Actor Rick Dalton Has Passed Away According to Quentin Tarantino
According to the Hollywood podcast Video Archives, Rick Dalton, the actor known for his role in the 1960s television series Bounty Law and a series of Westerns filmed in Italy, has passed away.
The podcast reported that Dalton, whose fame grew after a run-in with his neighbor Roman Polanski and a strange home invasion orchestrated by followers of a failed singer-songwriter, is survived by his wife Francesca. He was 90 years old.
However, it’s time to clarify that Rick Dalton was not a real person but the fictional character portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio in Quentin Tarantino’s Oscar-nominated film Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood. Tarantino, the creator of the story revolving around an aspiring actor and his stunt double friend entangled in the late 1960s California lore, certainly enjoys having a bit of fun.
During my recent visit to Tarantino’s New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles as a New Yorker, I was amused to see framed posters of Rick Dalton’s movies (props from Once Upon a Time …) displayed alongside promotional materials for classic films in rotation, such as Aliens, Sorcerer, and Jackie Chan’s Strike Force.
I caught a glimpse of two posters—one for Comanche Uprising, a fictional movie co-starring real actors Robert Taylor, Charles Bronson, and Joan Evans, and another for Nebraska Jim, a Western supposedly directed by Sergio Corbucci, in which Dalton appeared alongside Daphna Ben-Cobo, with whom he had a brief affair (played by Tarantino’s wife, Daniella Pick).
There is no news yet from the Video Archives group regarding Dalton’s lifelong friend, Cliff Booth, the character that earned Brad Pitt an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Meanwhile, Tarantino is preparing for his next and potentially final film, The Movie Critic. Although there is no confirmed cast or studio deal at this point, production is expected to begin in the fall.
Details about the project are scarce, but Tarantino has denied early rumors suggesting it would be a biopic about Pauline Kael.
At the Cannes Film Festival, Paul Schrader hinted that the movie might feature reshot versions of New Hollywood classics, similar to what Once Upon a Time … did with The Great Escape.
It appears that Tarantino intends to modify the ending of the 1977 film Rolling Thunder, which Schrader co-wrote.
Here’s a vision of Dalton at work. It may be the best acting you’ve ever seen in your whole life.
We are saddened by the news of the passing of actor Rick Dalton, best known for his roles in the hit TV series Bounty Law and The Fireman trilogy.
— The Video Archives Podcast (@VideoArchives) May 19, 2023
Rick passed away peacefully in his home in Hawaii and is survived by his wife Francesca.
RIP Rick Dalton 1933-2023 pic.twitter.com/j51sNEh7AP
