Donald Yearnsley "Trey" Wilson III (January 21, 1948 – January 16, 1989) was an American

character actor A character actor is a supporting actor who plays unusual, interesting, or eccentric characters.28 April 2013, The New York Acting SchoolTen Best Character Actors of All Time Retrieved 7 August 2014, "..a breed of actor who has the ability to b ...

known for playing rural, authoritarian-type characters, most notably in comedies such as '' Raising Arizona'' and ''

Bull Durham ''Bull Durham'' is a 1988 American romantic comedy sports film. It is partly based upon the minor-league baseball experiences of writer/director Ron Shelton and depicts the players and fans of the Durham Bulls, a minor-league baseball team in ...

''.

Career

During his career, Wilson appeared in numerous stage productions and 30 films or television shows, including guest roles on '' Spenser: For Hire'' and '' The Equalizer''. On stage, he co-starred in the ragtime-era musical '' Tintypes'' on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

, appeared in '' The Front Page'' at

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 milli ...

and on

, and appeared with Sandy Duncan in ''

Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythi ...

''. He also appeared in

Pat Benatar Patricia Mae Giraldo ('' née'' Andrzejewski, formerly Benatar; born January 10, 1953), known professionally as Pat Benatar, is an American rock singer and songwriter. In the United States, she has had two multi-platinum albums, five platinum al ...

's music video "

Love Is a Battlefield "Love Is a Battlefield" is a song by American singer Pat Benatar, recorded and released on September 12, 1983, as a single from Benatar's live album '' Live from Earth'' (1983), though the song itself was a studio recording. It was written by H ...

", as the father who throws her out of the house. His most memorable roles on film were in ''Raising Arizona'', as unpainted furniture store owner Nathan Arizona, and ''Bull Durham'', as Joe Riggins, manager of the Durham Bulls minor league baseball team. The end credits of '' The Silence of the Lambs'' and ''

Miss Firecracker ''Miss Firecracker'' is a 1989 American comedy film directed by Thomas Schlamme. It stars Holly Hunter, Mary Steenburgen, Tim Robbins, Alfre Woodard, and Scott Glenn. The film, set in Yazoo City, Mississippi, was written by Pulitzer Prize-winnin ...

'' dedicate the films to him.

Personal life and death

Born in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...

, Texas, to Donald Yearnsley Wilson and Irene Louise Wilson, he attended Bellaire High School in Bellaire and then majored in English and theater at the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

. It was there that Wilson met Judy Blye, a well-known New York soap opera casting agent, and they were married on August 25, 1975. He was a

cousin Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, ...

of former Texas Republican

State Senator A state senator is a member of a state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. Description A state senator is a member of an upper house in the bicameral legislatures of ...

Kim Brimer Kenneth Kimberlin Brimer Jr., known as Kim Brimer (born 5 March 1945), is a Republican former member of the Texas State Senate from Fort Worth, Texas. He represented District 10. He was the only GOP member of the 31-member chamber to have been ...

. Wilson died at age forty from a

cerebral hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on January 16, 1989, and was buried at Forest Park Cemetery in Houston five days later, on what would have been his 41st birthday. Released after his death, Wilson's final film was '' Great Balls of Fire!'', the biopic of

Jerry Lee Lewis Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as " rock & roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis mad ...

, where he played American

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

Sam Phillips Samuel Cornelius Phillips (January 5, 1923 – July 30, 2003) was an American record producer. He was the founder of Sun Records and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he produced recordings by Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, ...

. He had been cast in the

Coen brothers Joel Daniel Coen (born November 29, 1954) and Ethan Jesse Coen (born September 21, 1957),State of Minnesota. ''Minnesota Birth Index, 1935–2002''. Minnesota Department of Health. collectively known as the Coen brothers (), are American film ...

' film '' Miller's Crossing'' at the time of his death, and was replaced by

Albert Finney Albert Finney (9 May 1936 – 7 February 2019) was an English actor. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and worked in the theatre before attaining prominence on screen in the early 1960s, debuting with '' The Entertainer'' (1960 ...

Filmography

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Trey 1948 births 1989 deaths American male film actors American male television actors American male musical theatre actors American male stage actors American male voice actors Bellaire High School (Bellaire, Texas) alumni University of Houston alumni Male actors from Houston 20th-century American male actors 20th-century American singers 20th-century American male singers