Marvellous character actor with intense eyes, a sly grin and somewhat grizzled appearance has nearly seventy appearances under his belt in many tremendous films. Ward first became interested in acting after serving three years in the US Air Force and studied at New York's Herbert Berghof Studio. Ward then went over to Europe where he dubbed many Italian movies, and first appeared onscreen in two m ...
show all Marvellous character actor with intense eyes, a sly grin and somewhat grizzled appearance has nearly seventy appearances under his belt in many tremendous films. Ward first became interested in acting after serving three years in the US Air Force and studied at New York's Herbert Berghof Studio. Ward then went over to Europe where he dubbed many Italian movies, and first appeared onscreen in two movies by Roberto Rossellini. He then returned to the United States, and got his first decent role alongside Clint Eastwood in the nail biting prison film "The Escape from Alcatraz (1979)". Ward's looks often saw him cast as law enforcement or military characters, and he put in noteworthy performances in "Southern Comfort (1981)", "Uncommon Valour (1983)", as astronaut Gus Grissom in "Right Stuff (1983)" and scored the lead in the intersting spy / martial arts movie "Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985)", which unfortunately was not as successful, as had been the mega selling series of Remo Williams books.
However, during "Remo", Ward demonstrated a great knack for comedic timing & satirical performance, and this ability was used by Fred to great effect in several films including playing a giant worm fighting handyman alongside Kevin Bacon in the sci-fi thriller "The Tremors (1990)", as Walter Stuckel in Robert Altman , "Player (1992)", an TV anchorman , Chip Daley in the razor sharp satire "Bob Roberts (1992)" and as a vicious, but incompetent, gangster menacing Leslie Nielsen in "Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994)".
Ward's ability as both a strong supporting actor, and as a truly versatile character actor ensured his work has remained in regular demand, and he has continued to turn up in a wide wariety of roles utilising his skills. Keep an eye out for Fred Ward in the action filled "The Chaos Factor (2000)", as David Spade dad in "Joe Dirt (2001)", in the tongue in cheek "Corky Romano (2001)", and in the Reese Witherspoon romantic tale of "Sweet Home Alabama (2002)".
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