Actor Cliff Robertson,’Uncle Ben’ in ‘Spiderman,’ Dies at 88

The actor who played Peter Parker’s ill-fated Uncle Ben in the Spiderman films with Tobey Maguire has died of natural causes, his secretary of 53 years has confirmed.

Cliff Robertson’s career did not start with the Spiderman franchise- the actor had several decades in the spotlight in a variety of roles. However, after seeing a resurgence in his profile following the success of Spiderman, Spiderman 2 and Spiderman 3- all three of which Robertson appeared in despite his character’s death in the first- Robertson commented on his website:

“Since Spider-Man 1 and 2, I seem to have a whole new generation of fans. That in itself is a fine residual.”

But indeed, Spiderman was a footnote to a long and esteemed career. The actor won an Academy Award for Best Actor in 1968 for the film adaptation of Flpwers for Algernon, titled Charly. Before that, he was hand-selected to play then-President John F. Kennedy, Jr. by the man himself in the film PT 109. The film was the first to dramatize a sitting president.

Robertson starred in some 60 movies over the course of his lengthy time in Hollywood, including My Six Loves, Sunday in New York, The Best Man, The Devil’s Brigade, Three Days of the Condor, Obsession and Star 80. Notably, he was blacklisted in the industry in 1977 after inadvertently sparking off a scandal by exposing check fraud by a studio head, before returning to film in 1983 with Brainstorm.

Also a pilot, Robertson was flying a small plane over New York City the morning of the September 11th attacks. He died on Long Island, one day after his 88th birthday.