Geoffrey Lewis, Clint Eastwood Co-Star, Dies at 79

Geoffrey Lewis, a prolific character actor who appeared opposite frequent collaborator Clint Eastwood as his pal Orville Boggs in Every Which Way But Loose and its sequel, has died. He was 79.

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Lewis, the father of Oscar-nominated actress Juliette Lewis, died Tuesday, family friend Michael Henderson said. No other details were immediately available.

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Lewis began his long association with Eastwood in High Plains Drifter (1973). He also appeared with the actor in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974), Bronco Billy (1980), Pink Cadillac (1989) andMidnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997).

Lewis scored a Golden Globe nomination for playing bartender Earl Tucker on the 1980s CBS sitcom Flo, the spinoff of Alice that starred Polly Holliday, and he had recurring roles on such series as Falcon Crest and the syndicated Land’s End.

Lewis portrayed real-life Prohibition-era gangster Harry Pierpont in Dillinger (1973), and his résumé also includes such notable films as The Great Waldo Pepper (1975), The Wind and the Lion(1975), Lucky Lady (1975), The Return of a Man Called Horse (1976), Heaven’s Gate (1980), Catch Me If You Can (1989), The Lawnmower Man (1992), The Man Without a Face (1993), Maverick (1994) and The Devil’s Rejects (2005).

The actor also stood out as a gravedigger turned vampire in the 1979 Tobe Hooper CBS miniseries Salem’s Lot, an adaptation of the Stephen King novel.

Lewis had appeared on such 1970s TV shows as Then Came Bronson, Bonanza and The Name of the Game before scoring a minor role as a cowhand in The Culpepper Cattle Co. (1972).

Later, he showed up on such series as Mod Squad, The Waltons, Police Woman, Mork & Mindy, Lou Grant, Gun Shy, Magnum, P.I. and The X-Files.

Lewis was a co-founder of the spoken-word performance group Celestial Navigations, working with musician and songwriter Geoff Levin.

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Image credits: Rex Features