Jack Betts, an actor who appeared in Sam Raimi’s 2002 “Spider-Man,” “Sugar Colt” and several spaghetti Western films, died on June 19. He was 96.
Betts’ nephew, Dean Sullivan, reported that the actor died in his sleep at home in Los Osos, Calif.
The actor was close friends with “Everybody Loves Raymond” star Doris Roberts, and the pair often attended events together in Hollywood from the late 1980s until her death in 2016.
Betts was born and raised in Jersey City, N.J. When he was 10 years old, he and his family moved to Miami. After graduating from Miami Senior High School, he pursued a degree in theater at the University of Miami. He then moved to New York to begin his acting career with his first supporting role on Broadway in the 1953 adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “Richard III.”
He further developed his acting skills as a member of The Actors Studio, an organization for performers, theatre directors and playwrights to refine their skills. By 1959, he made his film debut in the Canadian thriller “The Bloody Brood,” where he played an ordinary man investigating the murder of his younger brother.
As Betts’ film career started to kick off, he also began making multiple TV appearances. From 1960 to 1962, he portrayed Chris Devlin in the CBS mystery series “Checkmate.” He played Dr. Ken Martin in “General Hospital” from 1963 to 1965. His acting portfolio included several soap opera appearances in “The Edge of Night,” “The Doctors,” “Another World,” “All My Children,” “Search for Tomorrow,” “Guiding Light,” “Loving,” “One Life to Live” and “Generations.”
Although Betts’ film and TV career was growing, he returned to Broadway in a 1959 production of Tennessee Williams’ “Sweet Bird of Youth.” He also starred in “Dracula” on Broadway from 1977 to 1980, where he portrayed Dr. Seward.
Betts made his spaghetti Western debut in the 1966 Franco Giraldi film “Sugar Colt,” where he was credited as Hunt Powers. In the movie, he portrayed a government special agent named Dr. Tom Copper. From there, he led a series of spaghetti Western films through 1973. Other films he starred in include “Gods and Monsters” (1998), “The Assassination of Trotsky” (1972), “Falling Down” (1993), “Batman Forever” (1995), “Batman & Robin” (1997), “8MM” (1999) and “Office Space” (1999).
In Sam Raimi’s film adaptation of “Spider-Man,” Betts played Henry Balkan, the Oscorp board chair who fired Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe). Osborn soon turned into the Green Goblin and eliminated Balkan and his fellow board members during an attack at Times Square.
His other TV credits include “Gunsmoke,” “The F.B.I.,” “It Takes a Thief,” “Kojak,” “Remington Steele,” “Frasier,” “Everybody Loves Raymond,” “Friends,” “My Name Is Earl,” “The Mentalist” and “Monk.” Betts was also the author of “Screen Test: Take One,” a play about a soap opera.
In addition to his nephew, he is survived by his nieces, Lynee and Gail, and his sister, Joan.
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