Born on March 5, 1936 in Los Angeles, performing was in his blood. His mother, Nina Olivette, was an actress and dancer. His father, Harry Stockwell, sang on stage in Carousel and Oklahoma! and was the voice of Prince Charming in the film Snow White. During his seven-decade career, Dean Stockwell worked with directing titans including Robert Altman, Wim Wenders, Jonathan Demme, Sidney Lumet, Francis Ford Coppola and David Lynch. Long before he dazzled as larger-than-life Navy Rear Adm. Albert “Al” Calavicci in Quantum Leap or mafia boss Tony “The Tiger” Russo in Married to the Mob or as Howard Hughes in Tucker: The Man and His Dream or Blue Velvet or Dune, Stockwell began his career as a child actor with an MGM contract when he was only 9 years old. He charmed in the musical Anchors Aweigh with Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly. He played opposite Greer Garson and Gregory Peck in The Valley of Decision. He was also in the classic film, The Secret Garden with Margaret O’Brien and got accolades for The Boy with the Green Hair. After high school he took a break from acting. ‘‘I needed to find anonymity,’’ he told the New York Times in 1988. ‘‘I needed to go off by myself and disappear and try to figure out what was going on with this life of ours.” After a series of odd jobs working on the railroad and in garages, he returned to his original trade. “ I had no training to do anything else,” he said to The Times. “So I went back to acting.’’ In 2015, Stockwell retired from acting to become a successful artist full-time in Taos, New Mexico. Working under the his full name, Robert Dean Stockwell, he created sculptures, collages from periodically and digitally enhanced photos that garnered attention in the art world. “Dean. My oldest friend. A godfather-figure to my daughter, Amber. Brilliant artist. Loving dad. We met on the set of The Boy With Green Hair, stayed close til his last breath,” Tweeted his friend and co-star Russ Tamblyn and then gave a nod to their pal Dennis Hopper. Rest easy now, brother. Give Dennis a hug from me when you see him on the other side." Stockwell is survived by his wife Joy Stockwell and two children, Sophia Stockwell, Austin Stockwell. Here are some other memories of and tributes to acting legend Dean Stockwell. Next, sad movies to watch on Netflix right now.
