The Hollywood community is in mourning once again after another beloved performer was lost this weekend.Powers Boothe, an Emmy-winning character actor with several diverse roles to his credit, passed away at the age of 68 on Sunday. The actor’s death was first announced online in a tweet from actor Beau Bridges, and was later confirmed by his rep, Karen Samfilippo. The rep confirmed that hediedin his sleep from apparent natural causes.
TheEntertainment Weeklyreport doesn’t reveal if there will be anautopsy performedor not. The actor was born August 17, 2025 in Snyder, Texas, USA, the son of a sharecropper who spent his youth chopping cotton and became the first member of his family to attend a university, receiving a fellowship to Southern Methodist University to study acting, where he received a degree in Fine Arts. After performing in Oregon, Connecticut and Philadelphia, the actor arrived in New York City in 1974, and it took five years for his Broadway breakthrough as a Texas cowboy in James McLure’s comedy playLone Star.
Just a year later, thelate actorhad another breakthrough role, starring as famed cult leader Jim Jones in the 1980 TV movieGuyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones, which he won an Emmy Award for. The movie, which was released just two years after the actual Guyana incident, profiled Jim Jones as he lead 980 of his cult members to commit suicide. The next year, Both would star inSouthern Comfortfor director Walter Hill, starring alongside Keith Carradine and Fred Ward. And in a pair of 1984 films,A Breed Apartwith Rutger Hauer and Kathleen Turner, and the classicRed Dawnas Lt. Col. Andrew ‘Andy’ Tanner.
He continued to work regularly throughout the 1980s with roles in director John Boorman’sThe Emerald Forest, director Walter Hill’sExtreme Prejudiceand starring as the title character in the TV seriesPhillip Marlowe: Private Eye. The belovedcharacter actorwould go on to star in a vast array of movies in the 1990s, such as the 1993 Western classicTombstone, the 1995 Jean-Claude Van Damme action-thrillerSudden Death, the 1995 biopicNixon, the 1997 indie thrillerU Turnand the 1999Joan of Arcmini-series. While he continued to build his impressive resume with more unique films in the 2000s, he also branched out into doing voice work as well.
During the first few years of the new millennium,Powers Boothestarred inMen of Honorand the cult classic indie thrillerFrailty, while also voicing Gorilla Grodd in theJustice Leagueanimated TV series. He would go on to voice both Gorilla Grodd and Red Tornado inJustice League Unlimitedand Lex Luthor inSuperman: Brainiac Attacksalong with various characters onBen 10andThe Looney Tunesshow. He also starred as Senator Roark in the 2005 filmSin City, while playing Cy Tolliver on HBO’s hit Western seriesDeadwoodand Vice President Noah Daniels on Fox’s24. He also starred as a World Security Council member inThe Avengersand returned as Roark inSin City: A Dame to Kill For, but his most recent roles were on the small screen. He played Lamar Wyatt on ABC’sNashvilleand Gideon Mallick on ABC’sAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. The actor issurvived byhis wife Pam, who he had been married to since 1969 and his two children, daughter Parisse, and son Preston. We have compiled a collection of tweets from those in the Hollywood community who have honored the late greatPowers Boothe, which you’re able to check out below.
