Clu Gulager, actress of “The Virginian”, “The Last Picture Show” and “Return of the Living Dead”, has died at the age of 93.

Clu Gulager, a real-life cowboy from Oklahoma, known in turn Tall man, virgo, show last image And horror movies, among them. The return of the undead, died. He was 93 years old.

Gulager died of natural causes on Friday at the home of his son, John, and daughter-in-law, Diane, in Los Angeles. the hollywood reporter.

Gulager also played the protégé of hitman Charlie Strom (Lee Marvin), who was recruited by mob boss (Ronald Reagan) Don Siegel. The killers (1964), alongside race car mechanic Paul Newman victory (1969) and a detective working alongside the character of John Wayne in John Sturgess McCoo (1974).

More recently, he has appeared on the big screen in critical darlings such as mandarin (2015), blue jay (2016) and Quentin Tarantino once upon a time in hollywood (2019).

Gulager Performance in St. The killers he convinced Peter Bogdanovich to play Abilene, an oil rig foreman whom Ellen Boorstyn’s character falls in love with and seduces Cybill Shepherd’s Jace Farrow in an abandoned billiard hall. show last image (1971).

Part Cherokee, the vivacious Gulager burst onto the scene in September 1960 when he starred as Billy the Kid opposite Barry Sullivan as Pat Garrett on NBC. Tall man. After two seasons, the series was canceled in part due to congressional objections to portraying the notorious outlaw Bill as a hero to young viewers.

“But they’re gone untouchables which was very violent,” Gulager said in a 2015 interview. “I played a character called Mad Dog. [in 1959] Where I shot a horse on a racetrack, killed a little boy in Brooklyn and cut off a bartender’s fingers. But they dropped out because they believed the show was historically accurate.

After guest-starring on two episodes of NBC virgoGulager arrived in Medicine Bow, Wyoming for the start of the show’s third season in 1964 as Deputy Sheriff Emmett Riker. Before leaving in 1968, he appeared in over 50 episodes with James Drury and Doug McClure.

Inside The return of the undead (1985), Gulager played the head of a medical supply warehouse fighting the undead. It was a job he was hesitant to take, he said. “I really didn’t feel like doing it,” he recalled in 2017. “I thought I was above it. And it turns out, if you remember me, that’s why I’ll be remembered… I killed 18 zombies and then they came back and remembered me!

Gulager appeared in another terrifying and notable 1985 film. Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge. He later played a shotgun-wielding bartender in a horror movie. Party (2005) and its two direct-to-video sequels, then worked 3d piranha (2012). These four films were directed by his son John.

William Martin Gulager was born on November 16, 1928, in Holdenville, a leafy town 120 kilometers from Oklahoma City. His father, John, was a Broadway actor turned county judge, and his mother, Hazel, worked for the Veterans Administration. His second cousin was Will Rogers.

His father’s nickname for him comes from the clu-clu birds, known in English as martins, which nest in the family home. After high school and a stint in the US Marine Corps, Gulager attended Northeastern State College and Baylor University, where he received a scholarship to study in Paris with the famous actor and mime Jean Louis Barrault.the children of paradise) before graduating in 1956

He worked on live TV in New York on shows like generally, United States steel watch s Goodyear Theater before moving to Los Angeles in 1959. He appeared Wanted Dead or Alive, Have a gun – you will travel s Laramie and hired Tall man After MCA boss Lew Wasserman saw him playing an Elvis-like character on CBS. little house 90.

“I was a cowboy from Oklahoma. I walked the fences [around cattle] I was out in the field in winter and summer, looking at ants,” Gulager said in a 2019 interview. “And then you go ahead and something comes along and you want to be an actor. I could play cowboy and it was easy for me to ride a pony and wear a hat.

Future head of Universal and Columbia Pictures, Frank Price, who produced and wrote Tall manhired a gulagher virgo. “I was broke when I moved [that show]- he said in 2014. “I had to ask Frank Price, who drove it, for work. He fired the actor from the set and hired me. If I’d known someone had been fired, I wouldn’t have taken the job.”

In 1970, Gulager starred opposite Lloyd Bridges in the NBC drama San Francisco International Airport, also produced by Price, but lasted only six episodes. It was winemaker Chase Gioberti for the 1981 pilot. hawk crest but he was replaced by Robert Foxworth when CBS picked up the show.

Gulager says he did a lot of improvisation when creating the neo-noir classic The killers. “I was surprised that Lee Marvin let me do it, actually,” he noted during an interview with Eddie Mueller in January 2020, after the film was shown on TCM. black alley. “But the director wanted me to invent things [make the character] Psychotic, very crazy. So I tried to continue with that.”

Gulager has also appeared on shows like Dr. kildare, bonanza, mannix, Hawaii Five-O, murder, he wrote, Walker, Texas Ranger s The McKenzies of Paradise Cove And in movies, including the other side of midnight (1977), the power of one (1979), In the evening (1985), I will give you a sukkah (1988), goosebumps (1990) and My heroes have always been cowboys. (1991).

he was in charge a day with the boys (1969), which was nominated for the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film at Cannes -and was filmed by the great László Kovács- and taught acting at the Hollywood Workshop.

In addition to John and Diane, survivors include their son Tom; Tom’s wife Zoe; and grandson Cl.

He was married to singer and actress Miriam Bird-Nethery from 1952 to 2003.

“Clue was as loving as he was loyal and dedicated to his craft, a proud member of the Cherokee Nation, a rule-breaker, insightful and insightful, and always on the side of the downtrodden,” his family said. “He was in a good mood, an avid reader, kind and gentle. Tall and dangerous. “