Jack Betts, the character actor who appeared in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man (2002) and over a dozen Spaghetti Western movies, has died on the age of 96.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, which first reported the information, Betts died Thursday in his sleep at his Los Osos, Calif. house, his nephew, Dean Sullivan, stated.
Born Jack Fillmore Betts (saying he bore a relation to the thirteenth POTUS Millard Fillmore) on April 11, 1929 in Jersey City, NJ, he grew up in Miami, the place he ultimately studied theater at University of Miami. Afterward, he moved to New York City, the place he made his Broadway debut in 1953’s Richard III.
When a pal requested him to assist with an audition for Lee Strasberg’s famed nonprofit, The Actors Studio, the director of the distinguished appearing faculty granted him a three-year scholarship to review there. As a end result, the honored Elia Kazan later solid him in a manufacturing of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. (He later returned to Braodway for Kazan’s 1959 manufacturing of Sweet Bird of Youth, in addition to a late ’70s revival of Dracula, through which he as soon as portrayed the eponymous rely as Raul Julia’s standby.)
Betts’ first movie credit score was in 1959’s The Bloody Brood, and in 1966 he was solid because the title character in Franco Giraldi’s Sugar Colt, billed as Hunt Powers for the primary time. That kicked off a string of credit in over a dozen Spaghetti Westerns via the Nineteen Seventies.
On the tv facet, Betts racked up plenty of appearances in daytime soaps, together with General Hospital, The Young Marrieds, The Edge of Night, The Doctors, Another World, All My Children, Falcon Crest, Search for Tomorrow, Guiding Light, Generations and The Young and the Restless.
His different notable arcs included episodes for Perry Mason and The F.B.I., in addition to turns in in style sequence like Gunsmoke, Seinfeld, Mad TV, Frasier, Everybody Loves Raymond, Friends, The Mentalist and Monk. (Betts was nice pals with Everybody Loves Raymond star Doris Roberts, whom he met at The Actors Studio within the ’50s; the 2 shared a house from the late ’80s till her demise in 2016.)
In Spider-Man, Betts notably portrays Henry Balkan, the Oscorp Technologies board chairman who tells Willem Dafoe’s Norman Osborn, “You’re out, Norman,” kicking off the Green Goblin’s villainous arc. Later on within the film, Osborn parrots again the phrase to Balkan, as he vaporizes the board in an assault on Times Square, gleefully shouting: “Out, am I?” Additional movie credit embrace 1993’s Falling Down with Michael Douglas and Robert Duvall, the 1995 Val Kilmer-starring Batman Forever and 1998’s Gods and Monsters reverse Ian McKellen and Brendan Fraser.
In addition to his nephew, survivors embrace his nieces, Lynne and Gail, and his sister, Joan, who turns 100 in November.
Following the information of his demise, Beverly Hills Playhouse shared a tribute to the performer on Instagram, writing: “Our beloved Jack Betts passed away peacefully at home. It is a sad day for the BHP as we have enjoyed his presence for so many years. There are actors who credit him with their not giving up because of his encouragement. We were so fortunate to have enjoyed his great spirit, passion and true dedication to the work. There was only ever one like this and we are the richer for having his presence in our theatre. Rest in peace, Jack.”