Will Hare

Will Hare (March 30, 1916 – August 31, 1997) was an American actor born in Elkins, West Virginia, to Frances Laetitia (née Satterfield) and George Thomas Hare. Over a career spanning more than half a century, he worked across stage, film, and television, beginning his performing life at the age of fifteen.

Hare's Broadway career extended from 1944 to 1964 and encompassed a range of productions, including Suds in Your Eye, The Trip to Bountiful, Marathon '33, the drama Only the Heart, and the drama The Visit. His final stage appearance came in 1992 with Me and Veronica, marking the close of a theatrical career that had defined much of his professional life.

His screen debut came under Alfred Hitchcock in The Wrong Man (1956), in which he appeared in an uncredited role as Raymond McKaba. From there, Hare built a substantial film résumé, frequently cast as elderly men, fathers, and grandfather figures. Among his notable film appearances were The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972), The Rose (1979), The Electric Horseman (1979), Enter the Ninja (1981), Eyes of Fire (1983), and Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984). He also appeared in The Aviator (1985) and Grim Prairie Tales (1990). His most widely recognized screen role came in Back to the Future (1985), in which he played Otis "Old Man" Peabody, a gun-toting farmer. A posthumous film credit, Mob Queen, was released in 1998.

Beyond his acting work, Hare appeared on the cover art for The Software Toolworks' Chessmaster videogame franchise as the series' iconic title character. He was a longtime member of the Screen Actors Guild and of the Actors Studio. He died of a heart attack on August 31, 1997, during a rehearsal at the Actors Studio.