It is a huge achievement for an actor if his/her first and last film have won an academy award. Call it luck or coincidence but Anthony James was one such actor who holds this unique distinction. James made his debut with ‘In The Heat Of The Night’ while his last film was ‘Unforgiven’ both of them winning the academy award for best film. Sadly the actor passed away on Tuesday. He was just 77 years old. His obituary announcement by a funeral home in Cambridge, Massachusetts revealed that he died because of cancer, Fox News reported this news.
He played several character actor roles in films, especially in Westerns and specialised in playing indecent villains. Born on July 22, 1942 he dreamed of becoming an actor. His obituary states that at 18 years of age he “persuaded his mother that they had to go to Hollywood.” Without even a single penny, both of them boarded a train and went to Los Angeles to help his dreams come true. James’s mother used to clean houses for a living while fortunately he got a scholarship for acting class. In his struggling days the actor used to clean bathrooms to enable himself to attend acting classes.
In 1967, he made his debut at 26 years of age with the Oscar winning movie ‘In The Heat Of The Night’. He further starred in films such as Vanishing Point, The Culpepper Cattle Co., High Plains Drifter, The Teacher, Hearts of the West, Burnt Offerings, The Fifth Floor, and Ravagers, among others.
Besides movies, he acted in several television series, popular among them were The High Chaparral, The Big Valley, Gunsmoke, Hawaii Five-0. Retiring from movies, the actor went on to live in New England and made paintings and wrote several poems.
RIP Anthony James.