Veteran character actor John Beasley dies at 79

OMAHA, Neb. — John Beasley, the veteran character actor who performed a kindly college bus driver on the TV drama “Everwood” and appeared in dozens of movies courting again to the Nineteen Eighties, has died. He was 79.

Beasley died Tuesday after a “brief and unexpected illness” at a hospital in his hometown of Omaha, his supervisor, Don Spradlin, mentioned.

Beasley performed an assistant coach within the 1993 soccer movie “Rudy” and a retired preacher in 1997’s “The Apostle,” co-starring and directed by Robert Duvall.

On TV, Beasley was the daddy of Cedric the Entertainer within the TV Land comedy “The Soul Man” and later starred for 4 seasons alongside Treat Williams in The WB’s “Everwood.”

Most lately, Beasley had small components within the Showtime drama “Your Honor,” with Bryan Cranston, and “The Mandalorian,” a Star Wars offshoot on Disney+.

For greater than a dozen years, he ran the John Beasley Theater and Workshop in Omaha, the place he was born in 1943.

“To be a working artist is the highest calling, and I appreciate wherever it takes me,” Beasley informed the publication American Theatre final yr.

He is survived by Judy, his spouse of 58 years; two sons, Michael and Tyrone; and 6 grandchildren, together with Malik Beasley, who performs for the Los Angeles Lakers.

The NBA veteran paid tribute to his grandfather on Instagram.