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Ed Lauter
Lauter, c. 1975
Born	Edward Matthew Lauter Jr. (1938-10-30)October 30, 1938 Long Beach, New York, U.S.
Died	October 16, 2013(2013-10-16) (aged 74) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting place	Westwood Village Memorial Park
Alma mater	C.W. Post College, B.A. 1961
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1968–2013
Spouse	Marchell Williams 2005-2008 Mia Roberts Lauter ​ ​(m. 2009)​
Children	4

Edward Matthew Lauter Jr. (/ˈlɔːtər/ LAW-tər; October 30, 1938 – October 16, 2013) was an American actor and stand-up comedian. He appeared in more than 200 films and TV series episodes in a career that spanned over 40 years.

Early life

Lauter was born and raised in Long Beach, New York, the son of Edward Matthew Lauter and Sally Lee, a 1920s Broadway actress and dancer. He was of German and Irish descent.

After graduating from high school, he majored in English Literature in college and received a B.A. degree in 1961 from the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University. While in college, he played basketball. Lauter served for two years in the U.S. Army.

Career

Lauter's first acting role was a small part in the Broadway production of The Great White Hope, a boxing drama, in 1968. Before that, he was a stand-up comedian. His screen acting debut was in a 1971 episode of the television series Mannix. His first theatrical film role was in the Western Dirty Little Billy in 1972.

As a character actor, Lauter was known for his 6'2" height and balding looks. He starred with Bruce Dern, Barbara Harris, Karen Black, and William Devane in Alfred Hitchcock's final film, Family Plot. Hitchcock was impressed by Lauter and asked him to play a major role in the romantic espionage thriller he planned as his next film; the director's failing health and eventual death in 1980 meant that The Short Night never went into production.

Lauter appeared in many films, including half a dozen in 1972 alone. Among his most prominent film roles were The Longest Yard (a.k.a. The Mean Machine) (1974), Breakheart Pass (1975), King Kong (1976), Magic (1978), Death Hunt (1981), Timerider (1982), Cujo (1983), Death Wish 3 (1985), My Blue Heaven (1990), The Rocketeer (1991), Seraphim Falls (2006), and The Artist (2011).

Lauter's television appearances included the role as the villain sheriff Martin Stillman in the How the West Was Won TV series, and guest-performances on The New Land, Psych, The X-Files (as Mulder's childhood hero, Gemini astronaut Col. Marcus Aurelius Belt in the season 1 episode "Space"), The Streets of San Francisco (on the series debut episode), Kojak, The A-Team, Miami Vice (season 3 episode 6 Shadow in the Dark), Magnum, P.I. (episode Operation Silent Night), Booker, Charmed, Highlander: The Series, Law & Order, Star Trek: The Next Generation (as Lt. Cmdr. Albert in the season 5 episode "The First Duty"), The Equalizer, The Waltons, and ER (with a recurring role as Fire Captain Dannaker).

Death

On October 16, 2013, two weeks before his 75th birthday, Lauter died of mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer, having been diagnosed five months earlier in May.

Following his death, Lauter's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against many well-known broadcasting, automotive, and manufacturing companies for exposing Lauter to asbestos, which led to his death. The suit alleges that Lauter was exposed to asbestos at various movie studios and location sets over his 40-year career as an actor in Los Angeles. The lawsuit remains pending as of late 2020.

Married five times, he is survived by his fifth wife, Mia Lauter, and his four children from previous marriages. He continued to work until a few months before his death, completing roles in several films still to be released after his death.

To honor his work, the Ed Lauter Foundation is being established, which will award a scholarship yearly to aspiring young actors. Reflecting on his lengthy career, Lauter said in a 2012 interview with the Los Angeles Times:

A lot of people say, "I know you," but they don't know my name. But I've had a great run.

— Ed Lauter, Los Angeles Times, October 17, 2013, quoting 2012 interview

Filmography

Film

Television

References

1. ^ "Cover photo: Lauter on bottom in a scene from the 1976 Hitchcock film Family Plot". Shock Cinema. No. 38. New York City. May 2010. pp. 3–8, 48. Archived from the original on August 27, 2011. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
2. ^ Noland, Claire (October 16, 2013). "Ed Lauter, character actor in films and television, dies at 74". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 18, 2013. ... died Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles of mesothelioma, a form of cancer that affects tissue surrounding internal organs.
3. ^ Barnes, Mike (October 16, 2013). "Prolific Character Actor Ed Lauter Dies at 74". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
4. "General's Role Keeping SCV Acting Veteran Busy". Los Angeles Daily News. December 22, 1997. Retrieved November 15, 2020 – via NewsBank.
5. Stephens, Chuck (May–June 2012). "A Face in the Crowd: Ed Lauter". Film Comment. Film Society of Lincoln Center. Retrieved November 2, 2013. Of German and Irish descent.
6. "Ed Lauter On FAMILY PLOT & the Vanishing Hitchcock Movie". The Short Knight Hitchcock Blog. March 7, 2011. Archived from the original on August 27, 2011.
7. "The Waltons" The Car (TV Episode 1974) IMDb
8. Ed Lauter at IMDb
9. "Veteran character actor Ed Lauter dies at age 74". San Francisco Chronicle. October 17, 2013. Archived from the original on October 20, 2013. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
10. Turner, Heidi (May 1, 2014). "Actors Widow Files Asbestos Lawsuit". Lawyers & Settlements.com. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
11. Rogers, John (October 17, 2013). "Veteran Character Actor Ed Lauter Dies at Age 74". ABC News. Associated Press. Retrieved October 17, 2013.
12. "Character actor Ed Lauter dies at age 74". Fox News. October 17, 2013. Retrieved October 17, 2013.

External links

• Ed Lauter at IMDb
• Ed Lauter at Memory Alpha
• Ed Lauter Archived September 18, 2020, at the Wayback Machine(Aveleyman)
• Ed Lauter at Find a Grave

• 1938 births
• 2013 deaths
• 20th Century Studios contract players
• American people of German descent
• American male comedians
• American male film actors
• American male television actors
• American people of Irish descent
• American stand-up comedians
• Burials at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
• Comedians from New York (state)
• Deaths from cancer in California
• Deaths from mesothelioma in the United States
• LIU Post alumni
• Male actors from New York (state)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players
• Military personnel from New York (state)
• People from Long Beach, New York
• United States Army soldiers
• Warner Bros. contract players