Rick Dalton, the legendary actor known for Bounty Law has passed away at age 90. Dalton had an expansive career in Hollywood, playing Jake Cahill from 1959 to 1963 before starring in films such as the World War II/action-adventure flick The 14 Fists of McCluskey and the western movie, Tanner. He went on to play the heavy in many iconic television shows, including Green Hornet, FBI, and Lancer. While it’s rumored he was up for the Steve McQueen part in The Great Escape, “he never stood a chance.” However, Dalton did make a string of enjoyable Spaghetti Westerns in Italy, which is where he met his wife, Francesca Capucci. Dalton’s Italian features included Kill Me Quick, Ringo, Said The Gringo and Nebraska Jim as well as a “James Bond rip-off type film” called Operazione Dyn-O-Mite!.
Dalton was also known for his longtime friendship with controversial stuntman, Cliff Booth, who was “more than a brother and a little less than a wife.” The fact that Dalton lived as long as he did is awe-inspiring when you consider his lifestyle, as he was known for habits such as drinking eight whiskey sours in one night. However, Dalton was notoriously lucky and even survived an attack from a “bunch of godd*mn f*ckin’ hippies” who were sent to his neighborhood by Charles Manson.
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The news of Dalton’s passing was announced by Quentin Tarantino yesterday when his Video Archives podcast tweeted the news. “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.”
Rest well, Rick Dalton. As a young Trudi Frazer once declared, “That was the best acting I’ve ever seen in my whole life.”
Was Rick Dalton Real?
No. Rick Dalton is a fictional character played by Leonardo DiCaprio in Tarantino’s 2019 film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. The role earned DiCaprio an Academy Award nomination.
What Has Tarantino Said About Rick Dalton?
Speaking in an interview with Empire last year, Tarantino revealed that he’s already written another Once Upon A Time in Hollywood adjacent book about “The Films Of Rick Dalton.” He explained, “It gives you a little quickie biography of his life. And then it starts going through the career: ‘…and then there’s this episodic television show, and then this other television show, and then this movie, and that movie’, and starts with the small parts he has in this one, and it builds, with little reviews of each thing, little synopses of each of them. And it goes through the entire career until he retires in 1988.”
Tarantino explained that the book “is written by me, by Quentin Tarantino, in 1999,” and features a “huge Q&A that (he) had with Rick at that time” as the preface. “It’s all written. It exists!” he revealed. However, it’s not guaranteed that the director will release the book. Tarantino explained that the book could have “a limited audience.” He continued, “But everybody who likes Rick, and cares about Rick, and is interested in the trajectory of Rick and has now become invested in my alternative history of Hollywood… well, this takes the alternative history of Hollywood all the way to the bitter end.”
Today, the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles is selling Rick Dalton film festival t-shirts. You can learn more here.
