Richard Farnsworth Biography

Fast Facts

• Quit school at 15 during the Depression to work as a stable boy on a farm; he left in 1937 to take a job as a horse-riding extra in The Adventures of Marco Polo
• Competed on the rodeo circuit from 1938 to 1950
• Was the riding double for Guy Madison in the 1950s TV Western Wild Bill Hickok and went on to play Hickok in 1981's The Legend of the Lone Ranger
• Drove a chariot in 1956's The Ten Commandments and 1959's Ben-Hur
• Was made an honorary Texas Ranger in 1961
• Co-founded the Stuntmen's Association in 1961, a group formed to safeguard the rights and working conditions of stuntpeople, and has an award named after him
• In 1997, was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• At the time of his Best Actor nomination for his performance in 1999's The Straight Story, he was 79 and the oldest actor ever up for that award
• Was known to have a dislike for foul language and was proud of the fact that in more than 60 film roles he never cursed