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," "
Sylvester," "
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)