Hollywood actor Jack Betts, who starred alongside Toby McGuire in the Spider-Man franchise and appeared in hit shows like Friends and Everybody Loves Raymond, has passed
Legendary actor Jack Betts has died at the age of 96.
The Hollywood veteran starred as Henry Balkan in the 2002 Spider-Man movie alongside Toby McGuire and appeared in huge TV comedies such as Friends (the character of Tom), Everybody Loves Raymond and My Name is Earl. He also appeared in spaghetti Westerns and once played Dracula on Broadway.
Betts reportedly died in his sleep at home in Los Osos, California, on Thursday (June 19). His nephew, Dean Sullivan, confirmed the actor’s passing to The Hollywood Reporter.
Betts also shared the screen with Willem Dafoe in Spider-Man, where he played businessman Henry Balkan who worked at Oscorp Industries. Balkan tells Dafoe’s Norman Osborn that he’s done at the company – “You’re out, Norman” – but Norman later kills Balkan after turning into the Green Goblin.
The US actor also appeared in a number of hit TV shows. He played Tom in the season 7 episode of Friends, titled, The One with Joey’s New Brain. From 1963 to 1965, he played Dr Ken Martin in General Hospital.
He also played Walter in an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, Ian in an episode of Frasier, Mr Green in Seinfeld and four roles on the CBS drama Perry Mason. Betts also appeared as Mr Hodges in an episode of hit teen show Zoey 101, starring Britney’s sister Jamie Lee Spears.
Jack shared a home with his Everybody Loves Raymond co-star and close pal Doris Roberts, who died in 2016. They would often attend Hollywood events together.
Betts appeared as Hunt Powers in the 1966 movie Sugar Colt and enjoy a run of 15 spaghetti Western films. He previously discussed his rivalry with Clint Eastwood during a 2021 interview on The Dev Show.
He said: “In the hotel next to mine was Clint Eastwood. He’d go up to his mountain and do his Western and I’d go up to my mountain and do my Western. But while his films had distribution all over the world, my films were distributed [everywhere] except Canada and America.”
An Everybody Loves Raymond fan account rushed to pay tribute to the actor, posting on Instagram: “Doris Roberts was close friends with Jack Betts, who you will remember from the Cruising With Marie episode. He played Walter on the ship and was a big champion of Marie.
“He passed yesterday at the age of 96. He has a very long list of credits. He was not Doris Roberts husband as has been reported elsewhere. He was a longtime friend of Doris’ and we did see him with Doris at dinners and always enjoyed his company! This is a photo I took of Jack and Doris when he was visiting the set for the final episode.”
Another fan wrote: “Well shoot, another Hollywood gunslinger rides into the sunset. Jack Betts was one of those actors who could make even a B-movie feel like an A-list production.”
A third commented: “RIP to a legend. Jack Betts brought so much to the screen – from gritty westerns to comic book charm.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
