‘Tombstone’ actor Powers Boothe rides off into the sunset at age 68

Powers Boothe, the veteran character actor best known for his portrayal of villains passed away at his home in Los Angeles.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Powers Boothe recently died in his sleep at his home on Sunday morning. An extremely talented character actor, he excelled at playing morally questionable men in numerous films.

Boothe became prominent in 1980 after winning an Emmy for his portrayal of the maniacal cult leader, Jim Jones.  From there he appeared in choice roles in Southern Comfort, Red Dawn, and The Emerald Forest.

Cementing his formidable presence in the 1990s with turns as the despicable Joshua Foss in Sudden Death, and Alexander Haig in Nixon, Boothe’s star continued to rise. Perhaps one of his most prominent turns as an actor came when he portrayed, “Curly Bill Broscius” in the critically acclaimed Western, Tombstone.

In the 2000s he was on fire. Starring in the wonderful little horror flick, Frailty, with the late, great, and fellow Texan, Bill Paxton. He also won prime time attention with his work on Deadwood as Cy Tolliver and Vice President Noah Daniels on the Fox hit, 24, with Kiefer Sutherland.

It takes a special kind of actor to play an ominous character with style and a certain amount of sex appeal. Powers Boothe embraced these traits. Every time I saw his name in the credits, I knew something exciting was going to happen and I was willing to be surprised.

Goodbye, Mr. Boothe.

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He managed to make creepy roles like Senator Roark in Sin City  extremely watchable. Mr. Boothe left some pretty big shoes to fill. His talent and intensity will be greatly missed. Rest in peace, sir.