Quentin Tarantino, a close friend of Rick Dalton’s, tells us that the 90-year-old Hollywood star died peacefully in his Hawaii home.
Tarantino broke the sad news on Friday to the film industry. He wrote in a post on social media: “We’re deeply saddened by news of Rick Dalton’s passing. Rick was best known for his roles as the star of hit TV shows Bounty Law, The Fireman Trilogy, and Bounty Law.”
“Rick died peacefully at his home in Hawaii, and is survived by Francesca,” wrote the acclaimed director from his Twitter account for his “Video Archives Podcast.” “RIP Rick Dalton, 1933-2023.”
Tarantino announced that, in light of the death of the star, his podcast would be delayed so that producers could present a tribute.
The episode of Rollerball was postponed due to his death. We will return on Tuesday with an episode created by Quentin, which features some of Rick’s best roles”, Tarantino wrote.
Dalton has appeared in many of Tarantino’s biggest hits, including Bounty Law, The Fourteen Fists of McCluskey and a decade of TV shows. Tarantino will chronicle all of this in his upcoming book “The Films of Rick Dalton.”
Dalton said that his biggest regret was not taking the role of Virgil Hilts, a WWII caper movie that was made famous when a motorcycling Steve McQueen played the part.
Many tributes were paid to the occasion:
You may ask, “Wait a moment,” “I can’t remember these popular movies… or Rick Dalton.”
Don’t worry about missing out on a major part of Hollywood’s history. Rick Dalton is a fictional character. He played the lead role in Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which starred Leonardo DiCaprio in the fictional but iconic Hollywood star role.
Tarantino told Deadline that he wrote the book The Films of Rick Dalton. It’s written like Rick Dalton is real. The book is written in the same way as The Films of Charles Bronson or The Films of Anthony Quinn. It includes a synopsis, some quotes, and then each of Rick’s films, up to his end of career, which was 1988.
Tarantino described The Fireman, a fictional film in which Dalton is rumored to have starred.
Tarantino stated that the lead character served in Vietnam and became a police officer. “And then, he sees this group of corrupt cops who are killing these guys. They end up killing Sam Jackson’s partner. Rick then targets the bad cops and dresses up as a fireman with his flamethrower, and burns them down.
DiCaprio starred as Rick Dalton in the 2019 film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Brad Pitt played his stuntman friend Cliff Booth and Margot Robbie was Dalton’s neighbour, actress Sharon Tate. The film was a success both critically and commercially, earning more than $370 million. It also received ten Academy Award nominations. Pitt was awarded Best Supporting Actor and DiCaprio for his portrayal as Booth.
