Richard Jaeckel: A Half-Century of Tough Roles and Quiet Strength

Richard Jaeckel, a compact, steely screen presence whose 50-year career ranged from World War II dramas to sun-bleached television, died on June 14, 1997, at the Motion Picture & Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. He was 70. The cause was cancer, his family said.

Jaeckel became familiar to a new generation as Lt. Ben Edwards on Baywatch, appearing first as a series regular and then as a recurring figure between 1991 and 1994—a veteran lifeguard and mentor who coordinated rescues and kept younger guards grounded (like David Hasselhoff’s Mitch Buchannon and others). He had earlier appeared in the show’s pilot as another veteran lifeguard.

Born in Long Beach, N.Y., Jaeckel was literally discovered on the lot. While working in the 20th Century-Fox mailroom, he was “plucked out of the mail room” for a featured role in Guadalcanal Diary (1943), beginning a life in pictures that rarely paused.

Movies

Across five decades, he specialized in tough, laconic men—soldiers, cowboys, and hard-cases—with standout turns in Battleground (1949), Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), The Gunfighter (1950), The Dirty Dozen (1967), Ulzana’s Raid (1972), Starman (1984), and others. He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Sometimes a Great Notion (1971).

A frequent presence in Westerns, he also appeared in Delmer Daves’ 3:10 to Yuma (1957) as one of Glenn Ford’s ruthless lieutenants—not 1959, as is sometimes misstated.

What they wrote at the time

Contemporary obituaries underlined the paradox of his screen image—baby-faced yet indomitable:

• “Blond, blue-eyed and stocky, the baby-faced Richard Jaeckel was a prolific character actor…” wrote The Independent‘s Tom Vallance.
• The Washington Post called him “the stocky, baby-faced actor [who] also played combat cowards and comic foils.”

Family

Jaeckel is survived by two sons, including Barry Jaeckel, a professional golfer who won the PGA Tour’s 1978 Tallahassee Open (he also captured the 1972 French Open on the European circuit).