- Born
- Died
- Birth nameWalter Lee Barnes
- Nickname
- Piggy
- Height1.85 m
- An American character actor described to some as a 'rugged outdoor western/war type', proved to be Walter Barnes status in motion pictures for nearly thirty years. A pro football player, Barnes made a mark into playing roles in pictures with his performance in the 1959 film "Westbound". Although, Barnes found work in countless foreign films of the 1960s, he usually played roles ranging from crusty law officials to occasional villains, in notable roles in "Captain Sinbad", John Wayne's "Cahill US Marshal", Clint Eastwood's "High Plains Drifter", "Pete's Dragon" and "Day of the Animals". Also as a veteran of television, Barnes has had guest starring roles in such series including "Gunsmoke", "Rawhide" and "Cheyenne". He also played Bo Svenson's father on the early 80s TV series "Walking Tall" and appeared in the 1985-86 mini series "North and South". A diabetic, Barnes retired from acting in the late 1980s and eventually moved into the Motion Picture and Television Retirement Home in Woodland Hills, California, where he passed away in January of 1998.- IMDb mini biography by: Blythe379@cs.com
- SpouseBritta Barnes(1961 - 1968) (divorced, 2 children)
- Children
- Played football for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1948-51.
- Following WWII, he was an All-Conference, 60-minute lineman and weightlifter at LSU (1946-48).
- Barnes, while an NFL player with the Philadelphia Eagles, was caught by the University of Oklahoma spying on their practices being held in Biloxi, MS, just prior to the 1950 Sugar Bowl in which they were to play against LSU. They were tipped off by an LSU, fan of all things, and a six-man posse including a photographer and a Biloxi policeman caught Barnes with two ladders, a 4x6 between them to stand on, a canvas tarp to hide under, a camera, a notebook and some binoculars in his possession. They took a photo of him for posterity, which still hangs at Owen Field to this day. Barnes ran away and hid in the home of another former LSU player. Whether or not LSU knew anything about it has been denied by LSU and debated for over 50 years, but it apparently didn't help anyway--Oklahoma beat LSU 35-0. Barnes denied it was him in the photo his entire life and took it to his grave.
- Died twenty days before his 80th birthday.
- Father of Lara Wendel and Michel Barnes.
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