Celebrity Biographies
Art LaFleur
He may have limited himself to very short roles, but he amassed an extensive filmography, and is remembered for his appearances in “Field of Dreams” and “The Mentalist.” Art LaFleur passed away in North Hollywood, California at the age of 78 on November 17, 2021, after a ten-year battle with Parkinson’s. “Art was bigger than life to him and it meant the world to us,” said Shelley M. Friedman, his widow.
Born in Gary (Indiana), on September 9, 1943, Art LaFleur stood out as a soccer player during his student days at Indiana University. He worked for a long time in sales as well as in the restaurant business before deciding, at the age of 31, in 1975, to move from Chicago to Los Angeles to pursue a career in film. He planned to practice as a screenwriter, but his friend, actor Jonathan Banks , convinced him to pursue acting instead.
He debuted with a minor role in The Rescue from Gilligan’s Island , a telefilm that continued the plot of one of the most popular television series in the United States. From that moment, Art LaFleur lavished himself on the small screen, in titles such as Lou Grant , and began to appear in feature films, with titles such as War Games , Very Hot City , Cobra, the strong arm of the law , or The terror has no form .
He stood out as the baseball player Chick Gandill, in Field of Dreams , and as a detective in the series The Mentalist .
Married to the aforementioned Friedman, production coordinator, in 1981, the couple had no children. In 2017, Art LaFleur retired, at the first symptoms of the disease.