Chuck Connors

Chuck Connors (April 10, 1921 – November 10, 1992) was an American actor, and athlete.

Connors died in 1992 in Los Angeles at Cedars Sinai Medical Center. The cause of death was lung cancer and pneumonia. He was 71 year old.

Sports
In his early years he was a basketball and baseball player, playing for teams such as the Boston Celtics. Then he was a baseball player, where he started playing in the minor leagues. In 1949, he debuted at the Los Angeles Dodgers, playing only one match for them. On the Chicago Cubs, he playing 66 games at first base.

Actor career
Chuck Connors did both low-budget movies and big Hollywood productions. These included South Sea Woman (1953), with Burt Lancaster, and directed by Arthur Lubin, and William Wyler's western, The Big Country (1958), with Gregory Peck.

Among his best performances is the Indian warrior Geronimo, in Geronimo (1962). Other classic movies he was in are Flipper (1963), Captain Nemo and the Underwater City (1969), Soylent Green (1973), with Charlton Heston, and directed by Richard Fleischer, 99 44/100% Dead (1974).

Television
His television career was very successful. he is remembered for playing the role of a widower Lucas McCain, in the ABC series The Rifleman (1958-1962). The Rifleman told the story of a widower and his son who live on a ranch in the Wild West. Connors played the role of Lucas McCain in 168 episodes of the series.

Another of his successes was the western TV series Branded (1965-1966). He played Jason McCord, an army official being falsely accused of cowardice.

He also starred in a crime series Arrest and Trial (1962-1964), as attorney John Egan, and the adventure series Cowboy in Africa (1967-1968).