Samuel French, Actor in Major 2023 Movie, Dead at 45

Samuel French, who starred alongside Robert De Niro as an undercover FBI agent in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, has died after a battle with cancer.

French died at a hospital in Waco, Texas on Friday at the age of 45, film producer Paul Sinacore shared on Instagram. Sinacore added to The Hollywood Reporter that French “battled a cancer that spread through his body over the past couple of years” and passed away before the release of their upcoming film Towpath, which is set in 1964 during the civil rights movement.

“Samuel was a dear friend and an incredible actor,” Sinacore said. “Towpath wouldn’t exist without him, and the incredible intensity he brought to the role of Det. Bernard Crooke set the tone for the entire film. Together we were on an extraordinary journey, giving everything we had to realize a shared creative vision.”

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He continued, “Samuel carried a fire for acting that burned in every frame — unfiltered, fearless, and alive. He gave himself completely to the work, and it showed. I am deeply saddened by his loss and only wish he could have seen the final cut.”

Born in Waco on Jan. 26, 1980, moved to Clifton with his family when he was 3 and later graduated from high school in his hometown before moving to Austin and eventually Dallas. He starred in a handful of films and movies – History’s Texas Rising, Oxygen’s The Mark of a Killer, and AMC’s Fear The Walking Dead – before he appeared in the role of CJ Robinson, an undercover agent involved in investigating the Osage murders in the 1920s, in 2023’s Killers of the Flower Moon, where he shared the screen with De Niro.

“He was my very first director on my goal sheet to work with in my career, and I was able to do that with Killers of the Flower Moon,” French later said of working with De Niro during a November 2023 appearance on Good Morning Texas. “So a whole lot of surreal moments. I mean, my first day on set was my scene with Robert De Niro, who is also an idol of mine. So to arguably work with one of the greatest actors in the world and be directed by the greatest director in the world, Martin Scorsese… So many goals off of my career sheet.”

After Killers of the Flower Moon, French went on to star as the titular private eye in Joe Haladin: The Case of the Missing Sister in 2023 and as Joel Sharp in 2024’s Blood Dried Hands, per his IMDb profile. He is set to make posthumous appearances in four upcoming projects – The Ladybug Files, Towpath, Adventures in Zeroworld: Shadow of Doom, and Monsters Within, his role as Cyrus in the latter earning him a win for best supporting actor at the 2025 Cowpokes International Film Festival just two weeks before his death.

“This is my third win for the best supporting role. Cyrus in our feature @monsterswithinmovie @cowpokesff last night,” he celebrated the win in what would be his final Instagram post. “Huge thank you to our director/writer @devinmontgomeryy for creating an amazing character that i could sink my teeth into, and congratulations to the rest of our amazing cast.”

French is survived by his daughter Madison; his girlfriend, Melinda, the mother of their daughter; his brothers Andy and Danny; and his parents, Thomas and Evelyn French.