Jack Betts dead: Friends and Spider-Man actor dies at home in his sleep, family announce

Hollywood star Jack Betts has died at the age of 96 at home in his sleep, his nephew has announced. The star was best known for big roles such as in Spiderman and Batman – he also had a role in hit comedy Friends.

It has been reported that he died in his sleep at his house in Los Osos, California, on Thursday. The actor shared a home with his Everybody Loves Raymond co-star Doris Roberts before her death in 2016.

Jack was "best friends" with Doris and an Everybody Loves Raymond fan account paid tribute to the actor and confirmed that the pair were not married.

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Posting on Instagram, they said: "Doris Roberts was close friends with Jack Betts, who you will remember from the Cruising With Marie episode. He played Walter on the ship and was a big champion of Marie.

"He passed yesterday at the age of 96. He has a very long list of credits. He was not Doris Roberts husband as has been reported elsewhere. He was a longtime friend of Doris' and we did see him with Doris at dinners and always enjoyed his company! This is a photo I took of Jack and Doris when he was visiting the set for the final episode."

His death was announced to the Hollywood Reporter, as his nephew, Dean Sullivan, told the publication he had died in his sleep at home.

Jack has some big credits to his name through his career like in Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond and My Name is Earl. Jack played Tom in an episode of Friends titled The One With Joey's New Brain. Meanwhile, he also played businessman Henry Balkan in the 2002 hit movie, Spider-Man but his lengthy list of acting credits spans further than movies and television as he also played Dracula in Broadway during his incredibly successful acting career.

Friends and fans of the star have rushed to pay tribute after hearing the news. One person said: "Years ago Jack played an evil character on One Live to Live!!! I loved him and was excited to see him on Cruising With Marie…"

As another commented: "RIP to a legend. Jack Betts brought so much to the screen — from gritty westerns to comic book charm."

A third added: "Jack Betts from One Life to Live who played Dr. Ivan Kipling has passed away at the age of 96. He will always be remembered for the storyline he had with Judith Light who played Karen Wolek."

Jack was born in Miami in 1929 and went on to study theatre and appeared in a Broadway adaptation of William Shakespeare's Richard III. Despite becoming a star over the years for his TV appearances and films, Jack's films at that time did not air in the US or Canada which meant he found finding fame more difficult in those countries.

Landing a string of Westerns at the time, Jack said Clint Eastwood was even his neighbour at one point. He told The Dev Show in 2021: "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."

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