Golden Globe-nominated actor Scott Wilson has died. He was 76. No cause of death was announced.
Wilson burst on the scene in 1967 in two, high profile projects. His debut was the In The Heat Of The Night, a film that would eventually win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Wilson played murder suspect Harvey Oberst in the film.
Later that same year, Wilson starred in his most iconic role, that of real-life murderer Richard Hickock in the film adaptation of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood.
From there, Wilson would settle into supporting or ensemble roles in films such as The Gypsy Moths (1969), The Grissom Gang (1971) and The Great Gatsby (1974).
In 1980, he was cast as Billy Cutshaw in The Ninth Configuration, the William Peter Blatty’s directorial debut which adapted Blatty’s 1978 novel of the same name. Cutshaw was an astronaut who had a nervous breakdown on the launch pad. This leads him to be committed to a military mental hospital, where he gets into an unusual relationship with another patient named Vincent Kane (Stacy Keach). The role earned Wilson a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Over the years, Wilson would garner supporting roles in films such as The Right Stuff, The Exorcist III, Young Guns II, Dead Man Walking, G.I. Jane, Monster, The Last Samurai, and Junebug.
However, it was his casting in 2011 in the pivotal role of Hershel Greene on the TV show The Walking Dead that garnered Wilson a new generations of fans and made him a regular face on the comic book and horror convention circuit. He was set to revive the role in this year in the series’ ninth season. Some of scenes have already been shot. It remains to be seen how the series will work around Wilson’s passing.
