James Gammon

James Richard Gammon was born on April 20, 1940, in Newman, Illinois, to Doris Latimer, a farm girl, and Donald Gammon, a musician. Following his parents' divorce, he relocated to Orlando, Florida, where he worked at ABC affiliate WLOF-TV (Channel 9) as a cameraman and director. In his twenties, he moved to Hollywood to pursue an acting career.

During the 1970s, Gammon was among the founders of the Met Theatre in Los Angeles. His work there brought him to the attention of a representative from The Public Theater, which led to his being cast as Weston in Sam Shepard's Curse of the Starving Class in 1978, the beginning of a lasting friendship with Shepard. In 2000, Gammon appeared in Shepard's San Francisco debut of The Late Henry Moss alongside Nick Nolte, Sean Penn, Cheech Marin, and Woody Harrelson.

Gammon made his sole Broadway appearance in 1996, playing Dodge in a revival of Sam Shepard's Buried Child. The performance earned him both a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play and a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play.

His screen career spanned more than four decades and included appearances in Cool Hand Luke (1967), Macon County Line (1974), Urban Cowboy (1980), Any Which Way You Can (1980), Silverado (1985), Noon Wine (1985), The Milagro Beanfield War (1988), Revenge (1990), The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993), Wyatt Earp (1994), Wild Bill (1995), Truman (1995), The Hi-Lo Country (1998), Cold Mountain (2003), and Appaloosa (2008). He also had an uncredited role in Natural Born Killers (1994). Among his most recognized film roles was Lou Brown, the manager of a fictionalized Cleveland Indians franchise, which he portrayed in both Major League (1989) and Major League II (1994). On television, he was known for playing Nick Bridges, a retired longshoreman and father of Don Johnson's title character, on the CBS crime drama Nash Bridges. Additional television credits include the role of Charles Goodnight in Streets of Laredo, a Korean War veteran on Grey's Anatomy, and Sam, the stern grandfather and brother of outlaw Butch Cassidy, in the 2006 film Outlaw Trail: The Treasure of Butch Cassidy. He also provided the voices of animated characters Marv Loach and Floyd Turbeaux in the 1999 Warner Bros. feature The Iron Giant.

Gammon was married to Nancy Jane Kapusta from 1972 until his death. He had two daughters, Allison Mann and Amy Gammon, as well as a brother, Philip, and a sister, Sandra Glaudell. He died of adrenal gland and liver cancer on July 16, 2010, in Costa Mesa, California, at the age of 70.