R.I.P. Cliff Robertson

Academy Award winner Cliff Robertson – last seen as Uncle Ben Parker in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy – died Saturday of natural causes in Stony Brook University Medical Center on Long Island. He had celebrated his 88th birthday one day earlier.

Robertson’s career enjoyed some peculiar highs and lows. In 1963, he was hand-picked to play Lt. John F. Kennedy by the future President JFK himself, in the World War II movie PT 109. Five years later, he would win the Best Actor Oscar for playing the title character in Charly, an adaptation of the novel Flowers for Algernon.

The following decade, he discovered and reported forged a check in his name for $10,000, which was later linked to Columbia Pictures mogul David Begelman. For his troubles, he was blacklisted in Hollywood, and would struggle to score acting gigs until the 1980s.

In 2002, Robertson co-wrote and starred in the low budget horror flick 13th Child. His final film appearance was in 2007’s Spider-Man 3, in which he briefly reprised his role as Uncle Ben.

He is survived by his daughter, Stephanie Saunders.

R.I.P.