| R.G. Armstrong | |
|---|---|
| Born | Robert Golden Armstrong April 7, 1917 Birmingham, Alabama, U.S. |
| Years active | 1954-2001 |
| Spouse | Mary Craven (1993-2003) (her death) Susan M. Guthrie (1973-1976) (divorced) Ann Neale (? - ?) 4 children |
Robert Golden "R.G." Armstrong (born April 7, 1917) is an American actor and playwright. A veteran character actor who appeared in dozens of Westerns over the course of his 40-year career, he may be best remembered for his work with director Sam Peckinpah.
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Armstrong was born in Pleasant Grove, Alabama. He came from a family of religious fundamentalists, and his mother wanted him to be a pastor. Armstrong, however, became interested in acting, and while attending the University of North Carolina (along with classmate Andy Griffith), he began acting on stage with the Carolina Playmakers. Upon graduating, he attended the Actors' Studio.
Armstrong quickly launched a career on Broadway. He won considerable acclaim for his role in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. He also began writing his own plays, which were performed off-Broadway.
Armstrong's first film appearance was in the 1954 film Garden of Eden. However, it was television where he first earned a name for himself. He guest-starred in virtually every TV Western produced in the 1950s and 1960s, including: Have Gun - Will Travel, The Californians, The Big Valley, The Rifleman, Zane Grey Theater, Wanted: Dead or Alive, The Westerner, Bonanza, Maverick, Gunsmoke, Rawhide and Wagon Train. He also appeared on The Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Andy Griffith Show, The Fugitive, Perry Mason, T.H.E. Cat, Hawaii Five-O, Starsky and Hutch, The Dukes of Hazzard, and Dynasty. Armstrong had a recurring role in the second season of Millennium as a reclusive visionary known only as the Old Man. In the late 1980s, he played the demonic "Uncle Lewis Vendredi" in the Canadian horror series Friday the 13th: The Series.
While working on The Westerner, Armstrong made the acquaintance of up-and-coming writer/director Sam Peckinpah. The two immediately struck up a friendship. Peckinpah recognized Armstrong's inner turmoil regarding the religious beliefs of his family and utilized that to brilliant effect in his films. Armstrong would almost always play a slightly unhinged fundamentalist Christian in Peckinpah's films, usually wielding a Bible in one hand and a shotgun in the other. This character archetype appeared in Ride the High Country (1962), Major Dundee (1965), and, perhaps most memorably, in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973). However, Armstrong also appeared in The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970), playing a more likeable character.
Even outside of Peckinpah's work, however, Armstrong became a tier-one character actor in his own right, appearing in dozens of films over his career, playing both villains and sympathetic characters. Some of his more memorable roles outside of Peckinpah's films include a sympathetic rancher in El Dorado (1966), Cap'n Dan in The Great White Hope (1970), outlaw Clell Miller in The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid (1972), a bumbling outlaw in My Name is Nobody (1973), Race with the Devil (1975), as well as Children of the Corn (1984), Red Headed Stranger (1986) with Willie Nelson and as the General in Predator (1987). He appeared in several of Warren Beatty's films, including Heaven Can Wait (1978), Reds (1981), and Pruneface in Dick Tracy (1990).
Despite being typecast as gruff and violent characters throughout his career, Armstrong is well known for having a warm and affable personality offscreen. He has been married three times: his first wife was Ann Neale, from whom he has four children; he was then married to Susan Guthrie until 1976; and remained married to his third wife, Mary Craven, until her passing in 2004.
Armstrong was semi-retired from films, continuing to be active in off-Broadway theater, until recently retiring because of near-blindness.