Gregg Palmer was an actor best known for his role as the villain in John Wayne’s 1971 western Big Jake. Palmer appeared in a total of six films alongside Wayne, including The Comancheros, The Undefeated, Rio Lobo, Chisum and The Shootist. In Big Jake Palmer played John Goodfellow, an outlaw who kills the dog of Wayne’s character and kidnaps his grandson.

At 6-foot-4 and 300 pounds, Palmer (nicknamed “Grizzly” by Wayne) appeared in a substantial amount of both film and television westerns, including 21 episodes of the CBS series Gunsmoke. Believed to be the second most of any guest star, he appeared sporadically as different characters on the series from 1958 to ’75.

He also appeared on the shows The Lone Ranger, Public Defender, Blondie, The Texan, starring Rory Calhoun, Make Room for Daddy, The Millionaire, The Deputy, with Henry Fonda, The Untouchables, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, Wagon Train, Bronco, Cheyenne, Have Gun – Will Travel, Laramie, 77 Sunset Strip, Rawhide, with Clint Eastwood, The Big Valley, Get Smart, Run for Your Life, Gomer Pyle: USMC, The High Chaparral, with Leif Erickson, Mission: Impossible, The Wild Wild West, Star Trek, Bonanza, Death Valley Days, The Virginian, Quincy M.E. and CHiPs. He also appeared in the TV movie True Grit and the miniseries How the West Was Won and The Blue and the Gray.

Palmer earned his first credit in the 1950 film My Friend Irma Goes West, starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. He signed a contract at Universal and went on to appear in the films That’s My Boy (another Martin-Lewis comedy); Meet Danny Wilson, with Frank Sinatra; Son of Ali Baba, The All American and 40 Pounds of Trouble, with Tony Curtis; The Redhead from Wyoming, starring Maureen O’Hara; Abbott and Costello Go to Mars; Magnificent Obsession, with Rock Hudson; The Prize, starring Paul Newman; Shenandoah, with James Stewart and The Rare Breed, with both Stewart and O’Hara.

Palmer died October 31, 2015, in Encino, California. He was 88.