Quentin Tarantino Eulogizes the Late Rick Dalton in a Recent Episode of His Podcast
Just a few days ago, director Quentin Tarantino announced the passing of his fictional Hollywood actor character Rick Dalton, who was played by Leonardo DiCaprio in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. This is a character he loved so much that he wrote a book about him and created an entire filmography for. The announcement of his passing read:
“We are saddened by the news of the passing of actor Rick Dalton, best known for his roles in the hit TV series ‘Bounty Law’ and ‘The Fireman’ trilogy.” The tweet also offered additional information about the history of Dalton, stating that “Rick passed away peacefully in his home in Hawaii and is survived by his wife Francesca. RIP Rick Dalton 1933-2023.”
Tarantino also promised to talk about the fictional character’s career this week in his podcast, The Video Archives, co-hosted by the director and his Pulp Fiction co-writer Roger Avary. He made good on that promise, and in the episode, Avary’s daughter Gala, a producer of the podcast read:
“On May 19, 2023, actor Rick Dalton passed away peacefully in his home in Honolulu, Hawaii,” said Gala. “He is survived by his wife, Francesca. Dalton was beloved by fans of ‘Bounty Law,’ where he played bounty hunter Jake Cahill for five seasons, and also for his iconic role as Eddie Karpinski, the flamethrower-wielding vigilante in ‘The Fireman,’ ‘The Fireman Part 2,’ and ‘The Fireman 3: CIA Crackdown.’ But he was so much more than that, with a career that spanned over 20 years. On this episode of the Video Archives podcast, we invite you to remember Rick Dalton.”
Tarantino continued on to reference a conflict that Dalton was engaged in, as portrayed in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
“He also had a thing that happened with him in the late ’60s where three hippies were bursting into his house, and they were tripping, and they had a gun with them, and his stunt double basically beat the brains in of two of them, and Rick set the other one on fire with the flamethrower from ‘The 14 Fists of McCluskey.'”
He went on:
“So he got invited to, like, the Republican Convention, alright, because it became this thing for, like, Nixon’s Silent Majority. And he’s a lifelong Democrat but he went and they fucking dug him. Rick was very happy being dug,” said Tarantino. “But they put him on Johnny Carson after that, and he was a big hit on ‘The Johnny Carson Show,’ and then all of a sudden, because of the notoriety, he started doing better TV shows. He went from, like, doing ‘Land of the Giants’ and ‘Green Hornet’ to doing ‘Mission: Impossible.'”
It’s a pretty fun little world Tarantino created around Rick Dalton. I have a sweet spot for the character because Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is my favorite Tarantino movie. It hit me right in the feels when I watched it, and I cried my eyes out discovered the sweet ending was as it should have been. I like to live in the reality that Tarantino gave us in that film, so hearing about Rick Dalton’s life makes me smile.
