On May 8th, film fans said goodbye to actor Fred Ward, who passed away at the age of 79. A veteran of the small and big screen for fifty years, Ward was a dependable, yet often underrated actor. His gritty look and gruff voice made him appear like a cowboy straight out of a Sergio Leone western (he was actually part Cherokee), and even though he first did appear in a few small Italian films early in his career, it was his roles stateside that we will remember forever. He stood toe to toe with Hollywood heavyweights from Clint Eastwood and Gene Hackman, to Sissy Spacek and Uma Thurman, creating a legendary career of his own. These roles in particular speak to the legacy he leaves behind.
John Anglin in Escape From Alcatraz (1979)
By the late 70s, Ward had done some small movie and TV work, but this Clint Eastwood led film was his first big role. Based on the 1962 real life story about a group of prisoners who escape from the Alcatraz Island prison, Ward played incarcerated bank robber John Anglin. As Anglin was one of the three to successfully escape, Ward’s character dominates the screen alongside Eastwood, who was arguably the most famous actor alive at the time. A film that’s quiet at times, with many scenes demanding minimal dialogue, Ward’s look was perfect. His eyes and facial expressions spoke volumes when words couldn’t. The camera clings to him.
Gus Grissom in The Right Stuff (1983)
Here Ward plays a part based on another real life person in astronaut Gus Grissom. Though Grissom would tragically perish in the 1967 Apollo 1 accident, this film covers better times, focusing on the years before when the likes of Grissom, Chuck Yeager, and John Glenn were military pilots recruited into Project Mercury, America’s first spaceflight program. Ward’s most critically appreciated film, having garnered eight Academy Award nominations, he shines as Grissom, captivating audiences simply by standing in an astronaut suit with his hands on his hips, but it’s the scene where his craft splashes down in the ocean and begins to sink that sticks with the viewer. We can feel his panic vibrating through the screen.
Morgan in Silkwood (1983)
Five Academy Award nominations went to this biopic starring Meryl Streep as Karen Silkwood, a labor union activist who spoke out about the unsafe conditions at a nuclear power plant. Ward co-stars as Morgan, a coworker of Silkwood’s and fellow union activist. His best scene comes in a funny moment. As Silkwood is being harassed at the plant, Morgan butts in, with Ward leaning into his Native American ancestry, telling a foul joke about an Indian chief that gets the scared looking Silkwood to relax and laugh. Yet again, Ward was able to step up and command the scene while standing next to legends in the making.
Wilkes in Uncommon Valor (1983)
Ward starred with Gene Hackman and Patrick Swayze in this Vietnam War centered film about a retired Marine Colonel in Hackman who gets a group of former soldiers together to go looking for his son in Vietnam, where it’s feared he’s being held as a prisoner of war. Ward’s character, Wilkes, is one of those soldiers, and a PTSD sufferer. While the film did not live up to the Academy standards of some of his most recent works, it was a big hit among moviegoers, ranking as one of the most successful films of 1983. A lot of that success goes to Ward. He could be serious, but also funny, such as the training scene where he’s repeatedly coming out of nowhere to “attack” the recruits without ever being noticed.
Remo Williams in Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985)
With Ward’s stock rising, Orion Pictures took a risk, signing him to a three picture deal to star in a series of films that was intended to be the American version of James Bond. It didn’t work. The film was a commercial dud. What did work, however, was Fred Ward’s performance. He was the epitome of badass as a New York City cop turned deadly assassin. Ward even did most of his own stunts. His charisma and natural comedic timing made the movie fun despite its flaws, turning what could have been a failure into a cult classic that is still remembered today. In another life, Ward could have been a heck of a leading man. He shows it here.
Earl Bass in Tremors (1990)
This is the one you remember him for most. Ward and co-star Kevin Bacon turned what could have been just another schlocky monster movie into something special due to the pair’s on screen chemistry. A horror film about giant killer worms in the Nevada desert becomes a character study due to their ability to play off each other so perfectly. Ward continued to show off what he’d been doing in his past few films, seamlessly blending seriousness with comedy, knowing how to play a ridiculous premise with the respect it needed to work, but also knowing how to have fun with it. It’s Ward and Bacon that keep fans coming back all these decades later.
Sgt. Hoke Moseley in Miami Blues (1990)
Ward shared the screen with Alec Baldwin in this film that’s part crime noir and part quirky comedy. Here he plays a detective attempting to solve a murder and Baldwin’s character is the prime suspect. When he steals the detective’s badge and gun, Ward spends the film hunting him down. What sounds like a straightforward premise is made memorable by its off kilter approach. For example, the man Baldwin kills dies from shock after having his fingers broken. When Baldwin takes Ward’s gun, he steals his dentures too. Ward’s warm oddness and restless pursuit of Baldwin center the film, keeping the lens focused on him every time he’s on screen.
Henry Miller in Henry & June (1990)
In this biographical film about writer Anaïs Nin (Maria de Medeiros) and her pursuit of fellow writer Henry Miller (Fred Ward) and his wife June (Uma Thurman), Ward stars as Miller, the future author of Tropic of Cancer. Notable for being the first ever NC-17 rated film, it’s also remembered for Ward’s performance as Miller. The film is full of sensuality, but Ward also mixes in his usual comic sensibilities. He is skillful in the ways a leading man should be, and in one year showed off his immense acting range, going from playing a worm hunter, to a cop, to a writer having an affair. In each role he mixes such realness with humor, making him the perfect character actor.
Det. Harry Philip Lovecraft in Cast A Deadly Spell (1991)
This was the role Ward was meant to play in this HBO TV film. His chiseled features were made for the part of this hard-boiled P.I. clad in a dark suit and fedora. It fits him perfectly and makes him look like the mega star he was always meant to be. Here he’s a fictionalized version of H.P. Lovecraft in search of the Necronomicon book. Part noir mystery and part horror fantasy, the film portrays a world where magic and monsters truly exist. An odd but entertaining little film, Ward’s detective isn’t capable of the magic he is surrounded by. His Humphrey Bogart like performance is magic, however. His talents, while great in their own era, would have been wildly successful in the black-and-white detective films of decades past.
Walter Stuckel in The Player (1992)
This Robert Altman-directed satire of Hollywood about a studio exec played by Tim Robbins who murders an aspiring screenwriter was a critical darling, winning the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical. Ward comes in as a man named Walter Stuckel, the studio’s chief or security. He hasn’t seen many movies but seems to have seen a lot of police procedurals, with his gray suit and slicked back hair. Yet again, Ward is perfect casting for anything noir related, or any role that requires a serious tone mixed with perfect comic timing.
Stuart Kane in Short Cuts (1993)
A year later Ward reunited with Altman for this actor heavy film (there were 22 principal speaking roles) inspired by the work of writer Raymond Carver. Ward appears early on as an unemployed salesman named Stewart Kane. With so many big names populating the film (Andie MacDowell, Julianne Moore, France McDormand, and Robert Downey, Jr. are among them) Ward doesn’t get much screen time, but he makes the most of it, giving us a heartbroken portrayal of a lost man. It was simply the latest example of what Ward was capable of, whether he was the lead or a supporting actor. He was so phenomenal that even cinema’s greats wanted him in their movies.