Yahoo Lifestyle Peter Jason, Deadwood Actor, Dead at 80 — Read Tributes From Castmates
Peter Jason, known for his role as Con Stapleton in the Western series Deadwood, has died at the age of 80.
The actor died on Thursday, Feb. 20, with no details disclosed on his cause of death.
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Halloween director John Carpenter announced Jason’s death on his X account on Thursday saying, “Peter Jason, one of the great character actors in cinema, has died. His first movie was Howard Hawks’ Rio Lobo. He was a dear friend and I’ll miss him terribly.”
“My dear, dear friend, the brightest light, most generous soul and gregarious of men, the supremely talented and kind Peter Jason has left the set,” wrote Billy Zane on Instagram. “Survived by his lovely wife Eileen and his children, the vacuum felt by his passing gut punched me as I saw it coming.”
Read Zane’s full statement below:
Born in Hollywood, Jason amassed an extensive career since the late ’60s, with over 250 credited roles in movies, TV and video games. He appeared in Western series like Here Come the Brides and Gunsmoke, as well as in the Pierce Brosnan-led series Remington Steele.
His longest-running series role was as Con Stapleton, a dim-witted card dealer who briefly becomes sheriff, in the 2004 HBO Western Deadwood. Jason played the character over the course of 26 episodes from the series’ inception until its end in 2006, and later reprised the role for the 2019 reunion movie.
Jason also appeared in series like Desperate Housewives, Arrested Development and two episodes of NCIS (as Robert King, a former Sergeant Major in the Marine Corps and a nemesis of Chief Forensic Scientist Abigail Sciuto). He also played the role of Uncle Jim, brother of Louis Anderson’s Christine Baskets, for five episodes in Baskets.
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