R. G. Armstrong
R. G. Armstrong | |
---|---|
Studio City, California, U.S. | |
Alma mater | Howard College of Samford University University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (B.A.) The Actors Studio |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1954–2001 |
Spouses | Ann Neale
(m. 1952; div. 1972)Susan M. Guthrie
(m. 1973; div. 1976)Mary Craven
(m. 1993; died 2003) |
Children | 4 |
Robert Golden Armstrong Jr. (April 7, 1917 – July 27, 2012) was an American character actor and playwright. A veteran performer who appeared in dozens of Westerns during his 40-year career, he may be best remembered for his work with director Sam Peckinpah.[2][3]
Early life
Armstrong was born in
Armstrong wanted to write, rather than act, and said in 1966, "I struggled so hard to be a serious writer."[5] As a student at UNC he wrote a three-act play that was produced. By 1966, he had written "nine full-length plays, four unpublished novels, and 50 unpublished poems."[5]
Career
On Broadway, Armstrong portrayed Dr. Baugh and Big Daddy in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), Sheriff Talbott in Orpheus Descending (1957), and Captain Keller in The Miracle Worker (1959).[6] He also began writing his own plays, which were performed off-Broadway.
Armstrong's first film appearance was in the 1954 film
Armstrong appeared on
While working on The Westerner in 1960, Armstrong met the up-and-coming writer/director Sam Peckinpah. The two men immediately struck up a friendship. Peckinpah recognized Armstrong's inner turmoil regarding the religious beliefs of his family and utilized that to brilliant effect in his films. Armstrong would almost always play a slightly unhinged fundamentalist Christian in Peckinpah's films, usually wielding a Bible in one hand and a shotgun in the other. This character archetype appeared in Ride the High Country (1962), Major Dundee (1965), and perhaps most memorably in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973). However, Armstrong also appeared in The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970), playing a more likeable character.
Even outside of Peckinpah's work, Armstrong became a tier-one character actor in his own right, appearing in dozens of films over his career, playing both villains and sympathetic characters. Some of his more memorable roles outside of Peckinpah's films include a sympathetic rancher in
He semi-retired from films and television in the late 1990s, but he continued to be active in off-Broadway theater in New York and Los Angeles, until finally retiring from acting in 2005 because of near-blindness due to cataracts.[citation needed]
In 1991, Armstrong gained critical praise[citation needed] for his portrayal of the title character in the music video for "Enter Sandman" from heavy metal band Metallica.
Personal life and death
Armstrong was married three times:[2] his first wife was Ann Neale, with whom he had four children; he was then married to Susan Guthrie until 1976;[citation needed] he was married to his third wife, Mary Craven, until her death in 2003.[7]
Armstrong died of natural causes at the age of 95 on July 27, 2012, at his home in
Selected filmography
- Garden of Eden (1954) as J. Randolph Latimore
- Baby Doll (1956) as Townsman Sid (voice, uncredited)
- A Face in the Crowd (1957) as TV Prompter Operator (uncredited)
- From Hell to Texas (1958) as Hunter Boyd
- Never Love a Stranger (1958) as Flix
- No Name on the Bullet (1959) as Asa Canfield
- The Fugitive Kind (1960) as Sheriff Jordan Talbott
- Ten Who Dared (1960) as Oramel Howland
- Ride the High Country (1962) as Joshua Knudsen
- He Rides Tall (1964) as Joshua 'Josh' McCloud
- Major Dundee (1965) as Reverend Dahlstrom
- El Dorado (1967) as Kevin MacDonald
- 80 Steps to Jonah (1969) as Mackray
- Tiger by the Tail (1970) as Ben Holmes
- The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970) as Quittner
- Angels Die Hard (1970) as Mel
- The McMasters (1970) as Watson
- The Great White Hope (1970) as Cap'n Dan
- J. W. Coop (1971) as Jim Sawyer
- Justin Morgan Had a Horse (1972) as Squire Fisk
- The Final Comedown (1972) as Mr. Freeman
- The Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid (1972) as Clell Miller
- The Legend of Hillbilly John (1972) as Bristowe
- Gentle Savage (1973) as Rupert Beeker, Owner of 'Beeker's Bar'
- Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973) as Ollinger
- White Lightning (1973) as Big Bear
- Running Wild (1973) as Bull
- My Name is Nobody(1973) as Honest John
- Cotter (1973) as Jack
- Boss Nigger (1975) as Mayor Griffin
- Race with the Devil (1975) as Sheriff Taylor
- White Line Fever (1975) as Prosecutor
- Mean Johnny Barrows (1976) as Richard
- Stay Hungry (1976) as Thor Erickson
- Dixie Dynamite (1976) as Charlie White, Bank President
- Mr. Billion (1977) as Sheriff T.C. Bishop
- The Car (1977) as Amos
- The Pack (1977) as Cobb
- Texas Detour (1978) as Sheriff Burt
- Heaven Can Wait (1978) as General Manager
- Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell (1978) as Dunworth
- The Time Machine (1978) as General Harris
- Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff (1979) as Mr. Hemmings
- Fast Charlie... the Moonbeam Rider (1979) as Al Barber
- Steel (1979) as Kellin
- Where the Buffalo Roam (1980) as Judge Simpson
- Evilspeak (1981) as Sarge
- Raggedy Man (1981) as Rigby
- The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper(1981) as Dempsey
- Reds (1981) as Government Agent
- The Beast Within (1982) as Doc Schoonmaker
- Hammett (1982) as Lieutenant O'Mara
- The Shadow Riders (1982) as Sheriff Miles Gillette
- Lone Wolf McQuade (1983) as T. Tyler
- Children of the Corn (1984) as Diehl
- The Best of Times (1986) as Schutte
- Red Headed Stranger (1986) as Sheriff Reese Scoby - Driscoll, Montana
- Jocks (1987) as Coach Bettlebom
- Predator (1987) as General Phillips
- Bulletproof (1988) as Miles Blackburn
- Ghetto Blaster (1989) as Curtis
- Trapper County War (1989) as Pop Luddigger
- Dick Tracy (1990) as Pruneface
- Warlock: The Armageddon (1993) as Franks
- Dead Center (1993) as Art Fencer
- Payback (1995) as Mac
- Invasion of Privacy (1996) as Sam Logan, Storekeeper
- Purgatory (1999) as Coachman
- The Waking (2001) as Edward Sloan (final film role)
Selected television
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1960 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Captain Bone | Season 6 Episode 13: "The Man Who Found the Money" |
1962 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Fred Riordan | Season 7 Episode 30: "What Frightened You, Fred?" |
1962 | Rawhide | Gantry Hobson | Season 5, Episode 6, "Incident of the Lost Woman" |
1962 | The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
|
William Downey | Season 1 Episode 6: "Final Vow" |
1963 | The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
|
John Cooley | Season 2 Episode 3: "Terror at Northfield" |
1966-1967 | T.H.E. Cat | Captain McAllister | Recurring role |
References
- ^ Catalog of Copyright Entries. Part 1. [C] Group 3. Dramatic Composition and ... - Library of Congress. Copyright Office - Google Books. September 19, 1940. Retrieved July 29, 2012.
- ^ a b c d Slotnik, Daniel E. (July 31, 2012). "R. G. Armstrong, Character Actor in Westerns, Dies at 95". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 1, 2012. Retrieved July 31, 2012.
- ^ Faulk, Kent (July 29, 2012). "R.G. Armstrong, prolific character actor from Birmingham, dies". The Birmingham News. Retrieved July 31, 2012.
- ISBN 9780802137760. Retrieved July 29, 2012.
- ^ Newspapers.com.
- ^ "R. G. Armstrong". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Archived from the original on June 1, 2021. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
- ISBN 978-1-59393-041-7. "R.G., like L.Q. Jones, is a member of the Cowboy Hall of Fame and received their Golden Boot Award. He was interviewed extensively for David Weddle's biography of Sam Peckinpah [...] He and Mary were also guests at the Peckinpah film festival in Padua, Italy in September, 2000. Sadly, in November 2003, Mary Craven Armstrong died, still only in her fifties."
Further reading
- Humphreys, Justin (2006). "R. G. Armstrong". Names You Never Remember, With Faces You Never Forget : Interviews with the Movies' Character Actors (softcover) (First ed.). Albany, GA: BearManor Media. pp. 10–43. ISBN 978-1-62933-094-5.
External links
- R. G. Armstrong at IMDb
- R. G. Armstrong at the Internet Broadway Database
- Robert G. Armstrong at the University of Wisconsin's Actors Studio audio collection
- R. G. Armstrong at AllMovie