Wilford Brimley

Wilford Brimley
File:Wilford Brimley talking (cropped) (2).jpg Brimley in October 2012
Born	Anthony Wilford Brimley (1934-09-27)September 27, 1934 Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.
Died	St. George, Utah, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, singer
Years active	1967–2017
Spouse(s)	Lynne Bagley (m. 1956; d. 2000) Beverly Berry (m. 2007)
Children	4
Military career
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Marines
Years of service	1953–1956
Rank	Sergeant
Battles/wars	Korean War

Anthony Wilford Brimley (September 27, 1934 – August 1, 2020) was an American actor and singer. After serving in the United States Marine Corps and taking on a variety of odd jobs, he became an extra for Western films, and in little more than a decade he had established himself as a character actor in films such as The China Syndrome (1979), The Thing (1982), Tender Mercies (1983) and The Natural (1984). He was the long-time face of television advertisements for the Quaker Oats Company. He also promoted diabetes education and appeared in related commercials for Liberty Medical.

Early life

Anthony Wilford Brimley was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on September 27, 1934. His father was a real estate broker. Brimley's paternal grandfather was English, originally from Wigan, Lancashire, and his paternal grandmother's parents were Scottish, originally from Glasgow. Brimley's mother was of half Danish descent, and also had Welsh, English, German, and Swiss-German ancestry. Prior to a career in acting, he dropped out of high school at age 14 and worked as a cowboy in Idaho, Nevada and Arizona. He joined the Marines during the Korean War and served in the Aleutian Islands for three years. He also worked as a bodyguard for businessman Howard Hughes, as well as a ranch hand, wrangler, and blacksmith. He then began shoeing horses for film and television. At the behest of his close friend and fellow actor Robert Duvall, he began acting in the 1960s as a riding extra and stunt man in Westerns. In 1979, he told the Los Angeles Times that the most he ever earned in a year as an actor was $20,000. He had no formal training as an actor, and his first experience in acting in front of a live audience was at the Los Angeles Actors' Theater.

Career

Brimley's onscreen breakthrough came when he was cast in the popular 1970s television series The Waltons as Walton's Mountain resident and blacksmith Horace Brimley; he made seven appearances between 1974 and 1977.

His first credited feature film performance was in The China Syndrome (1979) as Ted Spindler, a friend and coworker of plant shift supervisor Jack Godell (portrayed by Jack Lemmon). Later, Brimley made a brief, but pivotal, appearance in Absence of Malice (1981) as the curmudgeonly, outspoken Assistant U.S. Attorney James A. Wells. In the movie The Thing (1982) he played the role of Blair, the biologist of a group of men at an American research station in Antarctica who encounter a dangerous alien that can perfectly imitate other organisms.

Brimley's close friend Robert Duvall (who also appeared in The Natural) was instrumental in securing for him the role of Harry in Tender Mercies (1983). Duvall, who had not been getting along with director Bruce Beresford, wanted "somebody down here that's on my side, somebody that I can relate to." Beresford felt Brimley was too old for the part, but eventually agreed to the casting. Brimley, like Duvall, clashed with the director; during one instance when Beresford tried to advise Brimley on how Harry would behave, Duvall recalled Brimley responding: "Now look, let me tell you something, I'm Harry. Harry's not over there, Harry's not over here. Until you fire me or get another actor, I'm Harry, and whatever I do is fine 'cause I'm Harry."

Brimley then appeared as Pop Fisher, world-weary manager of a slumping baseball team, in The Natural (1984). Shortly thereafter, Brimley secured his first leading role in Ron Howard's Cocoon (1985), portraying Ben Luckett, leader of a group of geriatrics who encounter a magically reinvigorating swimming pool by their retirement home. Brimley was only 49 when he was cast in the role, and turned 50 during filming; he was at least 20 years younger than any of the actors playing the other retirement home residents. In order to look the part, Brimley bleached his hair and moustache to turn them gray, and had wrinkles and liver spots drawn on his face. He also starred in Cocoon: The Return, a 1988 sequel.

Through these and other roles, Brimley became widely known for portraying gruff or stodgy old men, most notably on the short-lived 1980s NBC drama series Our House, also starring Deidre Hall, Chad Allen and Shannen Doherty. One exception was when he played William Devasher, sinister head of security for a Mafia-associated law firm, in the Tom Cruise film The Firm (1993).

After portraying the father of Kevin Kline in In & Out (1997), Brimley retreated from Hollywood in favor of involvement in more independent productions. He made an auspicious mainstream comeback with the TNT film Crossfire Trail (2001), co-starring with Tom Selleck (whom he had previously worked with in the 1980s film High Road to China). He played an intimidating United States Postmaster General in a 1997 episode of Seinfeld ("The Junk Mail"), who forces Kramer to end his boycott of the mail service. After several more years of independent film and TV acting, Brimley had a supporting role in Did You Hear About the Morgans? (2009), making witty exchanges with star Hugh Grant.

Commercials

Brimley frequently appeared in commercials, including a series of commercials for Quaker Oats, a campaign which became famous for his repeating their slogan: "It's the right thing to do." Developed by advertising agency Jordan, McGrath, Case & Taylor, the campaign began in 1987. Brimley appeared in numerous television advertisements for Liberty Medical, a company specializing in home delivery of medical products (including diabetes testing supplies). He appeared in commercials for the American Diabetes Association and was the voice-over for a Bryan Foods television commercial campaign.

Musical interests

Brimley has been described as "a fine singer with a warm, rich voice". In 1993, Brimley sang with the Cal State Northridge Jazz Band for a concert benefiting the college's Jazz Endowment Scholarship Fund; in 2004, he released This Time, The Dream's On Me, an album of jazz standards named after the Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer-penned title track. He was also an accomplished harmonica player; during his 2011 appearance on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Brimley performed a lively rendition of "Oh! Susanna" much to the delight, and surprise, of Ferguson and the studio audience.

Personal life

Brimley was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He married his first wife, Lynne Bagley, on July 6, 1956. They had four sons together: James Charles, John Michael, William Carmen, and Lawrence Dean. They were married until her death in June 2000. Brimley married Beverly Berry on October 31, 2007. They split their time between homes in Greybull, Wyoming and Santa Clara, Utah. In 2009, they founded the nonprofit organization Hands Across the Saddle (HATS) in the Big Horn Basin.

Diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 1979, Brimley began working to raise awareness of the disease. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) honored him in 2008 with an award to recognize his lifetime of service. The ADA presented the award to him at the Port St. Lucie headquarters of Liberty Medical on December 19, 2008. He visited Veterans Administration hospitals and communities to advise patients on how to manage their diseases. His talks about diabetes have become an internet phenomenon and a meme due to Brimley's dialectal pronunciation of "diabetes" as "diabeetus" contrasting with his overall serious tone.

Brimley supported advertisements to have Utah allow horse-race gambling. He spoke against the banning of cockfighting in New Mexico on the basis of his support of individual rights. He also spoke at a 1998 Phoenix rally opposing an Arizona ballot proposition to ban cockfighting, arguing that a ban could lead to efforts to restrict the use of hunting dogs, which opponents of cockfighting called a distraction from the issue. Brimley enjoyed playing poker and played in the World Series of Poker Main Event.

Brimley lent his support to John McCain in the 2008 United States presidential election. In the days leading up to his selection for vice president, McCain jokingly stated that he would pick Brimley: "He's a former Marine and great guy and he's older than I am, so that might work."

Death

On August 1, 2020, Brimley died at a hospital in St. George, Utah, at the age of 85. He had been ill with a kidney condition for two months.

Filmography

Sources:

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1968	Bandolero!		Stuntman (uncredited)
1969	True Grit	Minor Role	Uncredited
1971	Lawman	Marc Corman	Uncredited
1979	The China Syndrome	Ted Spindler
1979	The Electric Horseman	Farmer
1980	Brubaker	Rogers
1980	Borderline	USBP Agent Scooter Jackson
1981	Absence of Malice	Assistant U.S. Attorney General James A. Wells
1982	Death Valley	The Sheriff
1982	The Thing	Dr. Blair
1983	Tender Mercies	Harry
1983	10 to Midnight	Captain Malone
1983	High Road to China	Bradley Tozer
1983	Tough Enough	Bill Long
1984	Harry & Son	Tom Keach
1984	The Hotel New Hampshire	Iowa Bob
1984	The Stone Boy	George Jansen
1984	The Natural	Pop Fisher
1984	Country	Otis
1984	Terror in the Aisles	Doctor Blair	Archive footage
1985	Cocoon	Benjamin 'Ben' Luckett
1985	Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins	Agency Director Harold Smith
1986	Jackals	Sheriff Mitchell
1986	Shadows on the Wall	Floyd Buckman
1987	End of the Line	Will Haney
1988	Cocoon: The Return	Benjamin 'Ben' Luckett
1990	Eternity	King/Eric
1992	Where the Red Fern Grows: Part II	Grandpa Will	Direct-to-video
1993	The Firm	William Devasher
1993	Hard Target	Uncle Douvee
1994	Heaven Sent	Al (Security Guard)
1995	Mutant Species	Devro
1995	Last of the Dogmen	Narrator	Uncredited
1996	My Fellow Americans	Joe Hollis
1997	In & Out	Frank Brackett
1997	Lunker Lake	The Storyteller
1998	Chapter Perfect	Chief Hawkins
1998	Progeny	Dr. David Wetherly
1998	A Place to Grow	Jake
1998	Summer of the Monkeys	Grandpa Sam Ferrans
2000	Comanche	Doctor
2001	Brigham City	Stu
2001	PC and the Web
2002	Resurrection Mary	Morty
2003	The Road Home	Coach Weaver
2009	The Path of the Wind	Harry Caldwell
2009	Did You Hear About the Morgans?	Earl Granger
2016	Timber the Treasure Dog	Hawk Jones
2017	I Believe	Pastor	Final film role

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1974–1977	The Waltons	Horace Brimley	8 episodes
1975	Kung Fu	Blacksmith	Episode: "One Step to Darkness"; as A. Wilford Brimley
1976–1977	The Oregon Trail	Ludlow	Episodes: Pilot, "Hard Ride Home"; as A. Wilford Brimley
1979	The Wild Wild West Revisited	President Grover Cleveland	Television film; as Wilford A. Brimley
1980	Amber Waves	Pete Alberts	Television film
1980	Roughnecks	Willie Clayton	Television film
1980	Rodeo Girl	Bingo Gibbs	Television film
1981	The Big Black Pill	Wally Haskell	Television film; aka. Joe Dancer
1985	Murder in Space	Dr. Andrew McCallister	Television film
1985	Ewoks: The Battle for Endor	Noa	Television film
1986	Thompson's Last Run	Red Haines	Television film
1986	Act of Vengeance	Tony Boyle	Television film
1986–1988	Our House	Gus Witherspoon
1989	Billy the Kid	Gov. Lew Wallace	Television series
1991	Blood River	U.S. Marshal Winston Patrick Culler	Television film
1992	The Boys of Twilight	Deputy Bill Huntoon	Television series
1995	Walker, Texas Ranger	Burt Mueller	Episode: "War Zone"
1995	Op Center	Admiral Troy Davis
1995	The Good Old Boys	C.C. Tarpley	Television film
1997	Seinfeld	United States Postmaster General Henry Atkins	Episode: "The Junk Mail"
2001	Crossfire Trail	Joe Gill	Television film
2001	The Ballad of Lucy Whipple	Deputy Sheriff Ambrose Scraggs	Television film
2011	The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson	Guest	Late night talk show

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref
1987	CableACE Awards	Actor in a Movie or Miniseries	Act of Vengeance	Nominated
2005	Golden Boot Awards	Golden Boot	N/A	Won
2013	Maverick Movie Awards	Best Supporting Actor: Short	Masque	Nominated

External links

• Wilford Brimley at the Internet Movie Database
• Wilford Brimley at AllMovie
• Wilford Brimley discography at Discogs