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.

“To the man who put the Beasleys on the map,” he wrote.

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