Bruce Dern
(Sheriff Ed Galt)

Bruce Dern studied his craft with Lee Strasberg and Elia Kazan at New York's famous Actors Studio, earning early experience on the New York stage in such dramas as Shadow of a Gunman and Sweet Bird of Youth. He soon moved to Hollywood, where dozens of small character in films and TV won him recognition for his overheated, combustible energy, parts which often cast him as a villainous, violent thug. His early film roles include Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie (1964), a string of counter-culture B-movies and several Westerns, among them Will Penny (1968) and The Cowboys (1972) as John Wayne's killer. He subsequently graduated to key supporting player in such acclaimed dramas as They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969), The King of Marvin Gardens (1972) and The Great Gatsby (1974), winning a Golden Globe nomination. Dern won an Oscar nomination for his role as a scarred Vietnam vet in Coming Home (1978) and has also starred in such motion pictures as Silent Running (1972); Alfred Hitchcock's last film, Family Plot (1975); Black Sunday (1977); and two Walter Hill films, The Driver (1978) and Wild Bill (1995). Among Dern's most important productions is his daughter, actress Laura Dern.