Actor Edward Faulkner, who appeared in six films with John Wayne and two with Elvis Presley, has died at 93 of natural causes. Faulkner died Aug. 26 at a health care facility in Vista, California, his daughter Leslie Wadsworth revealed to The Hollywood Reporter. The McLintock!, Rio Lobo, and The Green Berets actor had a long-standing chess rivalry with Wayne. “I occasionally let him win,” Faulkner said, who once kept a plane idled to keep from interrupting a match between the actor and Wayne. Faulkner, a 6′3″ Kentucky native, saddled up on horses in multiple TV westerns, but his debut on the silver screen came in the form of an uncredited role on the 1960 film G.I. Blues, starring Elvis Presley. He worked again with the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll as a fitness instructor in the 1965 film, Tickle Me. Faulkner, born on a Leap Day in 1932, attended the University of Virginia and the University of Kentucky, where he acted in plays before graduating in 1954. He then joined the U.S. Air Force, where he was a fighter pilot for two years, until deciding to move to Los Angeles to pursue acting in 1958. Faulkner was eventually introduced to director Andrew V. McLaglen, who cast him in the John Wayne films. Faulkner leaves behind four children, Jan, Barbara, Leslie, and Edward III, in addition to five grandchildren, Tyler, Wyatt, Steven, Olivia, and Brooke. His wife, whom he met in high school, died in May 2013.
Read it at The Hollywood Reporter
