Fred Ward, a character actor and producer who starred in "The Right Stuff," "Tremors" and "Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins," has died at 79. Publicist Ron Hofmann confirmed to USA TODAY that Ward died Sunday. Ward had a steady presence on screen since the late 1970s, garnering his first major role alongside Clint Eastwood in 1979's "Escape from Alcatraz." Ward memorably played Mercury 7 astronaut Virgil “Gus” Grissom in 1983's space epic "The Right Stuff" but also tackled giant monster worms side by side with Kevin Bacon in the 1990 cult horror comedy "Tremors." Ward also played a number of dads, in comedies like 2000's "Road Trip," 2001's "Summer Catch" and 2011's "30 Minutes of Less" as well as the 2002 revenge thriller "Enough" where he was Jennifer Lopez's on-screen father. Click on the link in our bio to learn more about the life and career of Fred Ward. 📸: @apnews file photo by @cpizzello; @usatodaylife graphic