Deadwood, Sin City Actor Dies

Powers Boothe, a Texan actor best known for playing villains including Deadwood saloon owner Cy Tolliver, has died at the age of 68. Boothe died in his sleep at his Los Angeles home of natural causes and a rep tells the Hollywood Reporter that he will be laid to rest in his home state. Booth's other roles included cult leader Jim Jones in the 1980 TV movie Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones, for which he won an Emmy, corrupt Senator Roark in the Sin City movies, Curly Bill Brocious in Tombstone, and Gideon Malick in The Avengers and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, the AP reports.

Boothe grew up on a cotton farm in northwest Texas. "Dad used to say, 'If you own some dirt, you can always eat,'" he told American Profile in 2012. After becoming the first person from his family to go to university, he decided on a career in acting and started out in the 1970s with the Oregon Shakespeare Company, CNN reports. He is survived by wife of 48 years Pam and their two children. "It's with great sadness that I mourn the passing of my friend Powers Boothe," Beau Bridges tweeted Sunday. "A dear friend, great actor, devoted father and husband." (More actor stories.)