James Richard Gammon (April 20, 1940 – July 16, 2010) was an American actor, known for playing grizzled "good ol' boy" types in numerous films and television series.

While performing there, a representative from The Public Theater saw him and had him cast as Weston in Sam Shepard's Curse of the Starving Class in 1978.

He appeared on stage in Sam Shepard's San Francisco debut of The Late Henry Moss along with Nick Nolte, Sean Penn, Cheech Marin (both from Nash Bridges) and Woody Harrelson in 2000.

He appeared in the films Cool Hand Luke (1967), Macon County Line (1974), Urban Cowboy (1980), Any Which Way You Can (1980), Silverado (1985), Noon Wine (1985), The Milagro Beanfield War (1988), Major League (1989), Revenge (1990), The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993), Major League II (1994), Wyatt Earp (1994), Wild Bill (1995), Truman (1995), The Hi-Lo Country (1998), Cold Mountain (2003), and more recently Appaloosa (2008).

Gammon provided the voices of the animated characters Marv Loach and Floyd Turbeaux in the 1999 Warner Bros. feature film The Iron Giant.

[3] His friend Sam Shepard paid tribute to Gammon, saying: "You're probably aware of the notorious father figures in my plays, alcoholic Midwesterners who leave their families and get lost in the Southwestern desert.