Actor Sam Bottoms Dead at 53

Actor Sam Bottoms, who appeared in Apocalypse Now and some 30 other films, died at his LA home this week of brain cancer at age 53, the Los Angeles Times reports. Bottoms began his film career at age 15 in The Last Picture Show and was cast as surfer Lance Johnson, a sailor who travels alongside Martin Sheen in 1979's Apocalypse.

“He was a handsome, tall young man and very sweet-natured and seemed to be right for that part," Francis Ford Coppola said. "He, Larry Fishburne, and Fred Forrest were like a young family almost to me.” For his part, Bottoms said he was Coppola’s “loyal soldier. I would have done anything he asked.” One of four actor brothers, Bottoms more recently appeared in Shopgirl and Seabiscuit.
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