Powers Boothe passed away in his sleep on May 14th, 2017. He was less a month away from his 69th birthday.
Boothe is best remembered for his performances in films like Red Dawn (1984), Tombstone (1993), and Sin City (2005), as well as television series like 24, Nashville, Deadwood, and Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones, for which he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding lead Actor In A Limited Series in 1980. Countless industry figures have taken to social media to pay their respects to Boothe, including close friend Beau Bridges and his Red Dawn co-star Lea Thompson.
Learn more about Boothe, his personal life, and his family with these five facts.
Boothe was married to his high school sweetheart, Pamela Cole. They both also attended Texas State University together.
They were married at the time of his death, according to his death certificate. They were married for 48 years.
Boothe was born in Snyder, Texas, according to his obituary in the Los Angeles Times.
His father, Merrill Vestal, was a cotton farmer and later raised chicken in East Texas. His mother was Kathryn Boothe.
“As the son of a share cropper, Powers was proud of his heritage. He proved to himself and others that with hard work and dedication you can do anything,” according to the obituary.
Boothe’s affinity for ranches led to him purchasing his own in Los Angeles, California, where he raised and trained racing horses. This hobby, along with raising a family, was made possible by Boothe’s net worth, which, according to Celebrity Net Worth, was an estimated $8 million.
Dating back to the start of his acting career in the late 1970s, Boothe steadily worked in theatre, film, and television, where he typically played tough guys like the title role in Philip Marlowe, Private Eye (1983-86) or Jackson Swallow in Into the Homeland (1987), which earned him a CableACE nomination for Best Actor In Movie or Miniseries. He took up voiceover work later in his career, with credits in the video games Area 51 (2005), Turok (2008) and Hitman: Absolution (2012). Boothe was also an avid supporter of the SAG Foundation.
While Boothe was born and raised in Texas, he moved to Los Angeles in the early 1980s with his wife Pam. He spent the majority of his career living there, and the city serves as a hometown for his eldest son and daughter, and the countless horses he owned. That being said, Boothe’s heart remained in the south, and he often delight in visiting various areas during filming.
Boothe and Cole gave birth to two children during their marriage. There is Preston, 28, who is a graduate of the University of California, and Parisse, 34, both of whom followed in their father’s footsteps and became players in Hollywood.
Preston’s lone acting credit was in the 2007 sports drama The Final Season, while Parisse, though appearing as actress in Drain Baby (2011) and Straight A’s (2013), has gone the route of executive producer on films like Sin City (2005), MacGruber (2008), and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014), all of which starred her father.
He also has a grandson, Ryder, who is Parisse’s son with her husband, Dallas, according to his obituary.
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this report incorrectly said that Powers Boothe was divorced and remarried in 2007. He was never divorced and never married to anyone other than his wife, Pamela Cole Boothe, according to public records. He also did not have two young children at the time of his death. We regret the error.
Powers Boothe has passed away at the age of 69. Learn about the actor's marriages, personal life, and his children right here.