Dion Anderson, Actor Who Popped up in ‘Gilmore Girls’ and Many Other Shows, Dead at 87

A TV and film actor with an on-screen career than spanned from the early ’80s to the early 2000s has died.

Dion Anderson, who appeared in Gilmore Girls and The Shawshank Redemption, has died at age 87.

No cause of death was disclosed in his obituary, only that he “peacefully passed” on April 26.

In the iconic Shawshank Redemption, Anderson played one of the prison guards, Head Bull Haig. In Gilmore Girls, he appeared in a couple episodes as Burt, one of the lesser-seen Stars Hollow community members.

Anderson’s resume also includes many other small or one-off roles in a wide variety of TV programs and movies. On the side, he appeared in The X-Files, Home Improvement, Columbo, Reba, Will & Grace, Matlock, Golden Girls, Murphy Brown, Cold Case, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, L.A. Law and Murder, She Wrote. His most high-profile movie, outside of Shawshank, was the Adam Sandler flick Mr. Deeds.

A funeral was held for Anderson in Santa Paula, California, on May 11. He is survived by his wife Lucinda, two children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.