Ford Rainey, outdoorsman turned actor
LOS ANGELES -- Ford Rainey, a horseman, logger, and fisherman who grew up to portray King Lear, Macbeth, and Abraham Lincoln, died Monday at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica. He was 96.
Mr. Rainey died of complications from a series of strokes, said his son, James.
A highly experienced stage actor, Mr. Rainey was also a familiar face in motion pictures, including ''The Sand Pebbles" with Steve McQueen and ''Two Rode Together" with James Stewart and Richard Widmark.
He was even better recognized by television viewers as a guest star on TV series including ''Bonanza," ''Gunsmoke," ''Route 66," ''Perry Mason," and ''The Untouchables." The craggy-faced actor played guardian to ''The Bionic Woman," a general in ''M*A*S*H," a judge in ''The Waltons" and ''Matlock," and worked well into his 90s, appearing in recent series including ''ER" and ''The King of Queens."
In 1961 and 1962, Mr. Rainey costarred with Robert Young in the series ''Window on Main Street," with Young as a famous writer returning to his hometown and Mr. Rainey as the folksy editor of the local newspaper.
Television perhaps best showcased the depth of Mr. Rainey's talent in theatrical anthology series of the 1950s and early '60s, including ''US Steel Hour," ''Kraft Television Theater," ''Goodyear Playhouse," and ''Robert Montgomery Presents."
Mr. Rainey first portrayed Lincoln, a character he would often reprise, in a 1953 Hallmark Hall of Fame production of ''Miss Curtis Goes to Washington."
The actor joined host Richard Boone in the critically praised television repertory theater series ''The Richard Boone Show" in 1963 and 1964.
Born in Mountain Home, Idaho, Mr. Rainey grew up in the Northwest and graduated from Centralia Junior College in Washington and the Cornish Drama School in Seattle.
He worked at odd jobs including logger, fisherman, fruit picker, carpenter, clam digger, and oil tanker roustabout before he was able to make a living as an actor. The wide experience, added to growing up in the outdoors where he learned to ride horses and to fence, served him well in Western and action roles. It also enriched his personal life as he raised a family at his Malibu ranch house, tending beehives, building his own solar heater, and earning the nickname ''The Wizard" from neighborhood children.
Mr. Rainey gained dramatic experience at Cornish Drama School, on Seattle radio stations, and in repertory theater, performing in every state in the country.
He made his Broadway debut in 1939 with the repertory troupe in Dostoyevsky's ''Possessed." Two years later, he appeared as Sir Toby Belch in Shakespeare's ''Twelfth Night" and took the title role in a touring production of ''King Lear."
After serving as Coast Guard boatswain's mate on a patrol boat off the coast of Oregon during World War II, Mr. Rainey joined other Chekhov associates to create a farm and theater, The Ojai Valley Players. The troupe tended horses and vegetables by day and presented ''Macbeth" by night.
In 1949, Mr. Rainey made his motion picture debut in an uncredited role in ''White Heat," starring James Cagney as a mother-obsessed hoodlum.
On Broadway in the 1950s, Mr. Rainey understudied Fredric March in ''Long Day's Journey Into Night," a role he assumed in subsequent productions, and succeeded Pat Hingle in the title role of ''J.B." He also appeared in ''Between Two Thieves" and Arthur Miller's ''The Crucible."
Mr. Rainey kept young through a restless curiosity that led him to take up the guitar, piano, and other diversions late in his life. At about 90, he began breeding dozens of budgerigars, brightly colored relatives of the parakeet.
In addition to his son James Mr. Rainey leaves his wife of 51 years, artist and former actress Sheila Hayden Rainey; another son, Robert; a daughter, Kathleen; and five grandchildren. 