Ned Beatty, indelible in 'Deliverance,' dies at 83

Ned Beatty, the indelible character actor whose first film role as a genial vacationer brutally raped by a backwoodsman in 1972's 'Deliverance' launched him on a long, prolific and accomplished career, has died. He was 83. Beatty's manager, Deborah Miller, said Beatty died Sunday of natural causes at his home in Los Angeles surrounded by friends and family members.

After years in regional theatre, Beatty was cast in 'Deliverance' as Bobby Trippe, the happy-go-lucky person in a male river-boating party terrorised by backwoods thugs. The scene in which Trippe is brutalised became the most memorable in the movie and established Beatty as an actor whose name moviegoers may not have known but whose face they always recognised.

"For persons like me, there's lots of I know you! I know you! What have I seen you in?'" Beatty remarked without rancour in 1992.

Beatty received only 1 Oscar nomination, as a supporting actor for his role as corporate executive Arthur Jensen in 1976's 'Network', but he contributed to some of the most popular movies of his time and worked constantly, his credits including a lot more than 150 movies and Television shows.

He was equally memorable as Otis, the idiot henchman of villainous Lex Luther in the first two Christopher Reeve 'Superman' movies, and as the racist sheriff in 'White Lightning'. Other films included 'All The President's Men', 'The Front Page', 'Nashville', and 'The Big Easy'. In a 1977 interview, he had explained why he desired being a supporting actor.

"Stars never want to throw the audience a curveball, but my great joy is throwing curveballs," he said. "Being truly a star cuts down on your effectiveness as an actor because you become an identifiable part of something and somewhat predictable. You have to mind your P's and Q's and nurture your fans. But I like to surprise the audience, to accomplish the unexpected."

He landed a rare leading role in the Irish film 'Hear My Song' in 1991. The real story of legendary Irish tenor Josef Locke, who disappeared at the height of an excellent career, was well reviewed but largely unseen in the United States.

Between movies, Beatty worked often in TV and theater. He previously recurring roles in 'Roseanne' as John Goodman's father and as a detective on 'Homicide: Life on the Streets'.

On Broadway he won critical praise (and a Drama Desk Award) for his portrayal of Big Daddy in a revival of 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof', a job he had first played as a 21-year-old in a stock company production. He created controversy, however, when he was quoted on the abilities of his young co-stars, Ashley Judd and Jason Patric, in line with the reports.

"Ashley is a sweetie," he said, "yet she doesn't have a lot of tools." Of Patric, he remarked: "He's gotten better continuously, but his is a different journey." His more recent movies included 'Toy Story 3' this year 2010 and two releases from 2013, 'The Big Ask' and 'Baggage Claim'. He retired immediately after.

Ned Thomas Beatty was born in 1937 in Louisville and raised in Lexington, where he joined the Protestant Disciples of Christ Christian Church. "It had been the theatre I attended as a youngster," he said in 1992.

"It was where persons got right down to their truest thoughts and discussed things they didn't speak about in everyday life...The preaching was frequently theatrical."

For a time he thought of learning to be a priest, but changed his mind after he was cast in a higher school production of 'Harvey'.

He spent 10 summers at the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia, and eight years at the Arena Stage Company in Washington, DC. At the Arena Stage, he appeared in Chekhov's 'Uncle Vanya' and starred in Arthur Miller's 'Death of a Salesman'.

Then his life changed forever when he took a train to New York to audition for director John Boorman for the role of Bobby Trippe. Boorman told him the role was cast, but changed his mind after seeing Beatty audition.

Beatty, who married Sandra Johnson in 1999, had eight children from three previous failed marriages.