Jack Betts dead: Spider-Man actor and Hollywood veteran dies aged 96 as fans share heartbreaking tributes to ‘legend’
Veteran Hollywood actor Jack Betts has died at the age of 96, his nephew Dean Sullivan has announced.
The actor passed away in his sleep on Thursday at his home in Los Osos, California.
Betts was perhaps best known to modern audiences for his role as businessman Henry Balkan in Sam Raimi’s 2002 Spider-Man film.
In the superhero blockbuster, his character memorably told Willem Dafoe’s Norman Osborn, “You’re out, Norman,” before meeting his demise at the hands of the Green Goblin during an attack on Times Square.
The debonair character actor enjoyed a career spanning seven decades, from Broadway to Hollywood, leaving behind an impressive body of work that included films, television series, and stage productions.
Born in Miami in 1929, Betts studied theatre at the University of Miami before making his Broadway debut in a 1953 production of Richard III starring José Ferrer.
He later became a member of The Actors Studio, where Lee Strasberg awarded him a three-year scholarship.
Betts found unexpected success in Italian cinema, starring in approximately 15 spaghetti Westerns between 1966 and 1973 under the stage name Hunt Powers.
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He bluffed his way into the lead role in Franco Giraldi’s Sugar Colt, despite having never ridden a horse or handled a gun.
His extensive television career included a prominent role as Dr Ivan Kipling on ABC’s One Life to Live from 1979 to 1985.
He also appeared in numerous other soap operas including General Hospital, All My Children and Guiding Light.
Betts shared a particularly close bond with Everybody Loves Raymond actress Doris Roberts, with whom he lived from 1988 until her death in April 2016.
Roberts had invited him to move from New York into a downstairs apartment in her Hollywood Hills home.
“We were best friends to the very end, we had wonderful times together,” Betts previously said of their relationship. He regularly escorted Roberts to events throughout Hollywood during their decades-long friendship.
An Everybody Loves Raymond fan account clarified misconceptions about their relationship, posting on Instagram: “He was not Doris Roberts husband as has been reported elsewhere.
“He was a longtime friend of Doris’ and we did see him with Doris at dinners and always enjoyed his company!”
Tributes have poured in following the announcement of Betts’ death. One fan remembered his soap opera work, writing: “Jack Betts from One Life to Live who played Dr. Ivan Kipling has passed away at the age of 96. He will always be remembered for the storyline he had with Judith Light who played Karen Wolek.”
Another commented: “RIP to a legend. Jack Betts brought so much to the screen — from gritty westerns to comic book charm.”
Betts appeared in the Friends episode “The One with Joey’s New Brain” as Tom, and had memorable roles in Batman Forever and Batman & Robin.
Reflecting on his spaghetti Western era, Betts recalled in a 2021 interview: “In the hotel next to mine was Clint Eastwood. He’d go up to his mountain and do his Western and I’d go up to my mountain and do my Western.”