David Huddleston obit

David Huddleston, who played the title role in 'The Big Lebowski,' dies at 85

He was not on the list.

David Huddleston, a character actor who already had a vast list of credits to his name when — late in his career —  he took what was to become his most famous role as the title character in “The Big Lebowski,” has died, said his wife, Sarah Koeppe. He was 85.

Koeppe, his wife and partner of 32 years, said he died of advanced heart and kidney disease Tuesday in Santa Fe, N.M.

A longtime favorite NBC character actor, Huddleston specialized in big, blustery characters. Such was the title character he played in 1998’s “The Big Lebowski.”

A 1990s sendup of a 1940s film-noir mystery, "The Big Lebowski" traces a Raymond Chandler-esque plotline, but in place of a hard-bitten investigator, it stars a stoner lay-about played by Jeff Bridges. Huddleston, known for the line "Strong men also cry," appeared in only a few scenes, but they are among the most memorable in the film. His knack was to play puffed-up dons, but with a wink. He managed to act comic parts with an air of being in on the joke, a device served to deflate the very grandiosity he projected.

He was born Sept. 17, 1930, in the Blue Ridge Mountains region, in Vinton, Va., and raised in Villamont, Va., where he often performed monologues in community productions, Koeppe said. After serving as an aircraft engine mechanic in the Air Force, he attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where he studied acting on the G.I. Bill.

His acting career spanned more than half a century, and included Broadway, television and commercial roles. In addition to playing guest roles on numerous TV dramas, he starred in the 2005 film "The Producers," "Santa Claus: The Movie" (1985) and in 1974's "Blazing Saddles." He told the Roanoke Times that "Blazing Saddles" was "probably the most fun I have ever had on a set."

His wife was his casting agent for "Santa Claus: The Movie."

"Things were not important to him — people were,” she said of her husband. "He loved entertaining and would rather sit down and talk with someone over dinner."

Huddleston "had thousands of cookbooks, and he loved reading them because they told him about the history of people and locations," Koeppe said. "He was always asking people, ‘If this was your last meal, what would you have?'"

Huddleston, the father of actor Michael Huddleston, had a passion for performing live.

"He began on the stage. That was the part he loved the most,” Koeppe said. She said he considered his "crowning achievement" to be playing Benjamin Franklin in the 1997 Broadway production "1776."

The role "brought together all of his interests," which included government and politics, she said. While he performed nearly his entire life starting from early childhood, he had "always wanted to go to the University of Virginia to go to law school and be a politician."

Five years after the Broadway production of "1776," Huddleston performed as Ben Franklin at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C.

His wife recounted traveling locals stopping them once on the streets of Kusadasi, Turkey.

"They recognized him as the Big Lebowski even though they couldn't speak any English. They asked us to stay and told us, "we will cook for you,” she recalled.

Filmography

Features

    All the Way Home (1963) – Small Part (uncredited)

    Black Like Me (1964)

    A Lovely Way to Die (1968) – Man in Bar (uncredited)

    Slaves (1969) – Holland

    WUSA (1970) - Heavy Man (uncredited)

    Norwood (1970) – Uncle Lonnie

    Rio Lobo (1970) – Dr. Jones

    Fools' Parade (1971) – Homer Grindstaff

    Something Big (1971) – Malachi Morton

    Brian's Song (1971, TV Movie) – Ed McCaskey

    The Homecoming, A Christmas Story (1971, TV Movie) – Sheriff Ep Bridges

    Bad Company (1972) – Big Joe

    Country Blue (1973) – Angus Wages

    McQ (1974) – Pinky

    Heatwave! (1974, TV Movie) – Arnold Brady

    Blazing Saddles (1974) – Olson Johnson

    Billy Two Hats (1974) – Copeland

    Nightmare Honeymoon (1974) – Pete Carroll

    The Klansman (1974) – Mayor Hardy Riddle

    Breakheart Pass (1975) – Dr. Molyneux

    Sherlock Holmes in New York (1976, TV Movie) – Inspector Lafferty

    Crime Busters (1977) – Captain McBride

    The Greatest (1977) – Cruikshank

    Capricorn One (1977) – Congressman Hollis Peaker

    The World's Greatest Lover (1977) – Bakery Owner

    Zero to Sixty (1978) – Harold Finch

    Gorp (1980) – Walrus Wallman

    Smokey and the Bandit II (1980) – John Conn

    The Act (1983) – Corky

    Go for It (1983) – Tiger

    Finnegan Begin Again (1985, TV Movie) – Jack Archer

    Santa Claus: The Movie (1985) – Santa Claus

    Frantic (1988) – Peter

    The Tracker (1988, TV Movie) – Lane Crawford

    Life with Mikey (1993) – Mr. Corcoran

    Cultivating Charlie (1994) – Ed Thundertrunk

    Something to Talk About (1995) – Jack 'Mad Dog' Pierce (uncredited)

    Joe's Apartment (1996) – P.I. Smith

    The Man Next Door (1997) – Sheriff Dawkins

    The Big Lebowski (1998) – The Big Lebowski

    G-Men from Hell (2000) – Dr. Boifford

    The Producers (2005) – Judge

    Postal (2007) – Peter

    Saving Grace B. Jones (2009) – Radio Announcer (voice)

    Locker 13 (2009) – Floyd (segment "story #2") (final film role)

Television

    Adam-12 – episode – Log 63: Baby – Station Attendant (1969)

    Then Came Bronson – episode – Your Love Is Like a Demolition Derby in My Heart – Bear Hudson (1969)

    Bewitched – episode – Samantha's Pet Warlock – Dog Pound Attendant (1970)

    Bewitched – episode- Out of the Mouths of Babes – Sean Flanagan (1971)

    Bonanza – episode – Bushwacked – Doc Scully (1971)

    Cannon – episode – Country Blues – Jimmy Winters (1971)

    Bewitched – episode – The Return of Darrin the Bold – Dave (1971)

    McMillan & Wife – episode – Murder by the Barrel – Pylant (1971)

    Gunsmoke – episode – Lavery – Arno (1971)

    Ironside – episode – The Priest Killer – Harrison Davis (1971)

    Bonanza – episode – The Hidden Enemy – Myles Johnson (1972)

    The Waltons – episode – The Literary Man – A. J. Covington (1972)

    The New Dick Van Dyke Show – episode – He Who Steals My Friends – Gordon (1973)

    Tenafly – episode – The Cash and Carry Caper (1973)

    Tenafly – episode – Pilot – Lieutenant Sam Church (1973)

    The New Perry Mason – episode – The Case of the Deadly Deeds – Stephen Elder (1973)

    Hawkins – episode – Hawkins on Murder – Joseph Harrelson (1973)

    Kung Fu – episode – The Salamander – Nathaniel (1973)

    Gunsmoke – episode – The Widowmaker – Dad Goodpastor (1973)

    The Mary Tyler Moore Show – episode – What Are Friends For? -a mortician (1974)

    The Snoop Sisters – episode – A Black Day for Bluebeard – Arwin Shanks (1974)

    Gunsmoke – episode – In Performance of Duty – Emmett (1974)

    Gunsmoke – episode – The Disciple – Asa (1974)

    Ironside – episode – Come Eleven, Come Twelve – Smithers (1974)

    Petrocelli – 9 episodes – Lt. Ponce (1974–1976)

    The Rockford Files – episode – The Reincarnation of Angie – Sherm (1975)

    Police Woman – episode – The Purge – Milton Brooks (1975)

    Emergency! – episode – 905-Wild – Barney 'Doc' Coolidge (1975)

    Kung Fu – episode – One Step to Darkness – Shelby Cross (1975)

    Barnaby Jones – episode – Jules Takes a Partner – Dr. Michael Harrigan (1976)

    Once an Eagle – TV Mini-Series – Earl Preis (1976)

    Spencer's Pilots – episode – The Explosives – Willie Hunt (1976)

    Charlie's Angels – episode – Angels in Chains – Sheriff Clint (1976)

    Hawaii Five-O – episode – Love Thy Neighbor, Take His Wife – Vincent Rhoads (1976)

    Sanford and Son – episodes – The Hawaiian Connection: Parts 1 & 2 – First Cop (1976)

    Barnaby Jones – episode – Copy-Cat Killing – Sheriff Roland G. Bradden (1977)

    How the West Was Won – TV Mini-Series – episodes – #1.1- #1.4 – Christy Judson (1977–1978)

    Vega$ – episode – Mixed Blessings – Diamond Jim Oneal (1979)

    Benson – Sitcom - Season One, episode 20 – Old Man Gatling (March 06, 1980)

    Trapper John, M.D. – episode – Truth and Consequences: Parts 1 & 2 – Wallace Surtees (1982)

    Magnum, P.I. – episode – Going Home – Frank Peterson (1985)

    J.J. Starbuck – episode – Pilot – Bullets (1987)

    Columbo – episode – Columbo Cries Wolf – The Mayor (1990)

    Murder, She Wrote – episode – Good-Bye Charlie – Sheriff Ed Ten Eyck (1990)

    The Wonder Years – 4 episodes – Grandpa Arnold (1990–1992)

    Star Trek: The Next Generation – episode – Emergence – The Conductor (1994)

    Walker, Texas Ranger – episode – The Road to Black Bayou – Ferris Clayton (1994)

    The Great Christmas Movies – TV Movie documentary – Himself (1998)

    The West Wing – episode – Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics – Sen. Max Lobell, R (2000)

    Gilmore Girls – 2 episodes – Mayor Harry Porter (2000, 2001)

    The West Wing – episode – Posse Comitatus – Sen. Max Lobell, R (2002)

    Best Ever Christmas Films – TV Movie documentary – Himself (2005)

    Andy Barker, P.I. – episode – Dial M for Laptop – George Bender (2007)

    Jericho – Mayor Eric Green (flashbacks only) (2007)

    It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia – episode – A Very Sunny Christmas – Eugene Hamilton (2009)

    Gilmore Girls – episode – "Star-Crossed Lovers and Other Strangers" – Mayor Harry Porter