Tom Bower

Tom Bower
PerformerRDM
Portrays:	Joe
Date of Birth:	January 3, 1938
Date of Death:	May 30, 2024
Age at Death:	86
Nationality:	USA
Related Media
		@ BW Media
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IMDb profile

Tom Bower (born Ralph Thomas Bower; January 3, 1938 – May 30, 2024) was an American actor and producer born in Denver, Colorado. He portrayed the bartender Joe in the Battlestar Galactica Re-imagined Series episode "Taking a Break From All Your Worries". A prolific character actor with a career spanning five decades, Bower appeared in more than 180 screen productions and was recognized particularly for his recurring role as Dr. Curtis Willard on The Waltons and as the janitor Marvin in Die Hard 2 (1990).

Career

Bower grew up in Denver, Colorado, where he played varsity baseball, basketball, and golf, and ran track, expecting a professional athletic career that did not materialize. Following graduation, he spent a season of summer stock at Elitch Gardens Summer Theater in Denver — described as the oldest summer stock theater in the United States — before setting off for New York City. In 1956, he enrolled at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where Robert Redford was also a classmate. After a year and a half at the Academy, he shifted to studying under John Cassavetes at his Shadows Workshop, and participated in the making of Cassavetes's debut feature Shadows, shot in 1957.

Returning to Denver each summer to support a young family, Bower worked a range of jobs before spending approximately fifteen years as a private investigator. He later moved to Boston, where he continued working as a private detective between acting engagements, before eventually relocating to Los Angeles to pursue a full-time acting career.

Bower accumulated over eighty stage credits across productions in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Minneapolis, among other cities, and was a founding member and board member of the Met Theater in Santa Monica. In 1981, he was invited by Robert Redford to be a resource actor at the Sundance Institute for film and television, remaining active there for years and serving on its nominating committee. He was also a member of the Actors Studio.

His screen career began in 1973 with a television film and quickly expanded into regular guest work across the major network dramas of the era. His early television credits include The Rockford Files, where he appeared as Congressman Jeffrey Cooperman and in another role across two episodes (1974–1976), and The Waltons, where he was first seen as stunt pilot Rex Barker before being recast more prominently as Dr. Curtis Willard starting in Season 5. Bower appeared in 27 episodes of The Waltons as Willard, a romantic interest for and eventual husband of Mary Ellen (portrayed by Judy Norton). The character was written out in 1978 when he was killed off-screen at Pearl Harbor; Bower later recalled that his departure followed a request for a modest pay increase.

Additional early television work included The Blue Knight, The Bionic Woman, Baretta, Kojak, Lou Grant, Barnaby Jones, Hill Street Blues, Miami Vice, Dallas, and Murder, She Wrote. He continued into the 1990s and 2000s with appearances on NYPD Blue, The X-Files, The West Wing, The Practice (as John Pierce), Law & Order, and Cold Case. In later years he had recurring roles on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (as Pop-Pop, 2005 and 2012), Ray Donovan, Bosch, and Lucky Hank (2023), where he played the father of Bob Odenkirk's title character.

On film, Bower collaborated with a range of prominent directors. His feature credits include The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez (1982), River's Edge (1986), Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), and Die Hard 2 (1990), in which he played Marvin, the airport janitor who assists Bruce Willis's Lt. John McClane and is present at the film's conclusion. He portrayed Francis Nixon, father of the 37th President, in Oliver Stone's Nixon (1995). Additional film appearances include Pollock (2000) and Appaloosa (2008), both directed by Ed Harris; Crazy Heart (2009) and Out of the Furnace (2013), both directed by Scott Cooper; The Hills Have Eyes (2006); Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009), directed by Werner Herzog; and El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019).

Bower served on the Board of Directors of the Screen Actors Guild and was active in advocacy for working actors throughout his career. Fellow SAG member Mark Moses noted that Bower made lasting contributions to the union that benefited all its members.

Battlestar Galactica

Bower appeared in the third-season Battlestar Galactica episode "Taking a Break From All Your Worries" (2007), portraying Joe, the civilian bartender who runs Joe's bar aboard the Galactica. In the episode, Lee "Apollo" Adama introduces Chief Galen Tyrol to the newly established drinking establishment, a makeshift lounge carved out of one of the hangar decks. Joe's bar lent the episode its title — the bar was originally intended to be a more central element of the story — and continued to serve as a recurring setting in subsequent episodes of the series, though Joe himself did not reappear after this one.

Personal life

Bower married twice. His first marriage ended in divorce. He later married Ursula Bower, whom he described as the love of his life; she predeceased him by approximately two years. His family described the three most important things in his life as his wife, acting, and his commitment to fairness for fellow actors.

Bower died in his sleep at his home in Los Angeles on May 30, 2024, at the age of 86. His death was confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter by his sister-in-law, Mary Miller. He is interred at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California.

References