David Huddleston, character actor who was the 'Big Lebowski,' is dead at 85

Character actor David Huddleston is dead at 85

(Image credit: Bennett Raglin/Getty Images)

published 5 August 2016

David Huddleston began his acting career with touring productions of The Music Man and Mame, went on to act in TV shows like The Wonder Years, Gilmore Girls, The West Wing, and Murder, She Wrote, and played prominent roles in films such as Blazing Saddles, The Producers, Rio Lobo, and Santa Clause: The Movie. But he was best known as the titular millionaire in the 1998 cult favorite The Big Lebowski. Huddleston died on Tuesday in Santa Fe, New Mexico, his wife, Sarah Koeppe, said Thursday. He was 85, and the cause of death was advanced heart and kidney disease.

Huddleston once said that making the Mel Brooks film Blazing Saddles was "probably the most fun I ever had on a set," the Los Angeles Times reports, and according to Koeppe, Huddleston considered his "crowning achievement" playing Ben Franklin in the Broadway production of 1776, and his reprisal of the role in 2003 at Washington's Ford Theater. But it was his role as Lebowski that people recognized him for around the world. You can watch his first scene with Jeff Bridges, or The Dude, below. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.