Fred Ward
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Frederick Ward (born December 30, 1942) is an American actor.
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[edit] Early life
Ward was born in San Diego, California of Scottish-Irish and Native American descent. Before acting, Ward spent three years in the United States Air Force. He was also a boxer, and worked as a lumberjack in Alaska. He became an actor after studying at New York's Herbert Berghof Studio and in Rome. While in Italy he dubbed Italian movies and worked as a mime until he made his debut in two Roberto Rossellini films. Upon returning stateside in the early '70s, Ward spent time working in experimental theater and doing some television work. He made his first American film appearance playing a truck driver in Ginger in the Morning (1974).
[edit] Career
His first major role came in the Clint Eastwood vehicle Escape from Alcatraz (1979) as fellow escapee John Anglin. He was also notable as a violent National Guardsman in Walter Hill's Southern Comfort (1981).
Other notable film roles include astronaut Gus Grissom in The Right Stuff (1983), the overbearing father in Secret Admirer (1985), the title role in the action movie Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985) (his first leading role), Earl Bassett in Tremors (1989) (which he reprised in Tremors 2: Aftershocks (1996)), the writer Henry Miller in Philip Kaufman's Henry & June (1990), and the covert security chief in Robert Altman's Hollywood satire The Player (1992).
Fred Ward has continued to be active through the 1990s and 2000s, with roles in films such as Bob Roberts (1992), The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994), Chain Reaction (1996), The Chaos Factor (2000), and Sweet Home Alabama (2002). He has enjoyed success in comedies, dramas and action thrillers.
[edit] Personal life
Ward is divorced from Silvia Ward and currently married to Marie-France Ward.
[edit] Awards
- 2006: JTPC Award - Henry & June (Nomination?)
- 2001: Video Premiere Award - Full Discosure (Nomination)
- 1993: Volpi Cup - Short Cuts
- 1993: Golden Globe - Short Cuts
[edit] Quotes
- When you're a father, you know exactly where your heart really is. There's no question of it, no doubt. That part of your life has no second guessing.
- Trying different things is very important to me. I see people and want to wear their clothes and drive in their cars for awhile. That's probably one reason I became an actor.
- But a woman will only understand a man up to a certain point. There's a limit to it.
- I think it's better for the picture to have as much of me as it can. But I also cherish getting down and doing some acting.
- I think we're struggling with trying to redefine various positions at this point in history. To allow freedom for women, freedom for men, freedom from those sharply defined gender roles.
- I was just talking about women, just in terms of understanding them as much as we can ever understand the opposite sex. I'm trying to let go of certain male approaches to things that you inherit, that you grow up with.
- (About Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins]): I'm not a hero about stunts, but I want to put my movement into it whenever I can. I do lots of fighting, climbing, hanging and swinging around.
- My career has been a bit strange. I don't think it took the normal route.
- There was always a creative impulse in me but I never felt rooted to anything.
- There's nothing like castrating 20 pigs before lunch. I did that during school whenever the need arose. They'd call out the agricultural class and put us in trucks to go help the local farmers.
- Sometimes life comes and hits you in the face like a tire iron...And sometimes, a world of plastic surgery will still be unable to fix the damage.
[edit] Selected filmography
[edit] External links
- Fred Ward at the Internet Movie Database
