David Huddleston, an actor who is best known for his roles in The Big Lebowski and Santa Claus: The Movie, has died due to kidney and lung disease.
Huddleston was 85 when he passed away in Santa Fe, New Mexico on Aug. 2, Huddleston’s wife, Sarah Koeppe, told the Los Angeles Times.
His other credits include films like Blazing Saddles, The Producers and Capricorn One, as well as appearances in such TV series as The West Wing, Walker Texas Ranger, Gilmore Girls, Murder She Wrote and The Wonder Years.
According to the Huffington Post, Huddleston’s notable 55-year-long career in Hollywood were characterized by titular roles like the one he portrayed in The Big Lebowski, where he played a character that crosses paths with Jeff Bridge’s Lebowski character, who is attacked by a group of gang members after the wrong man, mistaking him for Huddleston’s millionaire Lebowski.
Huddleston was born in Virginia in 1930 and was an aircraft engine mechanic in the U.S. Air Force, Fox News noted. Afterwards, he went on to study acting in New York City under the G. I. Bill.