R.I.P. Peter Jason: ‘The Karate Kid’ And ‘Deadwood’ Actor Dead At 80
Actor Peter Jason has died. He was 80. Jason’s death was reported by The Daily Mail, which said his cause of death was not immediately available.
Jason, who was best known for roles like The Karate Kid‘s soccer coach and Con Stapleton in Deadwood, was mourned by one of Hollywood’s biggest directors, horror legend John Carpenter, whose 1996 film Escape from L.A. he starred in as Duty Sergeant. Jason also starred in Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness, They Live, Body Bags, In the Mouth of Madness, Village of the Damned and Ghosts of Mars.
Carpenter tweeted yesterday (Feb. 20), “Peter Jason, one of the great character actors in cinema, has died. His first movie was Howard Hawks’ RIO LOBO. He was a dear friend and I’ll miss him terribly.”
Billy Zane also mourned Jason, writing on Instagram, “My dear, dear friend, the brightest light, most generous soul and gregarious of men, the supremely talented and kind Peter Jason has left the set.”
Jason was born in California in July 1944, per his IMDb bio, and planned to pursue a career as a football player before acting in The Man Who Came to Dinner at his high school, which sparked his love for theater. He went on to attend Orange Coast Junior College and later majored in drama at the Carnegie Institute of Technology.
A prolific career followed, with his first few professional roles in 1967’s TV movie A Bell for Adano and the TV series The F.B.I., and his film debut as Lt. Forsythe in 1970’s Rio Lobo, one of his “favorite” projects, according to his bio.
Throughout the years, Jason appeared on some of the most popular shows on TV, including Desperate Housewives, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, The Golden Girls, Murder, She Wrote, Married… with Children, Roseanne, Quantum Leap and Hawaii Five-O, among others.
His film credits include 48 Hrs., 1995’s Mortal Kombat, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Hail, Caesar! and more.
His most recent credit on IMDb is the 2022 short Tale of 2 Fathers, although he has multiple projects in development at the time of his death.
He is survived by his wife Eileen and other family, per Deadline.
