R.I.P.: Wilford Brimley of The Thing and Cocoon has passed away at age 85

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Character actor Wilford Brimley was a major presence in my household as I was growing up, as the guy seemed to show up on the TV screen nearly every day. If it wasn't in films he starred in, like COCOON, or the television series Our House – which only lasted two seasons, but I must have sat through every episode, I remember it so well – then it was in the commercials he did for Quaker Oats and Liberty Medical. He told viewers that eating Quaker Oats was "the right thing to do", and told us about Liberty's diabetes testing supplies (and of course, the way he said "diabetes" has stuck in the minds of everyone who ever saw one of those commercials).

It was always a joy to watch Brimley at work, delivering lines with his awesome voice and usually sporting a walrus mustache. Sadly, Brimley passed away last Saturday at the age of 85. His agent has informed the press that he had been battling a "kidney ailment" for the last two months.

Brimley gave some iconic performances in his time, which is made all the more impressive by the fact that he sort of just lucked into acting. His first profession was being a cowboy, and after serving in the Marines he went back to the cowboy life, working as a ranch hand, a wrangler, and a blacksmith. Somewhere in there he also found time to be a bodyguard for Howard Hughes. It was his cowboy skills that got him onto the sets of films and TV shows, where he shoed horses for Westerns. That gig started to get him in front of the camera – he did stunts for the movie BANDOLERO! in 1968, appeared in the 1969 version of TRUE GRIT, got an uncredited role in LAWMAN in 1971, played a blacksmith on an episode of Kung Fu. In 1974, he was cast as a character named Horace Brimley on the TV show The Waltons, and from that point on he really had an acting career.

Among Brimley's 77 credits are THE CHINA SYNDROME, THE THING, DEATH VALLEY, 10 TO MIDNIGHT, THE NATURAL, REMO WILLIAMS: THE ADVENTURE BEGINS, EWOKS: THE BATTLE FOR ENDOR, COCOON: THE RETURN, THE FIRM, PROGENY, MUTANT SPECIES, MY FELLOW AMERICANS, IN & OUT, an episode of Seinfeld, and his hilarious performance as Jean-Claude Van Damme's uncle in HARD TARGET.

Brimley was preceded in death by his first wife Lynne and a son, Lawrence, who died in infancy. He is survived by his wife Beverly and three sons; James, John, and William. Our heartfelt condolences go out to his family, friends, and fans.