Robert Forster, Movie Tough Guy and Oscar Nominee, Dead at 78

Robert Forster, known for his on-screen machismo in a variety of roles over the past 50 years, died Friday at his L.A. home, THR reports. He had been battling brain cancer.

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Born July 13, 1941, in Rochester, New York, he began acting in college.

Handsome and wielding a gravitas that commanded attention in parts small and large, he made his Broadway debut in 1965 and his film debut in 1967’s “Reflections in a Golden Eye” and was praised for his performance in the highly regarded cinéma vérité-style film “Medium Cool” (1969).

He was equally adept in sci-fi, like Disney’s “The Black Hole” (1979), as he was in action, like “Alligator” (1980) and “The Delta Force” (1986), as he was in the quirky dramas “Mulholland Drive” (2001) and “The Descendants” (2011).

It was as Max Cherry in Quentin Tarantino’s “Jackie Brown” (1997), for which he is best remembered. It was a classic performance, one that netted him an Oscar nomination and rejuvenated his career. Tarantino adapted it from the Elmore Leonard novel “Rum Punch” (1992) with Forster in mind.

On TV, he starred in “Banyon” (1971-1973) and “Nakia” (1974), and had roles on “Heroes” (2007-2008), “Last Man Staning” (2012-2018), and “Twin Peaks” (2017), among many others. He reprised his 2013 role on “Breaking Bad” in “El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie,” which began streaming on Netflix the day he died.

Forster had been making public appearances until the past few weeks.

Married and divorced twice, Forster is survived by his longtime partner Denise Grayson, by four children, and by four grandchildren.