Luke Askew obit

 

'Big Love's' Luke Askew Dies, 80

Appeared in more than 80 productions in his lifetime

 

He was not on the list.

Luke Askew, whose final roles were playing the scary and somewhat crazy polygamist Holl Green in the HBO series "Big Love" has died. He was 80.

Askew passed away on March 29 from complications of lung cancer, but news didn't really get out until this week when Oregon Live broke the story.

Born in Georgia, Askew died quietly in the Lake Oswego, Ore., condominium he shared with his wife. He had just turned 80 three days before.

Nancy Hedin, Askew's neighbor, told Oregon Live that she would sometimes visit the couple and watch some of Askew's work with them.

"They both mostly kept to themselves, but every once in a while, I could hear his voice from my unit," Hedin said. "You could just tell he was an actor."

Askew was born March 26, 1932, in Macon, Georgia He got his first big break in acting in 1967 when he was 35 years old and cast in "Hurry Sundown" with Michael Caine, Jane Fonda and Faye Dunaway. He would later appear in a number of other popular movies, mostly in smaller or bit roles, including "Cool Hand Luke" in 1967, "The Green Berets" in 1968 and "Easy Rider" in 1969.

His first big television role was in a 1968 epode of "Mission: Impossible" where Victor Pietro Duchell in the epode "The Execution." He would return in 1973 to play Dawson in the episode "The Fountain". He also had a strong role in a 1971 epode of "Bonanza" where he played Sheriff Hatch.

Spending decades appearing in a number of television shows like "L.A. Law," "Knight Rider," "Murder, She Wrote" and even "The 4400," h longest and probably most popular recurring role wouldn't come until 2007 when he was cast to play Hollis Green in the "Big Love" episode "Dating Game."

Green was the "prophet" of a rival polygamy group, known for being quite merciless when it came to meeting his goals. However, he was also not fully with it, his social mannerisms probably best described as not fully there.

He would appear in 10 epodes of the show, h final appearance in "Blood Atonement" in February 2010.

Askew was never afraid to take on challenging roles, even if there was some negative societal impact. Although playing a violent polygamist would raise eyebrows today, even at the beginning of his career he as not afraid to take chances, in fact being brave enough to don long hair in "Cool Hand Luke" despite it being heavily frowned upon for men to do that. He was one of the first in that era to wear h hear long, but when he was not on set, he had to wear a hat, according to reports that looked back at h time there.

Besides his wife, Askew also survived by a son, Christopher.

Selected filmography

 

    Hurry Sundown (1967) .... Dolph Higginson

    The Happening (1967) .... Second Motorcycle Officer

    Cool Hand Luke (1967) .... Boss Paul

    Will Penny (1967) .... Foxy

    The Devil's Brigade (1968) .... Private Hubert Hixon

    The Green Berets (1968) .... Sergeant Provo

    Easy Rider (1969) .... Stranger on Highway

    Flareup (1969) .... Alan Moris

    Night of the Serpent (1969) .... Luke

    Angel Unchained (1970) .... Jonathan Tremaine

    The Culpepper Cattle Company (1972) .... Luke

    The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid (1972) .... Jim Younger

    The Magnificent Seven Ride (1972) .... Mark Skinner

    Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973) .... Eno

    Slipstream (1973) .... Mike Mallard

    A Matter of Wife... and Death (1975) .... Snell

    Posse (1975) .... Krag

    Walking Tall Part 2 (1975) .... Pinky Dobson

    Mackintosh and T.J. (1975) .... Cal

    Rolling Thunder (1977) .... Automatic Slim

    Wanda Nevada (1979) .... Ruby Muldoon

    The Beast Within (1982) .... Dexter Ward

    The Warrior and the Sorceress (1984) .... Zeg the Tyrant

    Bialy smok (1987) .... Frank Brown

    Bulletproof (1988) .... Gen. Gallo

    Back to Back (1989) .... Wade Duro

    No Retreat, No Surrender 3: Blood Brothers (1990) .... Atteron

    Dune Warriors (1991) .... William

    The Friends of Harry (1995) .... Harry

    Frank & Jesse (1995) .... Lone Rider

    Savage (1996) ... Capt. Rohmer

    Traveller (1997) .... Boss Jack Costello

    The Newton Boys (1998) .... Chief Schoemaker

    South of Heaven, West of Hell (2000) .... Leland Henry

    Frailty (2001) .... Sheriff Smalls

    The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005) .... Alec Campbell

 

Television

 

    Mission: Impossible (1968) – The Execution .... Victor Pietro Duchell

    The High Chaparral (1969) – Shadow on the Wind .... Johnny Ringo

    Bonanza (1971; part of last season that was not aired*) – Kingdom of Fear .... Deputy Hatch

    Bearcats! (1971) – Man in a Cage .... Greer

    BJ and the Bear (1979) .... Blackwell

    Knight Rider (1983) - A Nice, Indecent Little Town .... Ron Austin

    Big Love (2007–2010) .... Hollis Green (final appearance)