Robert Golden "R.G." Armstrong (born April 7, 1917) is an American actor and playwright. A Veteran character actor who appeared in dozens of Westerns over the course of his career, he may be best remembered for his work with director Sam Peckinpah.
Armstrong was born in Birmingham, Alabama. He came from a family of religious fundamentalists, and his mother wanted him to be a pastor. Armstrong, however, became interested in acting, and while attending the University of North Carolina, he began acting on stage with the Carolina Playmakers. Upon graduation he attended the Actor's Studio
Armstrong quickly launched a career on Broadway. He won considerable acclaim for his role in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Armstrong also began writing his own plays, which were performed off-Broadway.
Armstrong's first film appearance was in the 1954 movie Garden of Eden. It was television, however, where he first earned a name for himself. He guest starred in virtually every TV Western produced in the '50s and '60s, including: Have Gun - Will Travel, Californians, The Big Valley, The Rifleman, Zane Grey Theater, Wanted: Dead or Alive, The Westerner, Bonanza, Maverick, Gunsmoke, Rawhide and Wagon Train. He also appeared on The Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Andy Griffith Show, The Fugitive, Perry Mason, T.H.E. Cat, Hawaii Five-O, Starsky and Hutch, The Dukes of Hazzard, and Dynasty.
While working on The Westerner, Armstrong made the acquaintance of up-and-coming writer/director Sam Peckinpah. The two immediately struck up a friendship. Peckinpah recognized Armstrong's inner turmoil regarding the religious beliefs of his family, and utilized that to brilliant effect in his films. Armstrong would almost always play a slightly unhinged fundamentalist Christian in Peckinpah's films, usually wielding a Bible in one hand and a shotgun in the other. This character archetype appeared in Ride the High Country (1962), Major Dundee (1965), The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970), and, perhaps most memorably, in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973).
Even outside of Peckinpah's work, however, Armstrong became a tier-one character actor in his own right, appearing in dozens of films over his career, playing both villains and sympathetic characters. Some of his more memorable roles outside of Peckinpah's films include a sympathetic rancher in El Dorado (1967), Cap'n Dan in The Great White Hope (1970), outlaw Clell Miller in The Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid (1972), a bumbling outlaw in My Name is Nobody (1973), a major role in Race with the Devil (as the sheriff) (1975), as well as Children of the Corn (1984), and as the General in Predator (1987), as well as small parts in Warren Beatty's films Heaven Can Wait (1978) and Reds (1981), as well as a major role as the villain Pruneface in Dick Tracy (1990).
Despite being typecast as gruff and violent characters throughout his career, Armstrong is well-known for having a warm and affable personality offscreen. He has been married 3 times, his first wife was Ann Neale from which he has 4 children, then to Susan Guthrie until 1976 and remained married to his third wife, Mary Craven, until her recent passing in 2004.
Armstrong was semi-retired from films, continuing to be active in off-Broadway theater, until recently retiring because of blindness.
