Jack Betts, a multifaceted actor who worked on the screen and stage as well as screen, from Shakespearean theatre to the cult Spaghetti Westerns, as well as major Hollywood films, has tragically passed away at 96.
Betts passed at rest on Thursday night at the home he shared with his family at Los Osos, California, his nephew Dean Sullivan confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.
Born in 1929 in Miami, Florida, the singer has a tremendous career spanning multiple genres and decades.
His most well-known performance was in Spider-Man (2002), where he costarred with Tobey Maguire as Henry Balkan.
In addition, he appeared as a guest on well-known TV series like Seinfeld, Frasier, Power Rangers, and Friends, where he played Tom in the 2001 episode “The One with Joey’s Brand new Brain.” He also starred in Batman Forever (1995) and Batman & Robin (1997).
Betts started her career on Broadway by playing a part on stage in Richard III and later starred in the role of Dracula from 1977 until 1980. But it was his performance on Spaghetti Westerns under the pseudonym Hunt Powers that made him an integral part of European film.
Betts first appeared in the role in Franco Giraldi’s Sugar Colt (1966), the role he admitted to having bluffed his way into. Betts continued to appear in 12 Westerns until 1972, but later expressed regret that the films had not been aired on television in either Canada or the U.S.
Betts recalled, “In the hotel next to mine was Clint Eastwood,” in a 2021 Dev Show interview. I would go up my mountain to make my Western, and he would go up his mountain to film it. His pictures, however, were distributed internationally, whereas mine were only seen in Canada and America.
Betts’ final film role was the 2018 film D-Railed. In it, the actor played”The Conductor.
Offscreen, Betts shared a deep connection and friendship with the actor Doris Roberts of Everybody Loves Raymond. They were close and when Roberts asked him to move out of New York, they shared their home located in Hollywood Hills for years. From the late 1980s until her passing in 2016, he frequently went to events with her. Even the 1999 Raymond episode had the two together. Betts referred to their friendship as “one of the great joys” of his life after she passed away. He claimed that they stayed good friends all the way to the end.
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Tributes to Betts have been flooding in on social media in the wake of his de@th.
RIP to the legend. Jack Betts brought so much to the screen, ranging from comic book humor, as one fan wrote about the X.
Another one added: Shoot another Hollywood gunfighter rides off to the sunset. Tips for you: Jack Betts was one of the actors who could make even a B-movie look like an A-list film.
Betts was survived by his mother, Joan, who is due to mark her 100th birthday in November. He also has the nieces Lynne as well as Gail, and cousin Dean.