Ron Thompson obit

Ron Thompson Dies: Actor In ‘Baretta’ And Ralph Bakshi’s ‘American Pop’ Was 83

 He was not on the list.

Ron Thompson, a veteran character actor best known for his role in Ralph Bakshi’s rotoscope film American Pop and his 1970s TV series portrayal of Detective Nopke in Baretta, died Saturday in Los Angeles. He was 83. No cause was given by his friend Professor Rel Dowdell of Hampton University, who confirmed the death.

Thompson had a brief career as a rock singer in the 1960s and wrote and recorded a number of singles as Ronnie Thompson.

He also originated the role of Shanty Mulligan in the Pulitzer Prize winning play No Place to Be Somebody by Charles Gordone. He also won the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for his 1973 lead performance in the play Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?

Born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1941, Ron, his older brother, and parents moved to Miami, Florida in ’45. Ron began to show talents as a singer/performer at an early age, which led to him performing in kiddie shows. In his early teens, he saw Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront. With only $200, he set out for New York.

Two years later, he was acting opposite Robert Duvall on the live TV drama, Armstrong Circle Theater. At the same time, he had begun a singing career and had a record out. Over the next two years, he had two records released, but neither were hits.

In ’72, he joined the cast of the Henry Fonda revival, The Time of Your Life. By then, he had moved to L.A.

In the next 25 years, he could be seen guesting on numerous television shows.

“Mr. Ron Thompson was a very versatile and talented character actor in all genres,” said Dowdell, director of film studies at Hampton University, “as well as a true and diligent student of the comprehensive craft of acting and all of its nuances. He was a very congenial man with a warm and giving spirit, and was well-respected by many luminaries in the film and television industries.”

Thompson was married to actress Diane Sommerfield, who died in 2001.

 

Theatre

Date            Production        Role            Notes

1969    No Place to Be Somebody            Shanty Mulligan          

1972    The Time of Your Life      Willie   

1973    Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?            Bickham         Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award (Lead Performance)

1976    Buy the Bi and Bye            WD     

Film

Year     Film            Role            Notes

1967    Brown Eye, Evil Eye            Freddy St. Claire         

1973    The No Mercy Man            John Dunn    aka "The Vietnam Soldier" – Europe (English title) (video title)

aka "Trained to Kill: USA" – USA (DVD title)

1977    The White Buffalo            Frozen Dog Pimp            aka "Hunt to Kill" – USA (TV title)

1981            American Pop Tony Belinsky / Pete Belinsky          

1992            American Me  Junkie  

Deep Cover            Store Owner 

1993    Death Ring            "Needles", Tattooer    

1998    Fallen Arches Leslie  

2006            Bottleneck            Husband         

2015    Last Days of Coney Island   Cops            Voice

2017    Stitches            Ron     

2017    Hate Horses Rex Napier 

2017    Low Town            Langston Bedry           

2018    Cargo            Anthony Peterson       

2018    Chicks, Man            Sherman         

2018    Gena            John    

2019    Tellers            Harry Dawn  

2021            Natasha Hall   Marlon Franklin            Voice

2023            Suffrage          Harry Dawn  

Television

Year            Program         Role            Episodes         Title

1962            Armstrong Circle Theatre Larry / Junkie   2            Securities for Suckers

Runaway Road-Story of a Missing Person

Assignment: Teenage Junkies

Assignment: Teenage Junkies

1963            Armstrong Circle Theatre Junkie            1            Assignment: Teenage Junkies

1974    Mannix            Kirk Bullard 1            Death Has No Face

1974            Ironside          The Bartender            1            Amy Prentiss: Part 1

1974            Ironside          Jamie            1            Run Scared

1974    The Gun      Tom            TV movie  

1975    The Dream Makers            Dave            TV movie  

1975    The Streets of San Francisco            Willie            1            Web of Lies

1975    Bronk            Unknown        1            Crackback

1975–1976            Baretta            Penguin / Detective Nopke 6            Count the Days I'm Gone />Murder For Me

Pay or Die

The Dippers

Death on the Run

Street Edition

1976    The Rebels  Henry David Thoreau            1            Henry David Thoreau

1977    Quincy, M.E.    Claude Stern    1            The Thigh Bone's Connected to the Knee Bone

1980    The Waltons            GI            1            The Prodigals

1982    The Greatest American Hero            Guard            1            Good Samaritan

1985    Cagney & Lacey            Jimmy MacDonald            1            Organized Crime

1989            Imagining America            Beatnik Poet     1            This Ain't Bebop

1997    Crisis Center  Junkie            1            He Said, She Said

2020            Ethnically Ambiguous            Ralph            1            Asian Persuasion