Early life

Brimley was born Anthony Wilford Brimley in Salt Lake City, Utah on September 27, 1934, where his father worked as a real estate broker. Prior to his career in acting, Brimley dropped out of high school to serve in the United States Marine Corps, where he served in the Aleutian Islands for three years. He also worked as a bodyguard (for Howard Hughes), ranch hand, wrangler and blacksmith. He then began shoeing horses for film and television. He began acting in the 1960s as a riding extra in Westerns and a stunt man at the urging of his friend, actor Robert Duvall.

Brimley married his first wife, the former Lynne Bagley, on July 6, 1956. They had four sons together (James Charles, John Michael, William Carmen and Lawrence Dean) and several grandchildren. Brimley and Lynne were married until her death in June 2000.

Brimley married Beverly Berry on October 31, 2007. Together they have lived in Greybull, Wyoming and Santa Clara, Utah. In 2009 they founded nonprofit organization Hands Across the Saddle (HATS) in the Big Horn Basin.

Career

Brimley's onscreen breakthrough came when was cast in the popular 1970s television series The Waltons as Walton's Mountain resident Horace Brimley; he made seven appearances between 1974 and 1977.

His first credited feature film performance was in The China Syndrome (1979) as Ted Spindler, a friend and coworker of Jack Lemmon's Jack Godell. Later, Brimley made a brief, but pivotal, appearance in Absence of Malice (1981) as the curmudgeonly, outspoken Assistant U.S. Attorney James A. Wells. He expanded on this cantankerous persona as Pop Fisher, world-weary manager of a slumping baseball team, in The Natural (1984). Shortly thereafter, Brimley secured his first leading role in Ron Howard's Cocoon (1985), portraying Ben Luckett, leader of a group of geriatrics who encounter a magically-reinvigorating swimming pool by their retirement home.

Brimley's close friend Robert Duvall (who also appeared in The Natural) was instrumental in securing for him the role of Harry in Tender Mercies (1983). Duvall, who had not been getting along with director Bruce Beresford, wanted "somebody down here that's on my side, somebody that I can relate to." Beresford felt Brimley was too old for the part, but eventually agreed to the casting. Brimley, like Duvall, clashed with the director; during one instance when Beresford tried to advise Brimley on how Harry would behave, Duvall recalled Brimley responding: "Now look, let me tell you something, I'm Harry. Harry's not over there, Harry's not over here. Until you fire me or get another actor, I'm Harry, and whatever I do is fine 'cause I'm Harry."

Through these and other early roles, Brimley became widely known for portraying gruff or stodgy old men, most notably on the 1980s drama series Our House, also starring Deidre Hall, Chad Allen and Shannen Doherty. However, he made a change from such "good guy" roles when he played William Devasher, ominous head of security for the Bendini, Lambert & Locke law firm, in the Tom Cruise film The Firm (1993) (based on the novel by John Grisham).

After portraying the father of Kevin Kline's protagonist in In & Out (1997), Brimley retreated from Hollywood in favor of involvement in more independent fare. He made an auspicious mainstream comeback with the TNT film Crossfire Trail (2001), co-starring with Tom Selleck (whom he had previously worked with in the 80s film High Road to China). After several more years of independent film and TV acting, Brimley had a supporting role in Did You Hear About The Morgans? (2009), making witty exchanges with star Hugh Grant.

Brimley has frequently appeared in commercials, notably a series of commercials for Quaker Oats Oatmeal throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The Quaker commercials were famous for their slogan: "It's the right thing to do and the tasty way to do it." Brimley is also known for appearing in numerous television advertisements for Liberty Medical, a company specializing in home delivery of medical products such as diabetes testing supplies.

Brimley has been described as "a fine singer with a warm, rich voice". In 1993, Brimley sang with the Cal State Northridge Jazz Band for a concert benefiting the college's Jazz Endowment Scholarship Fund; in 2004, he released This Time, The Dream's On Me, an album of jazz standards named after the Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer-penned title track. He is also an accomplished harmonica player; during his 2011 appearance on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Brimley performed a lively rendition of "Oh! Susanna" much to the delight, and surprise, of Ferguson and the studio audience.

Personal life

Diagnosed with diabetes in 1979, he began working to raise awareness of the disease. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) honored Brimley in 2008 with an award to recognize his lifetime of service. The ADA presented the award to him at the Port St. Lucie headquarters of Liberty Medical on December 19, 2008. He has visited Veterans Administration hospitals and communities to advise patients on how to manage their diseases.

Brimley has supported advertisements to have Utah allow horse-race gambling. He spoke against the banning of cockfighting in New Mexico on the basis of his support of individual rights. Brimley also spoke at a 1998 Phoenix rally opposing an Arizona ballot proposition to ban cockfighting. Brimley argued that a ban could lead to efforts to restrict use of hunting dogs, which opponents of cockfighting called a distraction from the issue. Brimley enjoys playing poker and has played in the World Series of Poker Main Event. Brimley lent his support to John McCain in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. In the days leading up to his selection for vice president, McCain jokingly stated that he would pick Brimley: "He's a former Marine and great guy and he's older than I am, so that might work."

Brimley has resided in Greybull, Wyoming and Santa Clara, Utah since 2006. Brimley is a Mormon.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1968	Bandolero!		Stuntman (uncredited)
1969	True Grit		Uncredited
1971	Lawman	Marc Corman	Uncredited
1979	The China Syndrome	Ted Spindler
1979	The Electric Horseman	Farmer
1980	Brubaker	Rogers
1980	Borderline	USBP Agent Scooter Jackson
1981	Absence of Malice	Assistant U.S. Attorney General James A. Wells
1982	Death Valley	The Sheriff
1982	The Thing	Dr. Blair
1983	Tender Mercies	Harry
1983	10 to Midnight	Captain Maline
1983	High Road to China	Bradley Tozer
1983	Tough Enough	Bill Long
1984	Harry & Son	Tom Keach
1984	The Hotel New Hampshire	Iowa Bob
1984	The Stone Boy	George Jansen
1984	The Natural	Pop Fisher
1984	Country	Otis
1984	Terror in the Aisles		Archive footage
1985	Cocoon	Benjamin 'Ben' Luckett
1985	Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins	Agency Director Harold Smith
1985	Ewoks: The Battle for Endor	Noa Briqualon
1985	Murder in Space	Dr. Andrew McAllister
1986	Jackals	Sheriff Mitchell
1986	Shadows on the Wall	Floyd Buckman
1987	End of the Line	Will Haney
1988	Cocoon: The Return	Benjamin 'Ben' Luckett
1990	Eternity	King/Eric
1992	Where the Red Fern Grows: Part II	Grandpa Will	Direct-to-video
1993	The Firm	William Devasher
1993	Hard Target	Uncle Douvee
1994	Heaven Sent	Al (Security Guard)
1995	Mutant Species	Devro
1995	Last of the Dogmen	Narrator	Uncredited
1996	My Fellow Americans	Joe Hollis
1997	In & Out	Frank Brackett
1997	Lunker Lake	The Storyteller
1998	Chapter Perfect	Chief Hawkins
1998	Progeny	Dr. David Wetherly
1998	A Place to Grow	Jake
1998	Summer of the Monkeys	Grandpa Sam Ferrans
2000	Comanche
2001	Brigham City	Stu
2001	PC and the Web
2002	Resurrection Mary	Morty
2003	The Road Home	Coach Weaver
2009	The Path of the Wind	Harry Caldwell
2009	Did You Hear About the Morgans?	Earl Granger
2016	Timber the Treasure Dog	Hawk Jones

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1974-77	The Waltons	Horace Brimley	8 episodes
1975	Kung Fu	Horace Brimley	Episode: "One Step to Darkness"; as A. Wilford Brimley
1976-77	The Oregon Trail	Ludlow	Episodes: Pilot, "Hard Ride Home"; as A. Wilford Brimley
1979	The Wild Wild West Revisited	President Grover Cleveland	Television film; as Wilford A. Brimley
1980	Amber Waves	Pete Alberts	Television film
1980	Roughnecks	Willie Clayton	Television film
1980	Rodeo Girl	Bingo Gibbs	Television film
1981	The Big Black Pill	Wally Haskell	Television film; aka. Joe Dancer
1985	Murder in Space	Dr. Andrew McCallister	Television film
1985	Ewoks: The Battle for Endor	Noa	Television film
1986	Thompson's Last Run	Red Haines	Television film
1986	Act of Vengeance	Tony Boyle	Television film
1986-88	Our House	Gus Witherspoon
1989	Billy the Kid	Gov. Lew Wallace	Television series
1991	Blood River	U.S. Marshal Winston Patrick Culler	Television film
1992	The Boys of Twilight	Bill Huntoon	Television series
1995	Walker, Texas Ranger	Burt Mueller	Episode: "War Zone"
1995	Op Center	Admiral Troy Davis
1995	The Good Old Boys	C.C. Tarpley	Television film
1997	Seinfeld	United States Postmaster General Henry Atkins	Episode: "The Junk Mail"
2001	Crossfire Trail	Joe Gill	Television film
2001	The Ballad of Lucy Whipple	Deputy Sheriff Ambrose Scraggs	Television film

Charities

Wilford Brimley supports the following charitable cause: Diabetes.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]