‘Spider-Man’ and ‘Office Space’ Actor Jack Betts Has Died

The entertainment world is mourning Jack Betts.

The legendary actor, known for roles in Spider-Man and Office Space, died in his sleep on Thursday at his Los Osos, California home, his nephew, Dean Sullivan, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Betts, who also starred in several old Django movies and had a one-off appearance on Friends, was 96. He was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, on April 11, 1929, and moved to Miami with his family when he was 10 years old. After seeing Laurence Olivier in 1939’s Wuthering Heights, he was inspired to become an actor. Betts studied theater at the University of Miami and acted in the Moss Hart play Light Up the Sky in Cuba. He later moved to New York, where he appeared in Richard III in 1953 on Broadway.

While working at a lamp factory, a friend asked Betts to do a scene with her for her audition for The Actors Studio. From there, Lee Strasberg gave him a three-year scholarship to study there, where he was cast in a production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Betts made his big-screen debut in the 1959 film The Bloody Brood and joined CBS’ Checkmate in 1961 as Chris Devlin for the second and last season.

Beginning in 1961, Betts appeared on CBS’ Perry Mason for four episodes through 1966. In 1967 and the early 1970s, he starred in numerous Django films as the titular character including 1970’s One Damned Day at Dawn… Django Meets Sartana! and 1971’s Down with Your Hands… You Scum! Other notable credits include Dr. Ivan Kipling on One Life to Live from 1979 to 1985, Henry Balkan in 2002’s Spider-Man, Frank in Falling Down, and Judge on Office Space.

Jack Betts’ final on-screen role was in the Season 2 premiere of Freeform drama Good Trouble in 2019. Additional credits include About Last Night, Monk, Zoey 101, Cold Case, The Commission, The Young and the Restless, Friends, Running Mates, The Next Best Thing, Power Rangers Lost Galaxy, Southern Man, Gods and Monsters, Batman & Robin, Frasier, Just My Imagination, and Another World, among many others.

Aside from his on-screen credits, Betts appeared in a 1959-60 production of Sweet Bird of Youth and as Dr. Seward in the 1977-80 revival of Dracula on Broadway. For Dracula, he also served as Raul Julia’s standby and was able to play the count once. After meeting Doris Roberts at The Actors Studio in 1954, he moved into her Hollywood Hills home in 1988, and she later directed a play he wrote, Screen Test: Take One.

Jack Betts is survived by his nephew, his nieces Lynne and Gail, and his sister Joan.