This post is for my husband and fans of The Band. The Weight, written by Levon Helm, is one of my all time favorite songs. I don’t even mind the earworm.
I knew he was a singer/song writer. I knew he lost his voice to cancer but regained it and even released a new album- won a Grammy before he passed away on April 19th, 2012.
But I never realized he was an actor. A damn good one.
He played Loretta Lynn’s father in Coal Miner’s Daughter.
He played test pilot Jack Ridley in The Right Stuff.
General John Bell Hood in The Electric Mist- which I now have to watch.
And the weapons expert, the most memorable character in The Shooter with Mark Walburg.
Trivia - Levon Helm (actually Lavon) was born in Elaine, Arkansas but grew up in Turkey Scratch, Arkansas. Perfect name for a town, isn’t it.