Some more sad news here in 2020, as we’ve learned tonight that actor Wilford Brimley, known to horror fans as Blair in John Carpenter’s The Thing, has passed away at age 85.
Brimley had been sick for two months with a kidney ailment, NY Times reports.
Wilford Brimley’s Hollywood career began with a role in 1969’s True Grit, and he went on to star in films including The China Syndrome, Death Valley, 10 to Midnight, The Natural, Cocoon, Cocoon: The Return, The Firm, Hard Target, Progeny, and most recently, 2017’s I Believe.
In Carpenter’s The Thing, Brimley’s character was the Senior Biologist at Outpost 31. Blair is eventually assimilated by the titular “Thing,” the resulting monster known as “Blair-Thing.”
Brimley of course also became a household face and name thanks to his Quaker Oats and Liberty Medical commercials. He was a longtime spokesman for diabetes education.
The actor is survived by wife Beverly and three children.