Ralph Bellamy, the versatile character actor with "a regal quality" who started acting as a teenage runaway and went on to play Franklin D. Roosevelt on stage, screen and television, died Friday at age 87.
Bellamy died at 2:18 a.m at St. John's Hospital and Health Center, said hospital spokeswoman Pat Kirk. He was hospitalized earlier this month with a longstanding lung illness, Kirk said.In a seven-decade career, Bellamy appeared as everything from leading man to villain in more than 100 movies, ranging from "His Girl Friday" with Cary Grant to "Trading Places" with Don Ameche and Eddie Murphy.
The actor also starred as FDR in the play "Sunrise at Campobello," for which he won a Tony in 1958; in the film version of the play; and in the television miniseries "The Winds of War."
"I think we lost another good one, as versatile an actor as he is," Bob Hope said from his Palm Springs home. "He is a fine actor and it's a personal loss.
"He was a hell of a man with a great sense of humor," said Hope, who worked with Bellamy on "a lot of projects" over the years, including several appearances on Hope's television shows.
"You never caught Ralph Bellamy acting," said producer A.C. Lyles, a longtime friend of Bellamy's. "He did it with such ease and with such a regal quality that he could do anything and everything."
But Bellamy's versatility stemmed from hard work behind the scenes, friends said.
He maintained a physical fitness regimen that included a half-hour of exercise at sunrise every morning, a routine that began when he prepared for the demanding role in "Sunrise at Campobello." The play illustrated the drama of Roosevelt's struggle with polio from 1921 through 1924.