Ned Thomas Beatty (born July 6, 1937) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor.

Biography

Early life

Beatty was born in Louisville, Kentucky, the son of Margaret Fortney (née Lennis), a high school lunch lady, and Charles William Beatty. He has a sister, Mary Margaret. In 1947, he began singing in gospel and barbershop quartets in St. Matthews, Kentucky, as well as at his local church. He made his stage debut at the age of 19, appearing in Wilderness Road, an outdoor historical pageant. He attended college at Transylvania University in Lexington, KY, although he did not graduate. Beatty found work in the Louisville area through the mid 1960's at the Clarksville Little Theater (IN) and the recently founded Actors Theater of Louisville. His time at the latter included a memorable run as Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman in 1966.

Career

Beatty has appeared in over 100 films and is probably most recognized from his appearance as Delbert Reese, a Tennessee lawyer and husband of Lily Tomlin who attempts to have a sexual liaision with Gwen Welles in Robert Altman's Nashville (1975). Also memorable were his depictions of Dennis Quaid's co-worker in a drama about police corruption in New Orleans, The Big Easy (1987); Lex Luthor's henchman Otis in Superman (1978); Rudy Reuttiger's father in the 1993 biopic Rudy; and as rape victim Bobby Trippe in his debut film, Deliverance (1972). He was a member of the original cast of the television police drama Homicide: Life on the Street, playing Detective Stanley Bolander in the show's first three seasons. He also had a recurring role as Dan Conner's philandering father Ed on the hit television show Roseanne.

Beatty was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Network (1976). He has also been nominated for two Emmy Awards and one Golden Globe Award. In the award-winning 1991 British film Hear My Song, he portrayed the singer Josef Locke.

In March 2006, Beatty received the RiverRun International Film Festival's "Master of Cinema" award (the highest honor of the festival).

Filmography

• Deliverance (1972)
• The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972)
• The Dangerous World of Deliverance (1972) (short subject)
• The Thief Who Came to Dinner (1973)
• The Last American Hero (1973)
• White Lightning (1973)
• The Execution of Private Slovik(1974)
• W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings (1975)
• Nashville (1975)
• All the President's Men (1976)
• The Big Bus (1976)
• Network (1976)
• Silver Streak (1976)
• Mikey and Nicky (1976)
• Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)
• Alambrista! (1977)
• Gray Lady Down (1978)
• The Great Bank Hoax (1978)
• Superman (1978)
• Promises in the Dark (1979)
• Wise Blood (1979)
• 1941 (1979)
• The American Success Company (1980)
• Hopscotch (1980)
• Superman II (1980)
• The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981)
• Rumpelstiltskin (1982)
• The Toy (1982)
• Stroker Ace (1983)
• Touched (1983)
• Restless Natives (1985)
• Back to School (1986)
• The Big Easy (1987)
• The Fourth Protocol (1987)
• Rolling Vengeance (1987)
• The Trouble with Spies (1987)
• Shadows in the Storm (1988)
• Switching Channels (1988)
• The Unholy (1988)
• Midnight Crossing (1988)
• After the Rain (1988)
• Purple People Eater (1988)
• Time Trackers (1989)
• Physical Evidence (1989)
• Tennessee Nights (1989)
• Chattahoochee (1989)
• Ministry of Vengeance (1989)
• Going Under (1990)
• Big Bad John (1990)
• Angel Square (1990)
• A Cry in the Wild (1990)
• Repossessed (1990)
• Fat Monroe (1990) (Short feature)
• Captain America (1991)
• Hear My Song (1991)
• Blind Vision (1992)
• Prelude to a Kiss (1992)
• Warren Oates: Across the Border (1993) (documentary)
• Rudy (1993)
• Ed and His Dead Mother (1993)
• Replikator (1994)
• The Outlaws: Legend of O.B. Taggart (1994)
• Radioland Murders (1994)
• Just Cause (1995)
• The Curse of Inferno (1997)
• He Got Game (1998)
• Cookie's Fortune (1999)
• Life (1999)
• Spring Forward (1999)
• This Beautiful Life (2002)
• Thunderpants (2002)
• Where the Red Fern Grows (2003)
• The Wool Cap (2004)
• Sweet Land (2005)
• Shooter (2007)
• The Walker (2007)
• Charlie Wilson's War (2007)
• In the Electric Mist (2008)
• Toy Story 3 (2010)

See also

• List of Louisvillians

References

External links

• Ned Beatty at the Internet Movie Database
• Ned Beatty at NNDB
• Ned Beatty interview
• Ned Beatty Interview by Beth Stevens on Broadway.com