Scott Wilson, the Atlanta-born actor who found a new generation of fans courtesy of a memorable three-year run on The Walking Dead, died after a battle with cancer.
He was 76.
The death of Wilson, who played Hershel Green on AMC’s wildly popular zombie series, was announced on the show’s official Twitter feed on Saturday, shortly after a panel at New York ComicCon. At the panel, producers announced that Wilson was actually appearing on the upcoming Season 9 after having completed filming earlier this year, according to Variety.
But Wilson kept audiences captivated for nearly fifty years before he ever tackled a zombie. As Variety’s Dave McNary writes:
“He left college and hitchhiked to Los Angeles to become an actor and after five years broke out in a pair of high-profile 1967 movies — as murder suspect Harvey Oberst in best picture Academy Award winner In the Heat of the Night, and as murderer Richard Hickock opposite Robert Blake in Richard Brooks’ film adaptation of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood.
“Wilson played a key role in 1974’s The Great Gatsby in which his character killed Jay Gatsby (Robert Redford) while at his mansion swimming pool, then turned the gun on himself.”
His many other credits include The Right Stuff, Dead Man Walking, The Last Samurai and Monster. Wilson is survived by his wife, Heavenly, an artist and attorney.
Thanks for reading InsideHook. Sign up for our daily newsletter and be in the know.
