R. G. Armstrong

R. G. Armstrong Headshot

Actor

Birth Date: April 7, 1917

Death Date: July 27, 2012

Birth Place: Birmingham, Alabama

A flinty, often imposing presence in features and television for over half a century, character actor R.G. Armstrong played men whose mere presence elevated the tension in such films as "Ride the High Country" (1956), "El Dorado" (1966), "The Great White Hope" (1970), "Predator" (1986) and countless other screen appearances. He was a staple of Sam Peckinpah's features, often playing figures with unyielding religious conviction in "Major Dundee" (1965) and "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid" (1973), while Warren Beatty utilized his formidable screen presence to cut the levity in pictures like "Heaven Can Wait" (1975) and "Dick Tracy" (1991). Offscreen, he was a kind soul whose tireless work ethic contributed to his lengthy career, which culminated in 2001. His body of work, which encompassed films both classic and forgettable, ensured him the warm screen immortality afforded to only the best of Hollywood's character players.

Born Robert Golden Armstrong on April 7, 1917 in Birmingham, AL, he was the son of fundamentalist parents who hoped that their son would become a pastor. His true calling, however, was acting, which he began pursuing while a student at the University of North Carolina. One of his classmates and co-stars during this period was Andy Griffith.

After graduation, Armstrong headed north to attend the Actors' Studio, and quickly established himself on the New York theater scene through such acclaimed productions as Calder Willingham's "End as a Man" (1953), which was the first play to transition from off-Broadway to Broadway.

The following year, Armstrong made his feature film debut in "Garden of Eden" (1954), a low-budget drama about a war widow who found serenity in a nudist colony. Though still in his thirties, Armstrong was cast as the widow's tyrannical father-in-law, thanks in part to his weathered face and premature baldness, and he would continue to play older men, frequently with a streak of rigidity or casual cruelty, throughout his lengthy career.

The following year, Armstrong returned to Broadway for the original production of Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (1955) as Dr. Baugh opposite Ben Gazzara, Barbara Bel Geddes and Burl Ives. He continued to work on stage for the next few years, appearing in the original Broadway run of Williams' "Orpheus Descending" (1957) while making minor, often uncredited appearances in features like the Williams-penned "Baby Doll" (1956) and "A Face in the Crowd" (1957), which made a star of his former classmate, Andy Griffith.

In 1958, he invested fully in a screen career, and began his long tenure as a character actor who specialized in flinty Western figures. Armstrong was a staple of TV horse operas for much of the late 1950s and early '60s; his unwavering gaze and intense delivery frequently earned him turns as land barons, cold-blooded killers or officers of the law.

In 1960, he appeared in an episode of "The Westerner" (NBC, 1960-61), an offbeat period drama created by veteran TV director Sam Peckinpah. Armstrong would become one of Peckinpah's repertory players throughout his long and turbulent career in features, beginning in 1962 with the acclaimed "Ride the High Country." Noting Armstrong's own inner conflict between his religious past and his worldly occupation, Peckinpah cast him as a father whose fanatical beliefs estranged him from his own daughter (Mariette Hartley); he would continue to tap Armstrong for similarly conflicted or obsessed figures, most notably in "Major Dundee" (1965) as a minister who joined Charlton Heston's hunt for a renegade Apache warrior (Michael Pate).

While forging his relationship with Peckinpah, Armstrong maintained an astonishing prolific career in other features and television, appearing in up to eight films and TV episodes a year in the mid-'60s. Most were unremarkable fare enlivened by the conviction of Armstrong's performances, though there were also notable features like Howard Hawks' "El Dorado" (1966), which featured Armstrong as the patriarch of a ranching family under the protection of John Wayne's reformed gunslinger.

From 1966 to 1967, he co-starred on the cult drama "T.H.E. Cat" (NBC) as a one-handed police captain at odds with Robert Loggia's cat thief-turned-crime fighter.

The 1970s saw Armstrong's profile rise with substantive roles in several major features. He rejoined Peckinpah for two of the director's best films of the decade: the elegiac "Ballad of Cable Hogue" (1970) and "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid" (1973), as the self-righteous and sadistic deputy who beat Kris Kristofferson's Billy before receiving his fatal come-uppance.

Other notable turns included the grizzled ex-fighter Cap'n Dan in Martin Ritt's "The Great White Hope" (1970), ill-fated outlaw Clell Miller in "The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid" (1972) and the folksy sheriff who secretly led a backwoods coven of Satanists in Jack Starrett's "Race With the Devil" (1975). In 1978, he appeared in "Heaven Can Wait," the first of several projects with actor-director Warren Beatty.

As Armstrong entered his seventh decade in the 1980s, he showed no signs of reducing his vast number of screen appearances. Though the projects often varied greatly in terms of quality - in 1981 alone, viewers could find him in minor roles in Beatty's "Reds" (1981) and "Raggedy Man" (1981) as well as the low-budget horror film "Evilspeak" (1981) - he continued to remain a believable presence, no matter the subject. Younger audiences also knew him as the general in "Predator" (1986) opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger, or the doomed Lewis Vendredi, whose shop of cursed antiques set in motion the stories in the syndicated "Friday the 13th" (1987-1990) and the grotesque villain Pruneface in Beatty's big-budget "Dick Tracy" (1991).

His output began to slow in the 1990s, though he could still be counted on to deliver his signature brand of grit in features like "Payback" (1995) with Mel Gibson, and as an elderly psychic in several episodes of "Millennium" (Fox, 1995-96). Armstrong logged his final screen role in a 2001 direct-to-video horror picture called "The Waking." Afterwards, he largely retired from acting save for appearances in off-Broadway theater until 2004, following the death of his third wife, Mary Craven, and health conditions which reportedly caused him to lose his sight.

By Paul Gaita

Credits

Passion & Poetry: The Ballad of Sam Peckinpah

Actor
Movie
2005

The Waking

Actor
Edward Sloan
Movie
2001

Purgatory

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Coachman
Movie
1999

Millennium

Guest Star
Series
1996

Odio en el Alma

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Movie
1995

Crazy Joe

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Art Fencer
Movie
1994

Payback

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Mac
Movie
1994

Walker, Texas RangerStream

Guest Star
Series
1993

Warlock: The Armageddon

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Movie
1993

Dick TracyStream

Actor
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1990
61%

Quantum LeapStream

Guest Star
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Series
1989

Matlock: The Hunting Party

Actor
Sheriff Dalton Parks
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1989

Trapper County War

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Pop Luddigger
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1989

Ghetto Blaster

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1989

Bulletproof

Actor
Miles Blackburn
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1988

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Guest Star
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1987

Beauty and the Beast

Guest Star
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1987

PredatorStream

Actor
Gen. Phillips
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1987
80%

Jocks

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Coach Bettlebom
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1987

MatlockStream

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The Best of Times

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Red Headed StrangerStream

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1986

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Actor
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1984
39%

Lone Wolf McQuadeStream

Actor
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1983
57%

La Bestia Interna

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1982

The Shadow RidersStream

Actor
Sheriff Miles Gillette
Movie
1982

The Beast Within

Actor
Doc Schoonmaker
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1982

HammettStream

Actor
Lt. O'Mara
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1982
77%

Raggedy Man

Actor
Rigby
Movie
1981

The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper

Actor
Dempsey
Movie
1981

Evilspeak

Actor
Sarge
Movie
1981

Where the Buffalo RoamStream

Actor
Judge Simpson
Movie
1980
19%

Trapper John, M.D.

Guest Star
Series
1979

The Dukes of HazzardStream

Guest Star
Tom Pryor
Series
1979

Steel

Actor
Kellin
Movie
1979

The Sin

Actor
Mr. Hemmings
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1979

Fantasy IslandStream

Guest Star
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1978

Heaven Can WaitStream

Actor
General manager
Movie
1978
85%

Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell

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Dunworth
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1978

The Time Machine

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Gen. Harris
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1978

The Long Dark Night

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1977

The Car

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1977

Charlie's AngelsStream

Guest Star
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Series
1976

Dixie Dynamite

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1976

Kingston: The Power Play

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Stay Hungry

Actor
Thor Erickson
Movie
1976

Starsky & HutchStream

Guest Star
Series
1975

Race With the DevilStream

Actor
Sheriff Taylor
Movie
1975
64%

White Line Fever

Actor
Prosecutor
Movie
1975

Boss

Actor
Mayor Griffin
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1975

Reflections of Murder

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Mr. Turner
Movie
1974

Manhunter

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Henry Stratemeyer
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1974

Le Justicier

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1974

My Name Is Nobody

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Honest John
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1973

Pat Garrett and Billy the KidStream

Actor
Deputy Sheriff Bob Ollinger
Movie
1973
57%

White LightningStream

Actor
Big Bear
Movie
1973
75%

The Sixth Sense

Guest Star
Show
1972

The Legend of Hillbilly John

Actor
Bristowe
Movie
1972

The Great Northfield Minnesota RaidStream

Actor
Clell Miller
Movie
1972
73%

Cotter

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Jack
Movie
1972

The Century Turns

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Ben Ritt
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1972

Justin Morgan Had a Horse

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Squire Fisk
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1972

Hec Ramsey

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1972

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Sheriff
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1971

Alias Smith and Jones

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1971

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1971

Angels Die Hard

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Mel
Movie
1970

Espíritu de Águila

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1970

The Great White Hope

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Movie
1970
43%

The Ballad of Cable Hogue

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1970

The McMasters

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1970

Marcus Welby, M.D.Stream

Guest Star
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1969

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1968

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1968

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1968

The High Chaparral

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1967

The Guns of Will Sonnett

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1967

Cimarron Strip

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1967

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1966

El DoradoStream

Actor
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1966
96%

The Big Valley

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1965

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Movie
1965

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Guest Star
Series
1964

He Rides Tall

Actor
Joshua 'Josh' McCloud
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The FugitiveStream

Guest Star
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Lassie Collection

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Guest Star
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Series
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1962
89%

Pistolero Del Atardecer

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The Andy Griffith ShowStream

Guest Star
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Series
1960

Surfside 6

Guest Star
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1960

The Tall Man

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The Fugitive KindStream

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53%

Ten Who Dared

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Guest Star
Series
1959

The Twilight ZoneStream

Actor
Contractor
Series
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92%

LaramieStream

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LaramieStream

Guest Star
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1959

BonanzaStream

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1959

Black Saddle

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Alfred Hitchcock PresentsStream

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GunsmokeStream

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Major
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1955

Lassie

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Mr. Bowers
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Garden of Eden

Actor
J. Randolph Latimore
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Death Valley DaysStream

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Bundage
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1952