Good Times actor Buddy Duress dies aged 38

Good Times actor Buddy Duress dies aged 38

Buddy Duress has died aged 38.

The actor – who was known for his roles in the likes of ‘Heaven Knows What’ and ‘Good Times’ – passed away in November 2023 of a “cardiac arrest from a drug cocktail”.

His brother Christopher Stathis has confirmed the tragic news to People magazine.

Duress’ first acting role came in Benny and Josh Safdie’s 2014 film ‘Heaven Known What’, having met Josh the previous year after being released from New York City’s Rikers Island prison after serving time on drug charges.

He had gone on the run rather than attending a drug in-patient programme, and met Josh through a mutual friend before landing the role.

After the movie was finished, he was caught by police and taken back to Rikers Island.

He previously told SSense: “You know, I still look back at it. If I had went to that programme, I wouldn’t have been in Heaven Knows What, and I probably wouldn’t be an actor right now. That’s the honest truth. I wouldn’t.”

After he was released from prison, the Safdie brothers asked him to write a journal about his time behind bars, and they adapted his stories into ‘Good Times’, in which he starred with Robert Pattinson.

He continued to appear in more films – including ‘The Mountain’ and ‘The Great Darkened Days’ – before being arrested in 2019 on charges of grand larceny in the third degree, and he would

return to Rikers Prison.

In the same year, while Cameron Van Hoy’s film ‘Flinch’ – he was arrested for threatening to burn down his mother Jo-Anne’s home.

He was bailed out by his mother and Van Hoy, but not long after he was arrested and taken back to Rivers on charges of menacing and criminal posession of brass knuckles and a controlled substance.

Van Hoy admitted he was “heartbroken” to hear of Duress’ death.

He told People: “Buddy was pure electricity on screen. Working with him was one of the great adventures of my life.

“He was a kind person who loved making films. Despite any troubles he was going through in life he somehow managed to put them aside when it came time to work.

“We grew quite close after the production of our film Flinch. I’m heartbroken that his life came to an end as it did.”

He is set to appear in upcoming feature film ‘Mass State Lottery’, which will be released later in 2024.

The movie’s director Jay Karales hailed him as a “once in a lifetime charismatic actor and a genuinely humble man”.

He added to the outlet: “What happened is a tragic and frustrating loss of visceral talent. He lived like a cowboy and carrying the weight of that kind of life informed his skills and performances in a way that made him irreplaceable as an actor.

“He has unfortunately become the John Cazale of our generation.”