R.I.P. Tom Bower: ‘The Waltons’ And ‘Die Hard 2’ Actor Dead At 86

Actor Tom Bower died last Thursday (May 30), per The Hollywood Reporter. He was 86.

Mary Miller, the late actor’s sister-in-law, informed the outlet that he had passed away in his sleep at his home in Los Angeles. Marsha McManus, Bower’s manager, also confirmed the news of his passing to People, noting that he “was extraordinary in every way.”

Born Ralph Thomas Bower on Jan. 3, 1938 in Denver, he moved to New York in 1956 to enroll at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, per THR. According to the outlet, he studied at the John Cassavetes Shadows Workshop, and found work on the director’s film Shadows, which premiered in 1959.

Following the film, he worked as a private investigator for a period of time, per THR.

One of Bower’s eventual and most notable TV credits was the 70s drama series The Waltons, where he appeared in over 25 episodes. Two of his co-stars from The Waltons, Eric Scott (who played Ben Walton) and Mary McDonough (who played Erin Walton), mourned Bower’s passing on Facebook on Thursday (June 6), with the former praising Bower as “such a nice guy and a great actor.”

Bower also accumulated a multitude of other TV cameos over the course of his career, including The Rockford Files, Murder, She Wrote, Miami Vice, The X-Files, Law & Order, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The Office, Grey’s Anatomy and Ray Donovan.

His most recent TV credit listed on IMDb was earned in three episodes of Lucky Hank as Henry Devereaux Sr.

In film, Bower is known for his role in Die Hard 2 as Marvin, a janitor at Washington Dulles International Airport. His other film credits include Beverly Hills Cop II, Nixon, Far From Home: The Adventures of Yellow Dog, I Melt With You, Crazy Heart, El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, and Raymond and Ray.

While his wife Ursula passed last year, Bower is survived by his two children, Viveca and Rob, as well as his brother Bobby and his sister Shirley, per THR.