Wednesday, August 9, 2023

Robert Swan obit

Robert Swan, Actor in ‘Hoosiers,’ ‘Rudy’ and ‘The Babe,’ Dies at 78

The Chicago native also appeared in 'Somewhere in Time,' 'Natural Born Killers,' 'The Untouchables' and 'Backdraft.'

 He was not on the list.


Robert Swan, the veteran character actor who appeared in key roles in the notable sports films Hoosiers, Rudy and The Babe, has died. He was 78.

Swan died Wednesday after a long battle with cancer at his home in Rolling Prairie, Indiana, his friend Betty Hoeffner told The Hollywood Reporter.

Swan also portrayed a Canadian Mountie in Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables (1987) and a bloodied deputy in Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers (1994) and was other lawmen in Who’s That Girl (1987) and Mo’ Money (1992).

In Hoosiers (1986), his character, the Indiana farmer Rollin Butcher, has two sons on the Hickory High School basketball team, and he’s one of the few people in town to welcome new coach Norman Dale (Gene Hackman). Later, he joins Coach Dale on the bench as a Huskers’ assistant.

Swan then reunited with Hoosiers director David Anspaugh to play a priest in another classic underdog sports flick, Rudy (1993), starring Sean Astin.

In between those films, he was the father of New York Yankees slugger George Herman Ruth in Arthur Hiller’s The Babe (1992), starring John Goodman.

Born in Chicago on Oct. 20, 1944, Swan sang at the Church of St. Paul & the Redeemer in Hyde Park as a youngster and with the chorus at the Lyric Opera and Chicago Symphony. He also acted in theaters around town and made it to Broadway in 1974 in The Freedom of the City.

In his first film, Somewhere in Time (1980), he played a stagehand who fights with Christopher Reeve’s character in the year 1912.

His big-screen résumé also included Take This Job and Shove It (1981), Doctor Detroit (1983), Randal Kleiser’s Grandview, U.S.A. (1984), That Was Then … This Is Now (1985), Costa-Gavras’ Betrayed (1988) and Ron Howard’s Backdraft (1991).

On television, Swan worked alongside Jane Fonda in the 1984 ABC telefilm The Dollmaker, based on the Harriette Arnow novel and directed by Daniel Petrie, and appeared on All My Children — as the bad guy Jeb Tidwell — Spenser for Hire and The Equalizer.

He also was a voice actor in commercials for United Airlines, Busch and Schlitz beer, Nine Lives cat food and the Beef Industry Council and founded and performed at the Harbor County Opera in Three Oaks, Michigan.

Survivors include his wife, Barbara; brothers David and Charles; sister-in-law Elizabeth; nephews Christopher, Bryan and Daniel; and dogs Baci and Chico.

Swan had written and was shopping a screenplay, The Saint and the Scoundrel, about Samuel Johnson, the English lexicographer who published A Dictionary of the English Language in 1755 and suffered from Tourette syndrome.

A celebration of life at a date to be announced will feature a reading of the screenplay featuring Hill Street Blues star Daniel J. Travanti as Johnson, Si Osborne as his biographer and an actor to be named as the narrator, a role Swan dreamed of portraying.

 

Actor

The Owner (2012)

The Owner

7.0

The Driver

2012

 

Capture is a love story, an unusual quartet, a Woman, a Gorilla, fantasy,and truth!

Capture

Short

Voice: Him

2010

 

C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America (2004)

C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America

6.4

'That's My Boy' Dad

2004

 

Cold Night Into Dawn (1997)

Cold Night Into Dawn

5.6

Transit Authority Worker

1997

 

Jeremy Davies in Going All the Way (1997)

Going All the Way

5.7

Luke

1997

 

Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis in Natural Born Killers (1994)

Natural Born Killers

7.2

Deputy Napalatoni

1994

 

The Childhood Friend (1994)

The Childhood Friend

5.6

Sortino

1994

 

Missing Persons (1993)

Missing Persons

7.2

TV Series

Dan Manaher

1993–1994

17 episodes

 

Rudy (1993)

Rudy

7.5

Father Zajak

1993

 

Damon Wayans in Mo' Money (1992)

Mo' Money

5.5

Detective Lawrence

1992

 

The Babe (1992)

The Babe

5.9

George Ruth Sr.

1992

 

Backdraft (1991)

Backdraft

6.7

Willy - Bartender

1991

 

Edward Woodward in The Equalizer (1985)

The Equalizer

7.8

TV Series

Joe Halsey

1989

1 episode

 

The Trial of Standing Bear

8.5

TV Movie

Minister

1988

 

Susan Lucci, Debbi Morgan, Rebecca Budig, Cameron Mathison, and Darnell Williams in All My Children (1970)

All My Children

6.7

TV Series

Jeb Tidwell

1988

1 episode

 

Betrayed (1988)

Betrayed

6.3

Dean

1988

 

Avery Brooks and Robert Urich in Spenser: For Hire (1985)

Spenser: For Hire

7.3

TV Series

Mike Kaminski

Virgil Crebbs

1986–1987

2 episodes

 

Madonna in Who's That Girl (1987)

Who's That Girl

4.8

Detective Bellson

1987

 

Sean Connery, Kevin Costner, Robert De Niro, Andy Garcia, and Charles Martin Smith in The Untouchables (1987)

The Untouchables

7.8

Mountie Captain

1987

 

Nick Mancuso in Stingray (1986)

Stingray

7.5

TV Series

Captain Thomas

1987

1 episode

 

Hoosiers (1986)

Hoosiers

7.4

Rollin Butcher

1986

 

That Was Then... This Is Now (1985)

That Was Then... This Is Now

6.1

Smitty

1985

 

The Twilight Zone (1985)

The Twilight Zone

7.7

TV Series

Bob (segment "Nightcrawlers")

1985

1 episode

 

Wildside (1985)

Wildside

7.9

TV Series

Hayes

1985

1 episode

 

Jamie Lee Curtis, Patrick Swayze, and C. Thomas Howell in Grandview, U.S.A. (1984)

Grandview, U.S.A.

5.4

Fire Chief

1984

 

The Dollmaker (1984)

The Dollmaker

7.6

TV Movie

Victor

1984

 

Heart of Steel (1983)

Heart of Steel

5.9

TV Movie

Dutton

1983

 

Dan Aykroyd, Fran Drescher, Donna Dixon, Lynn Whitfield, and Lydia Lei in Doctor Detroit (1983)

Doctor Detroit

5.2

Seedy Biker

1983

 

Take This Job and Shove It (1981)

Take This Job and Shove It

4.9

Virgil

1981

 

Claude Akins, Brian Kerwin, and Mills Watson in The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo (1979)

The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo

6.5

TV Series

Danny

1981

1 episode

 

Bo Svenson in Walking Tall (1981)

Walking Tall

7.1

TV Series

Warren

1981

1 episode

 

Somewhere in Time (1980)

Somewhere in Time

7.2

Stagehand with Note (1912)

1980

 

Robert Conrad in The Duke (1979)

The Duke

7.2

TV Series

1979

1 episode

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