Marvel’s TV series “Agents of SHIELD” will be winding down its fourth season on May 16, before making preparations for its confirmed fifth go. However, some sad news has come to the production, regarding one of its recurring actors for season 3 who has just died. Emmy Award-winning actor Powers Boothe, a veteran of films and TV shows with a Western setting, as well as a penchant for playing bad guys, had portrayed the recurring antagonist Gideon Malick of HYDRA in the third season, and word has come out that he passed away in his sleep at the age of 68.
Peaceful end
Powers Boothe’s passing was announced by his publicist Karen Samfilippo, who explained that he died of natural causes in his sleep at his home in Los Angeles. She further added that his family is arranging for a private funeral service at his home state in Texas, in addition to a memorial celebration in honor of his acting career at a later date.
Starting with the stage and graduating on to the front of a camera, Boothe has been an active presence in both movies and television. In 1980 he received a lead actor Emmy for the TV film "Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones", and made something of a statement when he personally received the accolade during the ceremony, rather than by proxy like the other winners who supported the then-ongoing Screen Actors Guild strike and boycotted attendance.
Boothe’s most prominent Western roles are the 1993 film “Tombstone” and the 2004-06 HBO series “Deadwood”, which won him a Screen Actors Guild award. He was also prominent in the original “Red Dawn” of 1984 and the “Sin City” film series. His involvement with the Marvel Cinematic Universe began in 2012’s “The Avengers” as an unnamed World Security Council member, and he reprised his role, now with the name Gideon Malick, as a secret leader of the HYDRA organization in “Agents of SHIELD” season 3.
Showbiz world reacts
Powers Boothe was mourned by acting colleagues on social media. Actor Beau Bridges hailed him as a friend, actor and family man, while his “Red Dawn costar Lea Thompson described him as a gentleman.
It's with great sadness that I mourn the passing of my friend Powers Boothe. A dear friend, great actor, devoted father & husband.
— Beau Bridges (@MrBeauBridges) May 14, 2017
I loved acting with you #powersboothe you were a gentlemen and a great actor #rip #RedDawn #Wolverines pic.twitter.com/h2LFCzTDq2
— Lea Thompson (@LeaKThompson) May 15, 2017
Meanwhile, his co-star from “Deadwood”, Garret Dillahunt, wrote on Facebook that Boothe was a strong antagonist actor and a passionate baseball fanatic.
His penchant for acting in Western roles grew out of his early life in a western Texas cotton farm. Boothe was known for being the first in his family to attend college, where he discovered his love for acting on stage. His home state honored him with an induction to the Texas Film Hall of Fame back in 2009.
