Samuel French, an actor who has appeared in Killers of the Flower Moon and Fear the Walking Dead, has died. He was 45.
According to French’s friend and collaborator Paul Sinacore, who directed his final performance in the upcoming film Towpath, confirmed to Deadline that the actor died on Friday, May 9
Sinacore remembered French as a “dear friend and an incredible actor,” praising his performance as Detective Bernard Crooke in Towpath, which also stars Eric Roberts and is now in post-production.
“Together, we were on an extraordinary journey, giving everything we had to realize a shared creative vision,” said Sinacore in a statement. “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. He was one of a kind, and he will remain in our hearts forever. My heart goes out to his family, and especially to his daughter—he loved her deeply and spoke of her often with pride and tenderness.”
Born Jan. 26, 1980 in Waco, Texas, French made his onscreen debut as Gavin McDonough in the History Channel limited series Texas Rising (2015), which also stars Bill Paxton, Kris Kristofferson, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Chad Michael Murray, Crispin Glover, Ray Liotta, Brendan Fraser and more.
After playing Ben in a 2020 episode of AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead, French shared the screen with Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-nominated historical epic Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), playing Agent CJ Robinson.
French is survived by his daughter Madison and her mother Melinda Acosta, as well as French’s parents Thomas and Evelyn and his brothers Andy and Danny.
