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Richard Farnsworth

Richard Farnsworth

Richard Farnsworth has been in movies since 1937 when he answered a casting call for 500 Mongolian horsemen and made his film debut as a stunt rider in The Adventures of Marco Polo. He has enjoyed years on the rodeo circuit and as a stuntman, working with Cecil B. DeMille driving chariots in The Ten Commandments, and in the films of such notable directors as John Ford, Howard Hawks and Sam Peckinpah.

Farnsworth wielded a sword for Kirk Douglas in Spartacus, an experience he still regards with amusement. "For 16 months I wore this short little skirt with my bony knees knockin' on the back lot of Universal. I looked about as much like a gladiator as my granddaughter, but I held my own."

Farnsworth the actor had his first speaking role in The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox with Goldie Hawn and George Segal. He subsequently appeared in The Stalking Moon, opposite Gregory Peck, and was nominated for an Academy Award in his first major film role in 1977 in Alan J. Pakula's Comes A Horseman with Jane Fonda. He followed those with Tom Horn, starring Steve McQueen and Resurrection with Ellen Burstyn. For his portrayal of the legendary gentleman bandit Bill Miner in The Grey Fox, Farnsworth won Canada's 1983 equivalent to the Oscar®.

More recently, Farnsworth has appeared with Robert Redford in The Natural and with Dolly Parton and Sylvester Stallone in Rhinestone Cowboy, opposite Colleen Dewhurst in Anne of Green Gables, and in Misery.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2000.

Richard Farnsworth Facts

OccupationActor
BirthdaySeptember 1, 1920
SignVirgo
BirthplaceLos Angeles, California, USA
Date of deathOctober 6, 2000 (age 80)
Height6' (1m83)  How tall is Richard Farnsworth compared to you?

Selected Filmography

Anne of Green Gables Trilogy Box Set
Anne of Green Gables
Misery
Red River
The Straight Story
Arrowhead
Resurrection
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