Frederic Forrest has passed away. A prolific actor best known for his multiple collaborations with Francis Ford Coppola, especially in the 1979s Revelation now—the Oscar nominee Forrest was a TV and movie regular. By Varietyhis death was first reported today by Bette Midler, who played with him in the 1979s The Rose. Forrest was 86 years old.
Born in Texas in the 1930s, Forrest started out in the scene before working his way up at the cinema, starring in his first film, Stuart Miller When legends fallin 1973. The following year, he marked the first of five roles he would take on for Coppola, playing half a couple under surveillance and scrutiny in the paranoid thriller The conversation. (A film he shares with Harrison Ford, with whom he would later compete for the role of Han Solo in star wars.) Forest Coppola’s other roles included parts in one of the heart, Hammet, Tucker: The Man and His Dreamand more particularly, Revelation nowwhere he played team cook Hicks, who has a memorable panic amid the film’s war-torn chaos.
Forrest’s most recognized performance was in The Rose, where he starred alongside Midler as a limo driver embroiled in the chaos of his character’s rock star lifestyle. Although the film received mixed reviews, Forrest was singled out for praise, earning a Golden Globe and Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination for the role. Middler wrote of him on Twitter today, saying: “He was a remarkable actor and a brilliant human being, and I was lucky to have him in my life.
Forrest worked steadily throughout the 1980s and ‘90s, appearing on television in a starring role in the first season of 21 jump street. His film roles at the time included small but catchy roles in movies like Kid, valley girl, The two JacquesAnd To fall—where he gives a nervous and deliberately ugly performance as easily the least sympathetic person Michael Douglas assaults during his rampage through LA
Forrest retired from acting in the mid-2000s; his final role was a small role in Sean Penn’s 2006 adaptation of All the king’s men. Coppola wrote a tribute to him today, writing: “Freddie Forrest was a sweet and much-loved person, a wonderful actor, and a good friend. His loss breaks my heart. »