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16th May 2025
10:44am BST
Three-time James Bond star, Joe Don Baker has passed away at the age of 89.
He died on May 7, his family revealed in an obituary.
No cause of death has been given.
Baker played the James Bond series' first American villain, Brad Whitaker, in the 1987 film The Living Daylights, alongside Timothy Dalton who played 007.
He would return as CIA Agent Jack Wade in two of Pierce Brosnan's Bond films, GoldenEye in 1995 and Tomorrow Never Dies in 1997.
Baker has supporting roles in the 1960s as he featured in Westerns Guns of the Magnificent Seven and Wild Rovers.
His breakthrough came in 1973's Walking Tall, in which he played real-life Tennessee Sheriff Buford Pusser.
The film follows Pusser as he becomes a lawman in McNairy County after a career as a professional wrestler.
In 1984, he starred alongside Robert Redford, Glenn Close, Kim Basinger and Robert Duvall in the Oscar-nominated film The Natural.
The 1990s saw him feature in the Martin Scorsese classic Cape Fear, along with Robert De Niro and Jessica Lange.
His final film credit was in 2012's coming-of-age film Mud, which starred Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon.
The final passage of his obituary reads: "As we say goodbye to Joe Don, we hold onto the memories and the love he shared with us.
"Though he may no longer be with us in body, his spirit will always remain, a guiding light in the lives he touched. Rest in peace, Joe Don.
"You will be dearly missed but never forgotten."
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