Allen Garfield obit

Allen Garfield, Actor in 'The Conversation,' 'The Stunt Man' and 'Nashville,' Dies at 80

He was not on the list.

He also played the police chief in 'Beverly Hills Cop II' and mogul Louis B. Mayer in 'Gable and Lombard.'

Allen Garfield, the New Jersey character actor who specialized in playing nervous types while appearing in such films as The Conversation, The Candidate, The Stunt Man and Nashville, has died. He was 80.

His sister, Lois Goorwitz, confirmed his death in a brief conversation with The Hollywood Reporter.

Earlier, actress Ronee Blakley posted the news of Garfield's death on Facebook, saying that he had died Tuesday and that the cause was COVID-19. Garfield and Blakley played husband and wife in Robert Altman's Nashville (1975).

Garfield suffered a stroke as he was set to appear in Roman Polanski's The Ninth Gate (1999), then suffered another one in 2004 that led him to reside at the Motion Picture Country Home and Hospital in Woodland Hills. A spokeswoman for the MPTF facility did not know if Garfield was there at the time of his death.

Born Allen Goorwitz on Nov. 22, 1939, in Newark, he went by his real name in several films, including The Brink's Job (1978) and One From the Heart (1981), midway through his career.

Garfield boxed as an amateur, worked as a sportswriter and studied with Lee Strasberg and Elia Kazan at the Actors Studio in New York. He appeared often onstage before making his film debut in Orgy Girls '69, followed by other big-screen appearances in 1971 in Woody Allen's Bananas and The Organization, starring Sidney Poitier.

Often playing jumpy types, he worked for Francis Ford Coppola in The Conversation (1974) and The Cotton Club (1984) and for Wim Wenders in A State of Things (1982) and Until the End of the World (1991).

He also portrayed Louis B. Mayer in Gable and Lombard (1976) and police chief Harold Lutz in Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), and his résumé also included roles in Teachers (1984), Desert Bloom (1986), Dick Tracy (1990), Destiny Turns on the Radio (1995) and The Majestic (2001).

"The reason I did [the 1988 movie] Chief Zabu is that Allen Garfield is from the Actors Studio, I'm from the Actors Studio, and we worked together there on stuff," actress Marianna Hill said in a 2016 interview with Shaun Chang for the Hill Place blog. "Allen Garfield happens to be a great actor. He's a really underrated actor. Allen was the hardest-working actor, but nobody realizes that about him because he seems to be a natural."

Filmography

Year       Title       Role       Notes

1968      Orgy Girls '69                                    

1968      Greetings            Smut Peddler                     

1969      Putney Swope   Elias, Jr.                               

1970      The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful       Moreno                               

1970      Hi, Mom!             Joe Banner                         

1970      The Owl and the Pussycat             Dress Shop Proprietor                   

1971      Roommates        Martin Axborough                          

1971      Taking Off            Norman                               

1971      Bananas               Man on Cross                    

1971      Cry Uncle!           Jake Masters                     

1971      You've Got to Walk It Like You Talk It or You'll Lose That Beat       Herby Moss                       

1971      The Organization              Benjy                    

1971      Believe in Me     Stutter                 

1972      Top of the Heap                Taxi Driver                          

1972      The Candidate   Klein                     

1972      Get to Know Your Rabbit               Vic                         

1973      Slither   Vincent J. Palmer                             

1973      The Marcus-Nelson Murders      Mario Portello   TV movie            

1973      Deadhead Miles                Juicy Brucey        Uncredited        

1974      Busting Carl Rizzo                            

1974      The Conversation             Bernie Moran                   

1974      The Front Page Kruger                  

1975      Nashville              Barnett                                

1976      The Commitment                                            

1976      Gable and Lombard         Louis B. Mayer                  

1976      Mother, Jugs, and Speed               Harry Fishbine                  

1976      Paco      Padre                   

1978      Skateboard         Manny Bloom                   

1978      The Brink's Job Vinnie Costa                      

1979      Sketches of a Strangler Jack Garvey                       

1979      Fyre       Preacher                             

1980      The Stunt Man Sam                      

1980      One Trick Pony Cal van Damp                    

1981      One from the Heart         Restaurant Owner                          

1981      Continental Divide           Howard McDermott                       

1982      Der Stand der Dinge        Gordon                                

1983      The Black Stallion Returns            Kurr                      

1983      Get Crazy             Max Wolfe                         

1984      Irreconcilable Differences            Phil Hanner                        

1984      Teachers              Carl Rosenberg                

1984      The Cotton Club                Abbadabba Berman                       

1986      Desert Bloom     Mr. Mosol                          

1987      Beverly Hills Cop II           Harold Lutz                        

1987      My Best Friend's Birthday             Entertainment Magnate                               

1989      Night Visitor       Zachary Willard                                

1989      Let It Ride            Greenberg                         

1990      Dick Tracy            Reporter #1                       

1990      Club Fed               Harrison Farnsworth IV                 

1991      Until the End of the World           Gebrauchtwagenhändler                             

1992      Citizen Cohn       Abe Feller            TV movie            

1992      Miracle Beach    Magnus O'Leary                               

1992      Jack and His Friends        Jack                       

1993      Family Prayers   Cantor                 

1994      The Patriots        Eagleman                           

1995      Stuart Saves His Family Maitre D'                            

1995      Wild Side             Dan Rackman                    

1995      Destiny Turns on the Radio          Vinnie Vidivici                   

1996      Diabolique          Leo Katzman                     

1997      Obsession           Simon Frischmuth                           

1997      The Elf Who Didn't Believe           Twisp                   

1998      Get a Job             Mr. Berger / Psychiatrist                              

1999      The Ninth Gate Witkin                  

2001      The Majestic      Leo Kubelsky                     

2002      White Boy           Mr. Rosen                          

2016      Chief Zabu           Ben Sydney         (final film role)