Joe Don Baker, a strapping Texan who found fame in Hollywood as a quintessential tough guy, delivering his most memorable performance as the crime-busting sheriff Buford Pusser in the 1973 film “Walking Tall,†died May 7 at an assisted-living facility in Los Angeles. He was 89.
He had lung cancer, said a former brother-in-law, RT Rivero.
Mr. Baker appeared in dozens of films and television shows over half a century, sometimes as a leading man and sometimes in supporting roles. Moving from one side of the law to the other, he proved as convincing in vigilante roles as he was portraying men with a badge.
In “Walking Tall,†directed by Phil Karlson, Mr. Baker starred in the real-life story of a sheriff who took on gambling, prostitution and bootlegging rings in McNairy County, Tennessee.
Writing in the New York Times, critic Vincent Canby described the film’s appeal as a “relentlessly violent, smalltown American melodrama†that “cannily allows its audiences to have it both ways.â€
“They can identify with its hero, a southern sheriff who wants to be a man of peace, a sort of downâ€home Serpico with a Tennessee accent,†Canby added, “while they enjoy the spectacle of deep-dish blood and guts he is the center of while fighting for the underprivileged.â€
Joe Don Baker, tough guy actor in ‘Walking Tall,’ dies at 89​
He had lung cancer, said a former brother-in-law, RT Rivero.
Mr. Baker appeared in dozens of films and television shows over half a century, sometimes as a leading man and sometimes in supporting roles. Moving from one side of the law to the other, he proved as convincing in vigilante roles as he was portraying men with a badge.
In “Walking Tall,†directed by Phil Karlson, Mr. Baker starred in the real-life story of a sheriff who took on gambling, prostitution and bootlegging rings in McNairy County, Tennessee.
Writing in the New York Times, critic Vincent Canby described the film’s appeal as a “relentlessly violent, smalltown American melodrama†that “cannily allows its audiences to have it both ways.â€
“They can identify with its hero, a southern sheriff who wants to be a man of peace, a sort of downâ€home Serpico with a Tennessee accent,†Canby added, “while they enjoy the spectacle of deep-dish blood and guts he is the center of while fighting for the underprivileged.â€
Joe Don Baker, tough guy actor in ‘Walking Tall,’ dies at 89​
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