Actor James Hampton, best known as bugler Hannibal Dobbs on ‘F Troop’, caretaker in the original ‘The Longest Yard’ and father in ‘Teen Wolf’, has died at the age of 84.
The Hollywood Reporter, citing a family source, revealed that Hampton died at his home in Fort Worth, Texas, due to complications from Parkinson’s disease.
He was born in Oklahoma City in 1936 and was raised mostly in Dallas until he attended the University of North Texas and eventually enlisted in the U.S. Army. THR reports that he was in the cavalry at Fort Knox before being sent overseas to active duty. When he returned, he studied acting with Sidney Lumet’s father, Baruch Lumet, at the Knox Street Theater in Dallas.
He eventually moved to New York and found a job in the Oscar-nominated film “The Cliff Dwellers.” Because of its success, he went to Los Angeles where he played a role in the 1963 TV show “Gunsmoke”. In the program, he met Burt Reynolds, who launched a friendship and working relationship that would last until Reynolds’ death in 2018..
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Actor James Hampton, pictured here on ‘The Tonight Show’, has died at the age of 84.
(Fred Sabine / NBCU Photo Bank / NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)
The New York Post notes that Hampton and Reynolds played opposite each other in films such as ‘Hustle’, ‘WW and the Dixie Dancekings’ and ‘The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing’. Hampton also directed 16 episodes of Reynolds’ television program “Evening Shade,” which aired from 1990 to 1994.
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Independent of Reynolds, Hampton studied with Leonard Nimoy, who helped him land part of Pvt. Hannibal Dobbs on “F Troop”, which offered only two seasons (65 deliveries) but survives in syndication.
He recently published his autobiography in February entitled “What? And gives up show business?”
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He is survived by his second wife, actress Mary Deese and children James, Andrea and Frank as well as grandchildren. The family requested that donations be made to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s research.
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Hampton played Fox’s father in the 1985 horror comedy “Teen Wolf”.