Actor Rick Dalton Has Passed Away
Rick Dalton, the actor best known for the 1960s television series Bounty Law and a string of Westerns shot in Italy, has died, according to the Hollywood podcast Video Archives.
The performer, whose notoriety saw a boost after an encounter with his neighbor Roman Polanski and a bizarre home invasion led by deranged followers of a failed Ohio-born singer-songwriter, is survived by his wife Francesca. He was 90 years old.
Okay, okay, we’ll quit it now. Rick Dalton was not a real person, but the name of the character Leonardo DiCaprio played in the Oscar-nominated 2019 film Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood. But that doesn’t mean the man who created the story of a striving actor (and his stunt double best pal) caught up in late 60s California lore, Quentin Tarantino, isn’t allowed to have a bit of fun.
We are saddened by the news of the passing of actor Rick Dalton, best known for his roles in the hit TV series Bounty Law and The Fireman trilogy.
Rick passed away peacefully in his home in Hawaii and is survived by his wife Francesca.
RIP Rick Dalton 1933-2023 pic.twitter.com/j51sNEh7AP
— The Video Archives Podcast (@VideoArchives) May 19, 2023
“Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood” covered a transitional period in Dalton’s career, when he was no longer a viable movie star in America and had been reduced to doing regular TV guest spots as a “heavy” that the heroic main characters could defeat. He spent most of his time with his best friend and longtime stuntman Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), who loyally stuck by his side even after the stunt opportunities dried up. He eventually hit rock bottom and was forced to move to Rome for six months to make Spaghetti Westerns and spy movies — which, as Cliff pointed out, was not the “fate worse than death” that he seemed to think it was. With the help of his agent Marvin Schwarz, he was able to work with the likes of Sergio Corbucci and establish himself as a major Italian movie star in films such as “Kill Me Quick, Ringo, Said the Gringo” and “Operazione Dyn-O-Mite!” He met his wife Francesca on the trip, and the two of them eventually moved back to Los Angeles together.