Fred Ward (1942-2022)

[Jack Kubrick]

Fred Ward, on May 8 as confirmed by his widow.

"Ward spent the last years of his life developing his second favorite art form: painting." He is survived by his wife of 27 years, Marie-France Ward and his son Django Ward. What a dude!"

[DarkImbecile]

More on Ward

[swo17]

I didn't realize he was so instrumental in Miami Blues getting made

[domino harvey]

Ward is so great in Miami Blues. “What would you think about standing in that lineup?”

[Jack Kubrick]

I didn't realize he was so instrumental in Miami Blues getting made

Which was originally going to be a Jonathan Demme film, with Ward as Junior, Gene Hackman as Hoke, Demi Moore as Susie. Demme pivot to directing SOTL, Hackman backed out of the project when Baldwin came on board, Moore supposedly traded scripts with Leigh, who was going to do Ghost, which led the two actress to swap the roles.

[colinr0380]

So many great films there, not least his roles in Robert Altman films and in Philip Kaufman's The Right Stuff. I have to go for the obvious though and say that his buddy banter with Kevin Bacon in Tremors really elevated that film to another level, turning a monster movie into something rather touching as well.

The film I have been curious about seeing for the longest time is the Philip Kaufman film Henry & June in which Ward plays Henry Miller. He's great in the Alan Rudolph film Equinox too. But I most want to revisit his performance as H.P. Lovecraft in Cast A Deadly Spell, which might work well in a double bill with Lord of Illusions.

Though if I am honest, I also want to see Time Rider: The Adenture of Lyle Swann, which looks like it is one of that run of Knight Rider, Airwolf and Road Warrior inspired films about guys and their sci-fi tricked out vehicles (Blue Thunder, Battletruck, etc. At the very least it has to be better than Megaforce! Hasn't it?) and seems as if it would be a perfect fit for Arrow to release!

Beyond being a leading man I think he always made any film immediately more interesting whenever he showed up in a supporting role. I'm particularly thinking of his lovelorn heart on their sleeve beau following his girl to the big city in Big Business the modern day (or rather 1988) set version of Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors.

And I remember at the time being particularly surprised to see him pop up in the 1998 BBC sci-fi show (presumably their attempt at riding the mid 90s X-Files and Independence Day wave of interest in alien invasions) Invasion: Earth which is also notable as an early series created and produced by Jed Mercurio who has hit the big time more recently with his Bodyguard and Line of Duty cop drama shows.

And it is still amazing that Ward began his onscreen career with small roles in Roberto Rossellini's history films The Age of the Medici and Cartesius!

[Jack Kubrick]

Let's not forget about Fred Ward first leading man role, the legendary Remo Williams! A fun little b-movie that set out to be the American blue collar James Bond but bombed at the box office, killing off any chance of future sequels. Ward does a solid job as the titular protagonist who gets lessons learned from an Asian Joel Gray, a casting choice which would get large Twitter discourse of being problematic were it made today.

[beamish14]

So many great films there, not least his roles in Robert Altman films and in Philip Kaufman's The Right Stuff. I have to go for the obvious though and say that his buddy banter with Kevin Bacon in Tremors really elevated that film to another level, turning a monster movie into something rather touching as well.

The film I have been curious about seeing for the longest time is the Philip Kaufman film Henry & June in which Ward plays Henry Miller. He's great in the Alan Rudolph film Equinox too. But I most want to revisit his performance as H.P. Lovecraft in Cast A Deadly Spell, which might work well in a double bill with Lord of Illusions.

Though if I am honest, I also want to see Time Rider: The Adenture of Lyle Swann, which looks like it is one of that run of Knight Rider, Airwolf and Road Warrior inspired films about guys and their sci-fi tricked out vehicles (Blue Thunder, Battletruck, etc. At the very least it has to be better than Megaforce! Hasn't it?) and seems as if it would be a perfect fit for Arrow to release!

Beyond being a leading man I think he always made any film immediately more interesting whenever he showed up in a supporting role. I'm particularly thinking of his lovelorn heart on their sleeve beau following his girl to the big city in Big Business the modern day (or rather 1988) set version of Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors.

And I remember at the time being particularly surprised to see him pop up in the 1998 BBC sci-fi show (presumably their attempt at riding the mid 90s X-Files and Independence Day wave of interest in alien invasions) Invasion: Earth which is also notable as an early series created and produced by Jed Mercurio who has hit the big time more recently with his Bodyguard and Line of Duty cop drama shows.

And it is still amazing that Ward began his onscreen career with small roles in Roberto Rossellini's history films The Age of the Medici and Cartesius!

Henry & June is magnificent. It’s a real shame that Philippe Rousselot’s incredible cinematography still can’t be seen in HD, as it’s easily one of the most aesthetically impressive films of the 1990’s. Ward is excellent, and very believable as Henry Miller. He vacillates between Miller the charming bohemian artist and the possessive, domineering macho figure very well.

[domino harvey]

There’s a German Blu-ray, actually

[beamish14]

There’s a German Blu-ray, actually

Wow! I had no clue. One of those perennial titles I thought Criterion was handling, especially after Philip Kaufman visited the closet (and picked out Crumb, about a fellow Bay Area artist).

Ward seemed like an actor from another era, and he really enhanced every film he appeared in

[hearthesilence]

I didn't realize he was so instrumental in Miami Blues getting made

I totally missed this, but apparently Miami Blues is getting a Blu-ray reissue from MVD Rewind...anyone know anything about that label? Regardless, it's due to be released on July 5th.

EDIT: they have a Facebook page and I found these details:

SPECIAL FEATURES:
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the main feature in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio (HD master provided by MGM)
• LPCM Master Audio 2.0 Stereo, Spanish Mono, French Stereo
• English Subtitles, Spanish Subtitles, French Subtitles
• Interviews with Alec Baldwin and Jennifer Jason Leigh (HD, 26:01)
• Original Theatrical Trailer (HD, 2:11)
• 3 TV Spots (SD)
• Original Orion Home Video Trailer (SD, 1:57)
• Photo Gallery
• Collectible Mini-Poster
• Reversible Artwork
• Limited Edition Slipcover (First Pressing Only)
• Region “A” Locked
* Special Features May Not Be Rated, Closed Captioned Or In High Definition.
“Interviews with Alec Baldwin and Jennifer Jason Leigh” appear courtesy of Shout! Factory, LLC

[domino harvey]

Shout already put it out on Blu, so there’s no reason to pick it up unless you need it and don’t already have their release. MVD mainly releases movies that are more on the radar of a Blu-ray.com forum member, if you catch my drift

[therewillbeblus]

I don't have the Shout! and their OOP blu is pretty expensive, so I'm interested unless I can find a bargain

[Aunt Peg]

Fred Ward has long been one of my favorite contemporary actors - this is a real shock because I thought he was a lot younger than 79.

The Right Stuff, Miami Blues, Short Cuts, The Player, Henry & June, Big Business, Southern Comfort, UFOria and Tremors being amongst my favourites. He was also very effective in the 1997 TV film ....First Do No Harm opposite Meryl Streep.

He also appeared in Dimitri de Clercq & Alain Robbe-Grillet's The Blue Villa (1995). Not many American actors can say that.

If anybody is thinking about purchased the German Blu Ray disc of Henry & June it is worth keeping in mind that some of the dialogue (cannot remember how much) is in French and apparently the disc may not have English subtitles for those bits.

[pistolwink]

I was just going to say, he's great—in a rare lead role—in UFOria, a very charming and original little film that AFAIK is totally missing on any kind of digital home media. He's also very good in Escape from Alcatraz, a masterpiece.

One of Ward's first credits is in Rossellini's The Age of the Medici! There's got to be a story behind that.

[beamish14]

I was just going to say, he's great—in a rare lead role—in UFOria, a very charming and original little film that AFAIK is totally missing on any kind of digital home media. He's also very good in Escape from Alcatraz, a masterpiece.

One of Ward's first credits is in Rossellini's The Age of the Medici! There's got to be a story behind that.

UFOria is a really remarkable film. You’re correct in that it got a VHS release, but it’s never made the leap to DVD or Blu. One of Harry Dean Stanton’s best roles, too

[L.A.]

Southern Comfort is something I need to watch. R.I.P. Fred, you were truly a great one.

[John Cope]

He will always be Lieutenant Brann in Beth B's Two Small Bodies to me. Too bad it's still so terribly underrepresented and unavailable on video (the German DVD may be the only existing one, available in large part I suspect because of the film's German financing, and it's atrocious--you'd do just as well frankly with a VHS); however, I was told yesterday on Facebook that evidently Kino Lorber plans to restore all of Beth B's films and release a Blu-Ray set so that is great news indeed.

[beamish14]

He will always be Lieutenant Brann in Beth B's Two Small Bodies to me. Too bad it's still so terribly underrepresented and unavailable on video (the German DVD may be the only existing one, available in large part I suspect because of the film's German financing, and it's atrocious--you'd do just as well frankly with a VHS); however, I was told yesterday on Facebook that evidently Kino Lorber plans to restore all of Beth B's films and release a Blu-Ray set so that is great news indeed.

That's right! I love two-hander films like Closet Land and Oleanna, and Two Small Bodies is fantastic. He really did pick some incredibly eclectic films.

[flyonthewall2983]

Liked him a lot in Escape From Alcatraz. “I keep inventory”