{"id":2809,"date":"2025-06-21T16:28:16","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T16:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/2809\/"},"modified":"2025-06-21T16:28:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T16:28:16","slug":"spider-man-actor-dies-aged-96-jack-betts-shared-home-with-everybody-loves-raymond-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/2809\/","title":{"rendered":"Spider-Man actor dies aged 96: Jack Betts shared home with Everybody Loves Raymond star"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Spider-Man and Spaghetti Western actor Jack Betts has died at the age of 96.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The Hollywood veteran, who befriended Everybody Loves Raymond star Doris Roberts and whom he went on to share a home with, died in his sleep at his house in Los Osos, <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/california\/index.html\" id=\"mol-83d1ef90-4e71-11f0-8129-4f4505ffd6d8\" class=\"class\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">California<\/a>,\u00a0on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Born in Miami, <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/florida\/index.html\" id=\"mol-2b1fc2c0-4e74-11f0-8129-4f4505ffd6d8\" class=\"class\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Florida<\/a>, in 1929, Mr Betts studied theater and first began his career in a Broadway adaptation of William Shakespeare&#8217;s Richard III.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">He would go on to play an array of debonair characters across TV shows and movies, including cameos in Batman Forever in 1995 and Batman &amp; Robin two years later.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">But it was his performances as Hunt Powers across a swathe of Italian Spaghetti Western films that immortalised him on the big screen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">He first appeared as the gun-slinger in Franco Giraldi&#8217;s Sugar Coat in 1966 after bluffing his way into contention for the starring role.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">And after finding success, it would be the first of around 12 consecutive films in which Mr Betts held it &#8211; a run that ended in 1972.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Despite worldwide recognition for his performances, his films at that time did not air in the US or Canada &#8211; a problem made all the more difficult due to the stardom of his hotel neighbour.<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-a8c9db9f70cf688f\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/99591027-14834149-image-a-2_1750494064848.jpg\" height=\"409\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Jack Betts (centre) has died at the age of 96 (Pictured in the 2002 release of Spider-Man with Willem Dafoe, right)\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Jack Betts (centre) has died at the age of 96 (Pictured in the 2002 release of Spider-Man with Willem Dafoe, right)<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-7b3dd9f2e959f72d\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/99591041-14834149-image-a-1_1750494041867.jpg\" height=\"951\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Mr Betts, who befriended Everybody Loves Raymond star Doris Roberts (left) and whom he shared a home with, died in his sleep on Thursday\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Mr Betts, who befriended Everybody Loves Raymond star Doris Roberts (left) and whom he shared a home with, died in his sleep on Thursday<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-93d294340dee2e6d\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/99591023-14834149-image-m-22_1750494475544.jpg\" height=\"975\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Mr Betts studied theater and first began his acting career on Broadway - but it was his performances in Italian Spaghetti Western films that immortalised him on the big screen\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Mr Betts studied theater and first began his acting career on Broadway &#8211; but it was his performances in Italian Spaghetti Western films that immortalised him on the big screen<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">He told <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" class=\"class\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=xoyAa0FNpn4\">The Dev Show<\/a> in 2021: &#8216;In the hotel next to mine was Clint Eastwood,&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;He&#8217;d go up to his mountain and do his Western and I&#8217;d go up to my mountain and do my Western. But while his films had distribution all over the world, my films were distributed [everywhere] except Canada and America.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">When returning home from Italy, Mr Betts turned his hand to Broadway again where he starred as Dracula between 1977-80.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">In the years after, he appeared on many TV shows, including a lengthy run as Dr Ivan Kiping in the series, One Life to Live, which ended in 1985.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Three years later, Mr Betts accepted Ms Roberts&#8217; invitation to move from his place in New York and into a downstairs apartment in her Hollywood Hills home.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">After Ms Roberts&#8217; death in 2016, Mr Betts said the pair were &#8216;best friends to the very end&#8217; and that they had &#8216;wonderful times together&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-f0415cf21cfb41ea\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/99591025-14834149-image-a-8_1750494244311.jpg\" height=\"935\" width=\"634\" alt=\"When returning home from Italy, Mr Betts turned his hand to Broadway again where he starred as Dracula between 1977-80\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">When returning home from Italy, Mr Betts turned his hand to Broadway again where he starred as Dracula between 1977-80<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-5805df4450cd34c9\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/99591019-14834149-image-a-4_1750494095198.jpg\" height=\"947\" width=\"634\" alt=\"In the years after, he appeared on many TV shows, including a lengthy run as Dr Ivan Kiping in the series One Life to Live which ended in 1985\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">In the years after, he appeared on many TV shows, including a lengthy run as Dr Ivan Kiping in the series One Life to Live which ended in 1985<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-47edc5ef76a1518e\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/99591031-14834149-image-a-23_1750494522808.jpg\" height=\"951\" width=\"634\" alt=\"In 1988, Mr Betts accepted Ms Roberts' invitation to move from New York and into a downstairs apartment in her Hollywood Hills home\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">In 1988, Mr Betts accepted Ms Roberts&#8217; invitation to move from New York and into a downstairs apartment in her Hollywood Hills home<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">They even shared the screen when Mr Betts appeared in an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond in 1999.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">He also made fleeting appearances in shows such as Seinfield, Frasier, Friends and Power Rangers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">In Sam Raimi&#8217;s Spider-Man, his character played a pivotal role after telling Norman Osborn, played by Willem Dafoe, that he was &#8216;out&#8217; at his company.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">This spurred Osborn onto become the Green Goblin, who would later return and kill Mr Betts&#8217; character, Henry Balkan, and his fellow Oscorp businessmen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">News of his death has touched movie fans, who have taken to social media to share their tributes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">One wrote: &#8216;Well shoot, another Hollywood gunslinger rides into the sunset. Jack Betts was one of those actors who could make even a B-movie feel like an A-list production.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Another added: &#8216;RIP to a legend. Jack Betts brought so much to the screen &#8211; from gritty westerns to comic book charm.&#8217;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spider-Man and Spaghetti Western actor Jack Betts has died at the age of 96. The Hollywood veteran, who&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2810,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[276,2147,211,171,50,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-2809","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-dailymail","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114722301822498296","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}