Daniel Ellis Stone
A Cry for Justice
1979 · Sgt. Ted Bentley
The Ordeal of Patty Hearst
1979 · Charles Bates
Ishi: The Last of His Tribe
1978 · Prof. Benjamin Fuller
The Islander
1978 · Gable McQueen
Intimate Strangers
1977 · Donald Halston
Terror on the Beach
1973 · Neil Glynn
Female Artillery
1973 · Deke Chambers
Rolling Man
1972 · Lonnie McAfee
The Great Man's Whiskers
1972 · Abraham Lincoln
Duel
1971 · David Mann
The Forgotten Man
1971 · Lt. Joe Hardy
What's the Matter with Helen?
1971 · Linc Palmer
A Man Called Sledge
1970 · Erwin Ward
Swing Out, Sweet Land
1970 · Self
The Dean Martin Christmas Show
1968 · Self
Mission Batangas
1968 · Chip Corbett
Gentle Giant
1967 · Tom Wedloe
Gallegher Goes West
1966 · George Tucker, the Sundown Kid
Way... Way Out
1966 · Hoffman
Duel at Diablo
1966 · Willard Grange
The Gallant Hours
1960 · Andy Lowe
Touch of Evil
1958 · Mirador Motel Night Manager
Storm Fear
1955 · Hank
Chief Crazy Horse
1955 · Maj. Carlisle
Seven Angry Men
1955 · John Brown Jr.
Ten Wanted Men
1955 · Sheriff Clyde Gibbons
Dragnet
1954 · Capt. R.A. Lohrman
Dangerous Mission
1954 · Ranger clerk
War Arrow
1953 · Pino
The Golden Blade
1953
The Man from the Alamo
1953 · Tennessean (uncredited)
Column South
1953 · Menguito
Law and Order
1953 · Frank Durling
The Mississippi Gambler
1953 · Julian Contant
The Redhead from Wyoming
1953 · Matt Jessup
The Lawless Breed
1952 · Jim Clements
Horizons West
1952 · Dandy Taylor
Series (38)
Wildfire
2005 · Henry Ritter
Family Law
1999 · Judge Richard Lloyd
E! True Hollywood Story
1996
Touched by an Angel
1994 · Emmett Rivers
Lonesome Dove: The Series
1994 · Buffalo Bill Cody
Captain Planet and the Planeteers
1990
Los Simpson
1989 · Buck McCoy (voice)
Buck James
1987 · Dr. Buck James
Emerald Point N.A.S.
1983 · Rear Adm. Thomas Mallory
Magnum, P.I.
1980 · Lacy Fletcher
Stone
1980 · Det. Sgt. Daniel Stone
Pearl
1978 · Col. Jason Forrest
Centennial
1978 · R.J. Poteet
The Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries
1977 · Self
Cher
1975 · Self - Guest
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
1973 · Self
Police Story
1973
The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
1971
The Pet Set
1971 · Self
The Don Knotts Show
1970 · Self
McCloud
1970 · Sam McCloud, Director
The Name of the Game
1968 · Walter Grayson
Gentle Ben
1967 · Tom Wedloe, Director
Judd, for the Defense
1967
That Girl
1966
Kentucky Jones
1964 · Kentucky Jones
Combat!
1962 · Noah
The Merv Griffin Show
1962 · Self
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962 · Self
The Mike Douglas Show
1961 · Self - Co-Host, Self
Dr. Kildare
1961 · Wayne Wandemeir
The Twilight Zone
1959 · Adam Grant
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
1955 · Charles Cavender
Gunsmoke
1955 · Chester, Director
Climax!
1954 · Steve Maclyn
Dragnet
1951 · Russ Camp
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
1951 · Ben
The Ed Sullivan Show
1948 · Self