RIP Joe Don Baker

 

American veteran actor Joe Don Baker died in Mission Hills, California on May 7^th. He was 89. Born in Groesbeck, Texas on Febraury 12, 1936, the tough guy portrayed characters on both sides of the law, most notably Sheriff Buford Pusser in the unexpected box-office hit “Walking Tall”. Baker first attracted mainstream attention in 1972 when he starred as the younger, business-minded brother of an aging Arizona rodeo rider (Steve McQueen) in Sam Peckinpah’s “Junior Bonner” (1972), then portrayed a sadistic mob hitman named Molly in Don Siegel’s “Charley Varrick” (1973), starring Walter Matthau. Baker appeared in one Spaghetti western “Guns of the Magnificent 7” as Slater in 1968.