Friends and Spider-Man star dies in his sleep aged 96 after 60-year Hollywood career

Headshot of a smiling man wearing glasses.

LEGENDARY actor Jack Betts, known for his roles in Friends and Spider-Man, has died aged 96.

The Hollywood star died in his sleep at his home in Los Osos, California, on Thursday.

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Jack Betts has died
Jack Betts and Willem Dafoe in Spiderman (2002).

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Jack Betts with Willem Defoe in Spiderman 2002Credit: Columbia TriStar
Doris Roberts and Jack Betts at the Everybody Loves Raymond 200th episode party.

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Actress Doris Roberts and Jack Betts arrive at the party celebrating the 200th Episode of “Everybody Loves Raymond”Credit: Getty

Betts befriended Everybody Loves Raymond star Doris Roberts and shared a home with her.

Born in Miami, Florida, in 1929, the legend first began his career on Broadway, in an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Richard III.

He then went on to an incredibly successful career, playing various characters across TV shows and movies.

Betts had a cameo in the Batman Forever movie in 1995 and Batman & Robin two years later.

But after appearing as Hunt Powers across the Italian Spaghetti Western films, his career rocketed.

The legend had bluffed his way into the 1966 Franco Giraldi’s Sugar Coat starring role and he held it for 12 consecutive films – ending in 1972.

Speaking to the Dev Show in 2021, he said: “In the hotel next to mine was Clint Eastwood.

“He’d go up to his mountain and do his Western and I’d go up to my mountain and do my Western.

“But while his films had distribution all over the world, my films were distributed [everywhere] except Canada and America.”

Betts then went back to Broadway and starred as Dracula between 1977 to 1980.

Several years later, Betts began to appear in TV shows like One Life to Live where he played the character Dr Ivan Kiping.

A few years after that, Betts accepted the invitation from Doris Roberts to move from New York into an apartment in her Hollywood Hills.

After Roberts tragically passed in 2016, Betts said they were “best friends to the very end” and had “wonderful times together”.

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