LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Funeral services will be held next week in Mission Hills for Joe Don Baker, the Southern California-based actor who acted in multiple James Bond films and played Sheriff Buford Pusser in the 1973 movie “Walking Tall,” it was announced Thursday.
Baker died May 7 at age 89. No cause of death was given.
Until his retirement in 2012, he performed in dozens of movies in tough-guy roles, starring in “Walking Tall,” “Mitchell” and more. Additionally, he landed co-starring roles and supporting parts in other major projects, including “Charlie Varrick” and three Bond films: “The Living Daylights,” in which he played a villain opposite Timothy Dalton as 007, and “GoldenEye” and “Tomorrow Never Dies,” playing a CIA agent opposite Pierce Brosnan as Bond in both titles.
Born in 1936 in Groesbeck, Texas, where he played high-school football and basketball, Baker received a scholarship at North Texas State College, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. In 1994, he received a Distinguished Alumni award from the college, now renamed University of North Texas.
Following a two-year stint in the U.S. Army, Baker moved to New York City, where he studied at the Actor’s Studio and gained experience performing in the city’s then-lively theater scene.
Eventually, Baker moved to Los Angeles, where his acting career gradually took off. Starting with small television parts, he eventually progressed to major acting roles as leading man and later as a memorable character actor. He played the title cop role in “Eischied” in 1979 and appeared in such popular small-screen shows as “Ironside,” “The Streets of San Francisco,” “Gunsmoke” and “Mod Squad.”
Baker was married for 11 years to Maria Dolores Rivero-Torres, and had no children. He “is mourned by a small but very close circle of friends who will miss him eternally,” his family said.
A funeral service will take place Tuesday morning at Utter McKinley Mortuary in Mission Hills.
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