Johnny Guitar actor Ben Cooper has died at the age of 86.
The actor’s family confirmed the sad news on Wednesday, revealing that he died at his Memphis home, after a long period of illness, on Monday.
His newphew. Peter Searls, said (via the Mirror): “It is with a sad heart that I pass along the news that my uncle and western actor Ben Cooper fought his last gunfight this morning.
“He passed away in his sleep at the age of 86.”
Cooper played bandit Turkey Ralston in the drama Johnny Guitar, as well as appearing in tens of other Westerns.
He appeared on the Western radio and TV series Gunsmoke three times, as well as the films Gunfight at Comanche Creek (1963), Arizona Raiders (1965) and Rebel in Town (1956).
In an interview for the Museum of Western Film History in Lone Pine, California, Cooper described how starring in Westerns “let me play cowboy”.
“I’d ridden horses, I got my own horse when I was 12. I used to jump him bareback,” he said.
“I didn’t know they had stuntmen; I’d watch a movie and then practice on my horse until I could do [the stunt.]”
Born in Connecticut in 1933, Cooper scored his first role in the Broadway show Life With Father at the age of nine.
