Juliette Lewis‘ dad Geoffrey Lewis, who starred in several Clint Eastwood movies and appeared as a guest star in multiple TV shows in the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s, has passed away the age of 79.
The character actor and dad of ten died of natural causes in his home in L.A.’s Woodland Hills neighborhood, a family friend told Variety late on Tuesday, April 7.
Geoffrey’s most well-known roles were in Eastwood’s High Plains Drifter, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Every Which Way But Loose, and Any Which Way You Can. He received a Golden Globe nomination for his role in the 1980 TV series Flo, and appeared in numerous other well-loved TV shows including Hawaii Five-0 and Little House on the Prairie.
When Geoffrey’s daughter Juliette was just 14 years old she “divorced” her parents (or became legally emancipated from them). But according to the August: Osage County actress, it wasn’t due to any ill-feeling between her and her parents, rather it was to allow her to start drawing on her own acting earnings.
“The truth is that it’s something very common that you did when you were acting very young and my parents actually helped me to do that,” she told the Daily Telegraph in 2010. “My parents are just the best,” she said at the time. “My dad instilled in me to naturally question all authority. I don’t follow anything blindly. That’s religion, cops, doctors, schools, you name it.”
After his passing, Lewis also shared a sweet message about her father via Instagram on April 8. “My dad. My dad my dad my dad my dad. My love my dad. My dad. My hero. My dad. My dad my love my loving father,” she captioned a throwback photo of the two. “My strength my might. My friend. My hugs. My laughter. My love. My dad. Oh my heart. My heart. He loved us so. He loved us so. So so much. I am forever my father’s daughter and he will never been gone.”
Geoffrey Lewis is survived by his wife, Paula Hochhalter, daughter Juliette and nine other children, three of whom are also actors.
