Actor Gazzara dead at 81

Actor Ben Gazzara has died at the age of 81

The star of the Broadway version of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and TV drama Run for Your Life died on Friday in New York.

He had been suffering from cancer.

Gazzara made his name in the 1959 courtoom drama Anatomy of Murder.

He played a US Army officer on trial for murdering a man accused of raping his wife.

After Run for Your Life ended in 1968, Gazzara rarely enjoyed the critical acclaim of his early career.

He appeared in the 1976 gangster movie The Killing of a Chinese Bookie and had minor roles in The Big Lebowski and the Thomas Crown Affair.

Gazzara is survived by his third wife, Elke, and his daughter Elizabeth.

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