Western Character Actor Matt Clark Dies at 89

Matt Clark, Character Actor in a Barnful of Movie Westerns, Dies at 89

He appeared in ‘The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean,’ ‘Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid,’ ‘The Outlaw Josey Wales,’ ‘Hearts of the West’ and so many other films in the genre.

Matt Clark, the familiar character actor who like sagebrush found his way into Westerns including Paul Newman’s The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, John Wayne’s The Cowboys and Clint Eastwood’s The Outlaw Josey Wales, has died. He was 89.

Below: Matt Clark in The Outlaw Josey Wales

Clark died Sunday in Austin, Texas, his daughter, producer Amiee Clark, told The Hollywood Reporter. He broke his back a few months ago, she said.

Clark also acted alongside Robert Redford in Sydney Pollack’s Jeremiah Johnson (1972) and Brubaker (1980) — in the latter, he portrayed Purcell, the former warden’s clerk, in one of his best known roles — and opposite Eastwood in Don Siegel’s The Beguiled (1971), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) and Honkytonk Man (1982) (Below).

And he did four films for director Stuart Rosenberg: Pocket Money (1972), The Laughing Policeman (1973), Brubaker and Let’s Get Harry (1986).

As a director himself, Clark helmed the 1988 feature Da (1988), starring Bernard Hughes, Martin Sheen and his onetime acting teacher, William Hickey. The film is about a New York playwright summoned to Ireland to bury his father.

Clark’s work in Westerns also included Will Penny (1967), Monte Walsh (1970), Macho Callahan (1970), The Culpepper Cattle Co. (1972), The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid (1972), Sam Peckinpaugh’s Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973), Howard Zieff’s Hearts of the West (1975), Kid Vengeance (1976), The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981) and A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014).

Below: with Robert Redford in Brubaker

“I just loved ’em!” Clark said in a 1991 interview. “Just like you always wanted to do as a little kid, you put on chaps and boots and tie on spurs that jingle when you walk.”

Clark was born in Washington on Nov. 25, 1936, and raised in Arlington, Virginia. His father, Frederick, built boats and cabinets, and his mother, Theresa, was a schoolteacher.

He spent two years in the U.S. Army and studied business administration at George Washington University before leaving to pursue acting. In New York, he studied at the HB Studio with Herbert Berghof and Hickey, joined the Living Theatre and understudied for Sheen (who would become a lifelong friend) in the original 1964-66 Broadway production of The Subject Was Roses.

Clark made his big-screen debut in Black Like Me (1964), starring James Whitmore, and played a Southern punk in the Oscar best picture winner In the Heat of the Night (1967), directed by Norman Jewison.

Below: with Burt Reynolds in White Lightning

The dependable Clark also appeared in The Bridge at Remagen (1969), Robert Aldrich’s The Grissom Gang (1971), White Lightning (1973), Emperor of the North (1973), Outlaw Blues (1977), Walter Hill’s The Driver (1978), Some Kind of Hero (1982), Country (1984), The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984), Return to Oz (1985), Back to the Future Part III (1990) and 42 (2013).

“He was the kind of actor that defined Hollywood filmmaking in its greatest era,” Hacks director Gary Rosen said in a statement, “the utterly unique character player who made every scene he appeared in memorable, often stealing them from stars like Rod Steiger, Robert Redford, Clint Eastwood and John Wayne.

“His roles in In the Heat of the Night, Jeremiah Johnson, The Outlaw Josey Wales, The Cowboys, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, among many others, helped to elevate those films to classic status. He leaves the stage, but his performances will be remembered forever.”

For television, he played the guy named Walt Bacon who works at Foxworthy Heating & Air on the first season of the ABC sitcom The Jeff Foxworthy Show, recurred on Grace Under Fire and appeared on Ben Casey, Dog and Cat, The Waltons, Magnum, P.I., The Practice, Chicago Hope and in the famed miniseries The Winds of War and Barbarians at the Gate.

“By the time I worked with Matt Clark on the film 42,” director Brian Helgeland said, “he had already been in more than 120 different productions in a career that stretched back to the early 1960s. You’d think there would be a little bit of ‘been there, done that’ in him.

“But what did I get? I got an artist who not only keenly understood his role but understood the scene he was in and where it fell in the grand scheme of the film. I got a talented performer who was more than eager to improvise and stay perfectly in character until the cameras stopped rolling. In short, I got a genuine actor. And I was lucky to have him.”

In addition to his daughter, survivors include his third wife, Sharon, whom he married in January 2000; his sons, Matthias Clark (a musician), Jason Clark (a producer on the Peacock series Ted) and Seth Clark (a film editor); grandchildren Sequoia, Dylan, Elizabeth, Miles, Emily, Izzy, Dax, Emanuel and Lucas; great-grandson Claude; and stepchildren Michelle, Joyce and Ray. He was preceded in death by another daughter, Alexandria.

“He built his own house with his own hands,” his family noted in a statement. “He kept his closest friendships for sixty years. He showed up for the work, and for his people, every time. He was complex. He was tough. He could be gruff. But the moral compass never wavered, and the love was never in doubt. You could see it — in his eyes, in his performances, in the family he loved to keep together. He lived. He lives, forever.”

RIP Sir

Photo Opportunity #71 Clint at the MGM Studios 1967

Photo Opportunity #71 Clint at the MGM Studios 1967

For our March Photo Opportunity, I’ve used a photo from our dedicated Hang ‘Em High page. I always try to use something that isn’t featured elsewhere on the site, but to be honest, finding something original is becoming harder and harder – plus it’s such a cracking shot that I’ve always thought it deserved a space of its own. 

It’s a photo taken during an interior shot at the MGM studios in California for the film Hang ‘Em High (1967). It was taken during the scene where three members of the original lynch mob Tommy, Loomis and Wilson attempt to kill Cooper in a brothel, and seriously wound him in the process.

On his return home after completing the Dollar trilogy, Clint’s Business manager Irving Leonard, gave him a script to a new film, the American revisionist Western Hang 'Em High, a cross between Rawhide and Leone's westerns, written by Mel Goldberg and produced by Leonard Freeman. However, the William Morris Agency had wanted him to star in a bigger picture, Mackenna's Gold, with a cast of notable actors such as Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif, and Telly Savalas. Eastwood, however, did not approve and preferred the script for Hang 'Em High. It was also the first of Eastwood’s movies to feature his own production company credit - Malpaso. 

The film became a major success after release in August 1968, and with an opening-day revenue of $5,241 in Baltimore alone. According to author Patrick McGilligan, Hang 'Em High became the biggest United Artists opener in history, exceeding all of the James Bond films at that time. 

Australian Press Sheets

Australian Press Sheets

I guess most press sheets that have occupied the collector’s market are usually made up of American and British – however, one particular country we don’t see to much of is the Australian marketing. They don’t differ too much in their style – usually double sided with a synopsis, cast, some advertising and the odd story or two. But it’s nice to see them and how they have developed over the decades. So, I thought I’d post a small selection of examples here covering the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. Every now and then a rare piece of artwork or design surfaces on these press sheets, most of which are the standard A4 in size. 

 

Just your 4 Movies for a $5 All Night Show….

Just your 4 Movies for a $5 All Night Show….

Here’s a great old Advertisement which probably dates to around 1977 or 1978. The advertisement lists three specific Village Drive-ins locations in Melbourne, Victoria, that hosted this quadruple-feature event. All three were major venues for the Village Roadshow chain during the peak of drive-in popularity in Australia.

The show features the original three "Dirty Harry" films (Dirty Harry, Magnum Force, The Enforcer) starring Clint Eastwood, plus another great Warner Bros film Deliverance, the John Boorman movie starring Burt Reynolds and Jon Voight. 

A reminder of Great days – when the $5 Dollars in your pocket took care of a whole night.

Many thanks to Davy Triumph for unearthing this beauty. 

The Archive mourns the loss of the Great Robert Duvall

The Archive mourns the loss of the Great Robert Duvall  

Robert Duvall, Star of ‘The Godfather’ and ‘Joe Kidd,’ Dies at 95. It was terrible waking up to this heart breaking news yesterday. If ever there was a Hollywood great, Duvall was right up there. As a tribute I’ve decided to post the Variety post by Carmel Dagan. I have added a few pieces as well as some of my own images. 

Robert Duvall, who won an Oscar for “Tender Mercies” and was nominated for his roles in films including “The Godfather,” “Apocalypse Now,” and “The Great Santini,” has died. He was 95.

Duvall’s death was announced on Facebook via a statement from his wife, Luciana Duvall.

“Yesterday we said goodbye to my beloved husband, cherished friend, and one of the greatest actors of our time,” she wrote. “Bob passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by love and comfort. To the world, he was an Academy Award-winning actor, a director, a storyteller. To me, he was simply everything.”

She continued, “His passion for his craft was matched only by his deep love for characters, a great meal, and holding court. For each of his many roles, Bob gave everything to his characters and to the truth of the human spirit they represented. In doing so, he leaves something lasting and unforgettable to us all. Thank you for the years of support you showed Bob and for giving us this time and privacy to celebrate the memories he leaves behind.”

Duvall’s gruff naturalism came to define the acting style of a generation that included Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman in such films as “Network” and “The Apostle,” which he also directed.

And while he may never have been as big a star as DeNiro, his unshowy ability to fully embrace the characters he played earned him respect both from his peers and from critics. As Francis Ford Coppola once told the New York Times, at a certain point, it’s “hard to say the difference between leading men and great character actors.”

He was an actor’s actor who drew seven Oscar nominations but also found time to shine in TV vehicles such as “Lonesome Dove” and “Broken Trail,” drawing a total of five Emmy nominations and winning twice.

His first big-screen role, and one of his most memorable, was the scary Boo Radley in 1962’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.” 

While Duvall’s career took some time to get off the ground despite the strong start, by the early to mid-’70s he had come into his own, combining the abilities for seamless character acting with occasional strong forays into larger roles.

In 1969, he paired with a young director, Francis Ford Coppola, on the intimate drama “The Rain People,” and the next year got the juicy role of Frank Burns in Robert Altman’s “MASH.” He also starred in George Lucas’ experimental “THX 1138.” 

The actor was doing interesting work onstage. But the movie that turned it all around was 1972’s “The Godfather,” in which he played the patient and sly consigliere Tom Hagen, the role that brought him his first Oscar nomination. He reprised his role as Hagen in “The Godfather: Part II” in 1974. He also appeared in Coppola’s “The Conversation” and as Dr. Watson in Herbert Ross’ “The Seven-Per-Cent Solution.”

In 1976, he had a memorable role as a ruthless television executive in “Network,” and three years later, as Colonel Kilgore, he uttered the memorable “I love the smell of napalm in the morning” line in Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now,” walking off with a second Oscar nomination.

In 1977, he and Ulu Grosbard paired to bring David Mamet’s “American Buffalo” to Broadway to mixed notices. The same year he made a rural documentary called “We’re Not Jet Set” and in the early ’80s directed the small, finely observed “Angelo, My Love.”

It was not, however, until “The Great Santini,” in which he played the title character, a blustery, militaristic father, that he established his leading man credentials on film, garnering his first Oscar nomination as best actor in 1980. The following year, he won kudos at the Venice Film Festival opposite Robert De Niro in “True Confessions.”

Then, in 1984, his quiet, detailed performance in “Tender Mercies,” written by Horton Foote and directed by Bruce Beresford, brought him the Oscar as best actor.

Thereafter, however, he often received top billing for secondary or co-lead roles, as in “The Natural,” “Colors,” “Days of Thunder,” “Rambling Rose,” “Geronimo: An American Legend” and “Deep Impact.”

Duvall received considerable attention for his 1997 film “The Apostle,” which he directed and toplined. He was Oscar nominated for best actor for his role as a womanizing Texas preacher who must start again after committing an act of violence. At the Independent Spirit Awards, “The Apostle” took best picture and twin nods for Duvall as actor and director.

Duvall drew an Oscar nomination for supporting actor the following year for his role as a brilliant but eccentric lawyer who is attorney John Travolta’s nemesis in the courtroom drama “A Civic Action.”

Other efforts included the Nicolas Cage actioner “Gone in Sixty Seconds” and Arnold Schwarzenegger sci-fi thriller “The Sixth Day”; sports pic “A Shot at Glory” in which he tried a Scottish brogue and hostage drama “John Q.”

Duvall wrote, directed and starred in the enigmatic 2003 film “Assassination Tango,” about a hitman with obsessive tendencies who’s sent to Argentina and becomes involved with a dancer.

He returned to the Western genre in Kevin Costner’s 2003 film “Open Range,” then the actor portrayed Gen. Robert E. Lee in “Gods and Generals,” and starred in “Secondhand Lions,” a small film in which he and Michael Caine got to riff off each other as a pair of eccentric great-uncles to young Haley Joel Osment.

Duvall was a crusty cop in James Gray’s “We Own the Night,” but the actor had some fun lampooning his notoriously crusty characters in small roles in “Four Christmases” and the 2005 satire “Thank You for Smoking.”

The actor did not slow down as he neared his 80th birthday: In 2009 he appeared in John Hillcoat’s “The Road”; starred in the small but well-liked “Get Low,” in which he played a bearded hermit who is, to use Roger Ebert’s phrase, “a sly old twinkler”; and did a supporting turn in and produced “Crazy Heart,” which reminded many of Duvall’s “Tender Mercies.”

The actor reunited with “Lonesome Dove” screenwriter Bill Wittliff for 2014’s “A Night in Old Mexico” and the same year starred in “The Judge” as a jurist accused of a hit-and-run murder and defended by the son (Robert Downey Jr.) who represents everything he despises about the law. The film, said Variety, “pivots on a simple yet inspired stroke of casting, pitting Duvall’s iconic gravitas against Downey’s razor-sharp wit, and then supplying no shortage of opportunities for both men to chew the scenery.” Duvall drew his seventh Oscar nomination for his work in the film.

In 2015, the actor’s first directorial effort since 2002’s “Assassination Tango,” the ambitious indie feature “Wild Horses,” premiered at SXSW.

One of his final screen roles came in Scott Cooper’s “The Pale Blue Eye” in 2022.

Born in San Diego, Duvall was the son of a Navy rear admiral and grew up in various parts of the country, but especially Annapolis, Md., site of the U.S Naval Academy. It was actually at the insistence of his parents and teachers that Duvall began to study drama. After graduating from Principia College and the completion of his military service, Duvall studied under Sanford Meisner at New York’s Neighborhood Playhouse.

He hung out with friends like Robert Morse, Hackman and Hoffman. A one-night only performance of Arthur Miller’s “A View From the Bridge” in 1957 directed by Grosbard led to television work on “Naked City” and guest appearances on “The Defenders,” “Armstrong Circle Theater,” “The FBI” and other shows.

Through the ’60s, even after the enormous success of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” he subsisted on character roles in films including “Captain Newman M.D.,” “The Chase,” “The Detective,” “True Grit” and “Bullitt.” And he was a staple in Westerns such as “Lawman,” “The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid” and Eastwood’s “Joe Kidd.”

But he was also doing fine work in the theatre in “Mrs. Warren’s Profession,” “Call Me by My Rightful Name,” “The Days and Nights of Beebee Fenstermaker” and a full-fledged Off Broadway production of “A View From the Bridge” in 1965, co-starring Jon Voight and Susan Anspach.

Urban crime dramas were his other staple along with Westerns. They included, during the 1970s, “Badge 373,” “Breakout” and Sam Peckinpah’s “The Killer Elite.”

TV occasionally offered the actor a juicy, fully dimensional role. In 1979, he starred in the TV movie “Ike” as General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Ten years later, he starred in the highly praised CBS miniseries “Lonesome Dove,” picking up an Emmy nomination. He starred as the Soviet dictator in the 1992 HBO film “Stalin,” for which he earned a second Emmy nom. In 1997, he drew an Emmy nomination for his role as the title Nazi in “The Man Who Captured Eichmann”; and in 2006, he not only toplined but also exec produced the miniseries “Broken Trail,” whose success put cabler AMC on the map as a producer of original content — and earned Duvall two Emmys, one for his performance and another, shared with the other producers, for outstanding miniseries. For HBO, he appeared in the 2012 telepic “Hemingway and Gelhorn,” in which he played a Russian general.

He is survived by his fourth wife, Luciana Pedraza, with whom he starred in “Assassination Tango.”

RIP Sir, and thank you.