Few Westerns are more deserving of the “classic” moniker than 1969’s “True Grit,” one of John Wayne’s best films and a model for the genre that continues to be influential today. That’s in part because the film was thrown back into the public consciousness in 2010 when Joel and Ethan Coen remade “True Grit” with Jeff Bridges, Hailee Steinfeld, Josh Brolin, and Matt Damon. However, the original still stands on its own and remains notable for giving Wayne his only Oscar win.
Both the original and the 2010 film are adaptations of a 1968 novel by Charles Portis, but given how old the 1969 version is, you might not be surprised to hear that most of its stars have passed away in the decades since. Wayne died in 1979, and Glen Campbell passed away in 2017. Dennis Hopper and Jeremy Slate, who play two of the main villains in the film, have also passed away.
Today, there are only two actors still alive from the main cast of the original “True Grit.” Here’s what they’re up to today.
Kim Darby (Mattie Ross)
It shouldn’t be too shocking to learn that Kim Darby, who plays lead protagonist Mattie Ross in “True Grit,” is thankfully still with us. After all, Darby was still quite young when she was cast in the film — the youngest of the core cast. Today, Darby is 77 years old and has over 80 acting credits to her name, though she hasn’t been quite as active over the last couple of decades.
Following “True Grit,” Darby co-starred in films like “The Strawberry Statement,” “Norwood,” and “The Grissom Gang,” though she was frequently typecast in supporting roles as love interests or women in need of rescue. That said, she did receive a Primetime Emmy nomination for her role in the 1976 miniseries “Rich Man, Poor Man.” Darby had a few notable theatrical roles as late as the ’80s, playing Jenny Meyer in the 1985 John Cusack comedy “Better Off Dead” and Professor Brooks in “Teen Wolf Too.” However, by the 1990s, most of her screen credits were coming in the form of one-off TV show appearances or nontheatrical films.
In a 2014 interview with Hidden Films, Darby discussed how much professional pressure and media scrutiny she was under in the early ’70s following “True Grit,” detailing her struggles with “uppers and downers” as she was pushed to constantly lose weight for roles. Darby hasn’t had a new screen credit since 2017’s “The Evil Within,” which was shot many years before it was actually released.
Robert Duvall (Lucky Ned Pepper)
Robert Duvall will turn 94 years old in January 2025, and throughout his long life, he’s constructed an impressive acting resume. In “True Grit,” he plays the villainous Ned Pepper, and the decade after the Western premiered launched Duvall to Hollywood stardom. Subsequent roles in “M*A*S*H,” George Lucas’ “THX 1138,” and most famously, “The Godfather,” playing Corleone’s adopted son and legal counsel Tom Hagen.
Duvall earned a best supporting actor nod at the Oscars for his performance as Tom — his first of seven Academy Award nominations that include “Apocalypse Now,” “The Great Santini,” and 2015’s “The Judge.” He took home his only Oscar win in 1984 for “Tender Mercies.” Duvall’s other accolades include a 1980 BAFTA win for “Apocalypse Now,” two Critics Choice Awards nominations, and five Primetime Emmy nominations, including a nod for the beloved Western miniseries “Lonesome Dove” and two wins in 2007 for another Western miniseries, “Broken Trail.”
Duvall’s last credit as of this writing was for a supporting role in the Christian Bale thriller “The Pale Blue Eye,” but just because we haven’t seen the veteran actor in anything in two years doesn’t mean he’s done. “There’s a few more left,” he told WBUR in 2021, “maybe.”
