WILFORD BRIMLEY

He made a nice living as a kindly, but grumpy, old man, and Wilford Brimley worked almost to the time of his death at 85. You might remember him from Quaker Oats commercials, or for his signature walrus moustache. Or maybe from some of these fine films.
The China Syndrome (1979) is still scary, with its cautionary tale about the failure of a nuclear power station. Jack Lemmon plays the station manager and Brimley is on board as Ted Spindler, a shift supervisor. When things go terribly wrong, it is Spindler who wants to shut things down and notify the public. 
In Absence Of Malice (1981) Reporter Sally Field gets suckered into printing a completely false story about union official Michael Cunningham (Paul Newman). Brimley appears as James Wells, an assistant District Attorney who does his best to settle matters down before they blow up again. 
Tender Mercies (1983) features Robert Duvall as alcoholic country singer Mac Sledge, attempting to reform as he promised  motel owner Rosa Lee, a comely widow. Duvall did his own singing and won Oscar as Best Actor for this good film. Wilford Brimley is quietly effective as the manager of country singer Dixie Scott (Betty Buckley), Mac’s ex-wife. 
The Hotel New Hampshire (1984) is faithfully adapted from John Irving’s novel. It features a wealth of unusual characters, some in the hotel owner’s (Beau Bridges) family. Too complicated for summarizing here, but I will point out that Wilford Brimley’s character, Iowa Bob, has a fatal heart attack when a stuffed dog he knows was long dead shows up at a Christmas celebration. 
Robert Redford is Roy Hobbs in The Natural (1984) a baseball fairy tale that is quite wonderful. Hobbs shows up at the New York Knights’ practice as a 40-year-old rookie, whose signing enrages manager Pop Fisher (Wilford Brimley). There are lots of shenanigans involving attempted fixes but Hobbs is unfazed and hits a legendary home run into the light standard to win the pennant. 
Wilford Brimley appears as Ben Luckett, one of the fortunate oldsters rejuvenated by trespassing in a swimming pool owned by and magically charged by aliens. Cocoon (1985) is a real charmer about the transformation of the aging men and women made young again. There’s quite a cast: Jack Gilford, Don Ameche, Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy and Gwen Verdon are all on board. It’s interesting that at the time of the filming, Brimley was actually about 20 years younger than the other actors, and dyed his hair and beard to fit in. BTW, the 1988 sequel sucks.
No more Mr. Nice Guy for Wilford Brimley for in The Firm (1993) he plays a law firm’s top security man who is actually their hit man. Tom Cruise, recent Harvard Law graduate, gratefully accepts employment with a Memphis law firm. He gradually discovers that the firm is crooked as a snake and involved in lots of criminal activity. 
After this, Wilford Brimley’s resume’ drops off the earth. There are lots more movies, but none of them very good. I believe this was his choice, wanting to go his own way and leaving glitzy Hollywood productions behind.  
All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. All are for adults.