R.I.P. character actor Art LaFleur from The Sandlot and Field Of Dreams
Art LaFleur played one of the Black Sox and Babe Ruth. He was 78.
Aux News Field of Dreams
Character actor Art LaFleur, best known for playing Babe Ruth in The Sandlot and for nearly 200 other roles in movies and on television, has died after a battle with Parkinson’s. The news was confirmed by his wife (via Variety), who referred to him in a Facebook post as a “generous and selfless man” who carried those qualities into his acting. LaFleur was 78.
Art LaFleur was born in Indiana in 1943 but didn’t start acting professionally until the ‘70s when he played a Russian spy in the TV movie Rescue From Gilligan’s Island. He was an athlete before that, which would later go on to inform a lot of his acting roles.
His career as a character actor took off dramatically in the ‘80s, with LaFleur appearing in dozens of TV shows and movies in that decade alone. They include: The Incredible Hulk, Soap, Cannery Row, WarGames, Webster, The A-Team, Cobra, Hill Street Blues, The Blob, and Thirtysomething.
In 1989 he also appeared in Field Of Dreams, playing the ghost of 1919 White Sox first baseman Chick Gandil—the player who infamously convinced his severely underpaid teammates to throw the World Series in what was later called the “Black Sox” scandal.
LaFleur’s other big-name role in a baseball movie came a few years later in 1993 when he played a dream version of Babe Ruth in The Sandlot, inspiring one of the kids to heroically retrieve their lost baseball. After that, LaFleur appeared in Coach, Matlock, First Kid, Baywatch, ER, Boy Meets World, JAG, Angel, The Practice, two Santa Clause sequels (he played the Tooth Fairy), Home Improvement, Malcolm In The Middle, House, and Key And Peele.
LaFleur is survived by his wife, Shelley, and two children. In the Facebook post, Shelley LaFleur said, “Art was larger than life and meant the world to us.”
33 Comments
He’s playing the role of various baseball players in Heaven now
We just have to make a movie studio in the middle of a corn field.
“You killed me, Smalls.”
Bicuspids!
Aww man, I just rewatched Air America a few weeks ago, and he’s great in that. RIP, Art.
THE SULTAN OF SWING?
THE COLOSSUS OF CLOUT!!
THE COLOSSUS OF CLOUT !
That wimpy deer?
Don’t forget Jack Deth’s boss in the Future Cop/Trancers series!
His Name was McNulty and he hated having to come back to visit Deth in the past as a pre-teen version of his great aunt.
He was also terrific in another early Charles Band pic, Zone Troopers, a delightfully entertaining WWII / sci-fi outing. A brilliant character actor who I always enjoyed seeing on screen.
Yes! Dry hair is for squids!
“Jack Deth is back, and he’s never even been here before.”That’s about the best damn tag line I’ve ever heard.
God, what a great face! I think that legitimately qualifies as a “mug.”
Gotta think his agent took one look at him and said, “Yes. I can find you work.”
In the absolute best way. What a compliment!
“Don’t wink, kid.”RIP.
That smirk he gives just after is just the best.
He also did a great job in the “baseball” episode of House, Sports Medicine.
I just watched The Blob a few days ago, what a guy.“…ribbed.”
Ribbed…
His moment in THE BLOB where he slowly registers that his daughter’s date is the same boy who was just apparently in his pharmacy buying condoms is priceless: “Ribbed!”
For her pleasure…
“Heroes get remembered, but legends never die.”
Character actors are the greatest “where’s waldo” of the modern era. The irony being I’ve known his name a lot longer than a lot of more “famous” actors because he’s been in so much of what I’ve watched.
Wow, the second I saw the picture for this, I immediately remembered the ‘88 Blob remake, which I maintain is one of the three best horror remakes of all time. (The others being The Thing and The Fly.)
Bingo. And Body Snatchers ‘78 makes four.
ironically I’ll remember him for a commercial from ? years ago where he was at his 50th birthday party (or maybe his 60th?) and read this nice poem from a birthday card (might have been life insurance commercial?). I can’t explain why I remember it but it seemed like a nice party to attend and he seemed like a nice guest of honor. RIP buddy.
Back in the early days of the internet, my friends an I created an “Art LaFleur Fan Club” page on Geocities or something like that after seeing him in several shows in a short period of time. Then we got distracted and moved on to something else. RIP Art
We did this for Donald Pleasence
Damn, that’s sad. When I was a little kid he made such an impression on me because of where his role in Sandlot fits into the story that I thought he was a huge A-lister actor up there with George Clooney or whoever.
Wow I can still remember this commercial from 1986 before I knew who he was just because he had such a great face and he did such a great job I felt bad for him! RIP Art LaFleur.