OMAHA, Neb. — John Beasley, the veteran character actor who played a kindly school bus driver on the TV drama “Everwood” and appeared in dozens of films dating back to the 1980s, has died. He was 79.
Actor John Beasley in New York on April 18, 2017.
Beasley died Tuesday after a “brief and unexpected illness” at a hospital in his hometown of Omaha, his manager, Don Spradlin, said.
Beasley played an assistant coach in the 1993 football film “Rudy” and a retired preacher in 1997’s “The Apostle,” co-starring and directed by Robert Duvall.
On TV, Beasley was the father of Cedric the Entertainer in the TV Land comedy “The Soul Man” and later starred for four seasons alongside Treat Williams in The WB’s “Everwood.”
Most recently, Beasley had small parts in the Showtime drama “Your Honor,” with Bryan Cranston, and “The Mandalorian,” a Star Wars offshoot on Disney+.
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For more than a dozen years, he ran the John Beasley Theater and Workshop in Omaha, where he was born in 1943.
“To be a working artist is the highest calling, and I appreciate wherever it takes me,” Beasley told the publication American Theatre last year.
He is survived by Judy, his wife of 58 years; two sons, Michael and Tyrone; and six grandchildren, including Malik Beasley, who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers.
The NBA veteran paid tribute to his grandfather on Instagram.
“To the man who put the Beasleys on the map,” he wrote.
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Harry Belafonte
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Raquel Welch
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David Crosby
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Richard Belzer
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Lisa Marie Presley
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Gordon Lightfoot
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Jeff Beck
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Robert Blake
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Willis Reed
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Michael Lerner
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Barry Humphries
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Burt Bacharach
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Dave Hollis
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Barrett Strong
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Lloyd Morrisett
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Robbie Knievel
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Gina Lollobrigida
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Lynette Hardaway (“Diamond”)
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Adam Rich
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Bobby Hull
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Charles White
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Jerry Richardson
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Sister André
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Tatjana Patitz
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Russell Banks
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Cardinal George Pell
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Ken Block
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Walter Cunningham
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Anton Walkes
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Pat Schroeder
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Seymour Stein
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Klaus Teuber
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Ginnie Newhart
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Vida Blue
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Martin Amis
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Doyle Brunson
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Hodding Carter III
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Jacklyn Zeman
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Jim Brown
Pro Football Hall of Famer Jim Brown, the unstoppable running back who retired at the peak of his brilliant career to become an actor as well as a prominent civil rights advocate during the 1960s, died May 18, 2023. He was 87. One of the greatest players in football history and one of the game’s first superstars, Brown was chosen the NFL’s Most Valuable Player in 1965 and shattered the league’s record books in a short career spanning 1957-65. Brown led the Cleveland Browns to their last NFL title in 1964 before retiring in his prime after the ’65 season to become an actor. He appeared in more than 30 films, including “Any Given Sunday” and “The Dirty Dozen.” When he finished playing, Brown became a prominent leader in the Black power movement during the civil rights struggles of the 1960s.
Tina Turner
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Ray Stevenson
Ray Stevenson, who played the villainous British governor in “RRR,” an Asgardian warrior in the “Thor” films, and a member of the 13th Legion in HBO’s “Rome,” died May 21, 2023. He was 58. He made his film debut in Paul Greengrass’s 1998 film “The Theory of Flight.” In 2004, he appeared in Antoine Fuqua’s “King Arthur” as a knight of the round table and several years later played the lead in the pre-Disney Marvel adaptation “Punisher: War Zone.” Though “Punisher” was not the best-reviewed film, he’d get another taste of Marvel in the first three “Thor” films, in which he played Volstagg. Other prominent film roles included the “Divergent” trilogy, “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” and “The Transporter: Refueled.”
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