Dennis Weaver, star of Spielberg’s made for TV classic Duel, has died at the age of 81 from complications of cancer at his home in Colorado.
Assaying David Mann in Duel, the hapless motorist who has a gut-wrenching run-in with a killer truck, Weaver’s performance is Spielberg’s first ever Everyman Under Pressure Hero, a pitch perfect portrait of blind terror that runs the gamut of emotions. Spielberg cast Weaver on the strength of his edgy turn as the motel night manager in Orson Welles’ Touch Of Evil. The actor often joked that he was the last actor to ever give approval to the now legendary director.
Wrapped around Duel was a host of roles in iconic US TV shows from Dragnet to Gunsmoke to the title role as the cowboy-cop McCloud, inspired by the Clint Eastwood flick Coogan’s Bluff. Later TV roles included Buffalo Bill Cody acclaimed TV miniseries Lonesome Dove and the voice of Buck McKoy in The Simpsons.
A vegetarian and environmental activist, Weaver’s later life was taken up with Earthship, the solar powered home he built in Colorado built primarily from recycled materials.