Biography

Richard Farnsworth

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An American stuntman who, after more than 30 years in the business, moved into acting and became an acclaimed and respected character actor, Richard Farnsworth was a native of Los Angeles. He grew up around horses and as a teenager was offered an opportunity to ride in films. He appeared in horse-racing scenes and cavalry charges unbilled, first as a general rider and later as a stuntman. His riding and stunting skills gained him regular work doubling stars ranging from Roy Rogers to Gary Cooper, and he often doubled the bad guy as well. Although. like most stuntmen, he was occasionally given a line or two of dialogue, it was not until Farnsworth was over 50 that his natural talent for acting and his ease and warmth before the camera became apparent. When he won an Academy Award nomination for his role in Comes a Horseman (1978), it came as a surprise to many in the industry that this "newcomer" had been around since the 1930s. Farnsworth followed his Oscar nomination with a number of finely wrought performances, including The Grey Fox (1982) and The Natural (1984). In 1999 he came out of semi-retirement for a tour-de-force portrayal in The Straight Story (1999).
- IMDb mini biography by: Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net> (qv's & corrections by A. Nonymous)

Shortly before his death, when asked by film critic Roger Ebert what he was most proud of in regard to his acting career, he replied that it was the fact that in over 60 movies he never says one cuss word.
He was 43 years old when he received his first acting credit.
Was a stunt man for 30 years before becoming an actor.
He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1560 Vine Street in Hollywood, California on August 17, 1992.
Billy Crystal singled out Farnsworth at the 72nd Academy Awards telling everyone it was "great to see him, and his nomination was a great story".

But I don't really care for directors flaring up and trying to humble some actor, which they would do to try and make an example out of them so everybody else would stay on the ball--and [David Lynch] wasn't anything like that.
No, I didn't audition, I didn't even know David Lynch until the week before I started the film.
I worked with Cecil B. DeMille quite a few times.
I worked for Sam Peckinpah on quite a bit of action in his films, and he got excited once in a while.
I worked for John Ford, Howard Hawks, Henry Hathaway, Raoul Walsh--I worked for some real good directors.

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