# RIP Fred Ward **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** celebrity-death\ **Created:** [May 13, 2022, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-fred-ward/964365 "2022-05-13T14:47:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2022, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-fred-ward/964365/21 "2022-05-13T18:56:12Z")
For me, his first movie I thought of when I heard the news was Naked Gun 33 1/3. Of course he played it straight, but he was really funny in it. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2022, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-fred-ward/964365/22 "2022-05-13T19:13:32Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > And _The Right Stuff_ is my favorite movie, ever. I worked as an extra in it, so it’s one of my favourites as well. I don’t remember if I saw or talked to Fred Ward at the wrap party. While I love the movie, its treatment of Gus Grissom still grates. If Grissom really did ‘screw the pooch’, would they have let him fly on Gemini 3? Would they have selected him to command the first Apollo flight? The movie – and the book – treated Grissom very unfairly. I still think of the lines, ‘Y’all want a drink of whiskey?’, ‘Slow down! You’re scaring the girls!’, and ‘Are there snakes out here?’ ‘Yeah, in the bushes.’ ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2022, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-fred-ward/964365/23 "2022-05-13T19:42:06Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > While I love the movie, its treatment of Gus Grissom still grates. If Grissom really did ‘screw the pooch’, would they have let him fly on Gemini 3? Would they have selected him to command the first Apollo flight? The movie – and the book – treated Grissom very unfairly. I thought the book (which is also brilliant) was rather ambiguous about whether the hatch on his Mercury mission was triggered by Grissom, or a malfunction. I believe it mentions a bruise on the arm that astronauts got when hitting the button to blow the hatch, and that Grissom didn’t have the bruise. It’s also not completely clear whether the movie (and the book) are blaming Grissom, or just chronicling the way NASA treated him at the time. When I got my pilot’s license, I took my best friend on a flight. As we were taxiing out, I asked him if he had any Beeman’s. He was crestfallen that he’d forgotten to bring some. ETA: Who’s the best pilot you ever saw? ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2022, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-fred-ward/964365/24 "2022-05-13T19:45:53Z")
I remember him for **Naked Gun 33 1/3** , **Tremors** and **Thunderheart**. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2022, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-fred-ward/964365/25 "2022-05-13T19:48:53Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > ETA: Who’s the best pilot you ever saw? You’re looking at him. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2022, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-fred-ward/964365/26 "2022-05-13T20:47:32Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > _Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins_ was one of the first videos my dad ever rented from the video store. I guess I’ll stop waiting for _Remo Williams: The Adventure Continues …_ RIP. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2022, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-fred-ward/964365/27 "2022-05-13T21:10:13Z")
Actually, a fan made it back in 1992. Overall quality is about what you would expect, given that statement. 😄 [Remo Williams 2: The Adventure Continues : Luke S. Goljan : Free Borrow & Streaming : Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/SCV8_1) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2022, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-fred-ward/964365/28 "2022-05-13T21:23:39Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I don’t know that I’d call it a great movie, _No . . ._ _. . . it is better than that._ ---
**Author:** ![MagicEyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@MagicEyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MagicEyes)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2022, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-fred-ward/964365/29 "2022-05-14T01:13:52Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > He was in a bunch of shitty movies (who remembers _Chain Reaction_ ?; a film that looks like it was assembled from better conspiracy sci-fi thrillers and brought in a name cast with basically an extended cameo by Morgan Freeman to class the joint up) but I don’t think he ever gave an insincere performance. I mainly remember Chain Reaction because some scenes were filmed at the place where I worked, and some of my coworkers were extras. I’m not sure how it’s possible to make a bad movie with Morgan Freeman and Keanu Reeves, but somehow they did. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2022, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-fred-ward/964365/30 "2022-05-14T13:48:05Z")
Tremors 2 was much better than it should have been! I’d recommend it back to back with the first. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2022, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-fred-ward/964365/31 "2022-05-14T21:54:35Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > We still use the word “graboid.” A lot. Forgot to mention another quote that is frequently used: Broke into the wrong goddamned rec room! ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2022, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-fred-ward/964365/32 "2022-05-14T21:56:15Z")
_Tremors 3_ is best not even mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2022, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-fred-ward/964365/33 "2022-05-14T22:01:35Z")
Agreed. Just as with Highlander, it’s good that no other movies in the series were ever made. ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2022, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-fred-ward/964365/34 "2022-05-14T22:04:55Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I really liked him in _The Right Stuff_ . Sad to see him go. ☹ F\*ckin’ A, Bubba! He will be missed. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-fred-ward/964365/35 "2022-05-16T02:33:33Z")
I hesitate to hijack the Fred Ward memorial thread, but you haters are just wrong about Tremors 3. It’s full of great quotes, all the surviving Perfectionists, and Desert Jack was a way cooler sidekick than Grady. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-fred-ward/964365/36 "2022-05-20T22:38:40Z")
> [@Limmin](#): > > F\*ckin’ A, Bubba! > > He will be missed. Amen to that. I liked his work. Rest In Peace, Fred Ward. ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2022, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-fred-ward/964365/37 "2022-05-21T14:09:45Z")
What Gus is sayin, is, … (fill in the blank) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-fred-ward/964365.md?page=1)