Fred Ward

Born: 30 December 1942
Where: San Diego, California

After graduating from high school, Ward joined the RAF, worked as a janitor, demolition man, labourer and lumberjack before deciding to study as an actor in New York.

Working in mime and masque theatre, Ward performed in cabarets in Europe and Northern Africa before moving to Rome.

Whilst there he translated spaghetti Westerns and appeared in two TV-movies directed by seminal Italian neorealist filmmaker Roberto Rossellini.

With his varied work experiences, this rough-hewn character lead excels at playing blue collar types and working class heroes.

After some lean times in LA (where he supported himself selling jewellery on the street), Ward made his feature debut as a jailbreak buddy of the even craggier Clint Eastwood in Don Siegel's Escape From Alcatraz (1979).

Ward's rugged looks worked well in action adventure films and he went on to appear regularly in films and TV throughout the 80s and 90s.

He has starred alongside Kevin Bacon in jaunty style monster flick, Tremors, as well as opposite Tim Robbins in Robert Altman's The Player as the studio security head.