Ernie Lively, the actor who appeared in beloved movies “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” and “Turner & Hooch,” has died. He was 74.
A representative for Lively confirmed his death to Variety.
In the two “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” movies, which came out in 2005 and 2008, Lively portrayed the father of Bridget, played by his real-life daughter, Blake Lively. The “Gossip Girl” star wasn’t the only one to be inspired by her father’s career. His other children — Jason, Eric, Robyn and Lori — built careers in film in television as well. Mentorship was a big part of Lively’s life. From the late ’80s through most of the ’90s, he coached Hollywood’s young working actors, such as Brittany Murphy, Casper Van Dien and Jason Priestley.
The Maryland native was born in Baltimore in January 1947 and earned his first acting credit at age 28 with an appearance on “The Waltons.” Four years later, he would score a role on “The Dukes of Hazzard” and later appeared in a string of episodes as Longstreet B. Davenport. He was also on popular series like “Fame,” “Hill Street Blues,” “Baywatch,” “The X-Files,” “Murder She Wrote,” “Seinfeld,” “That ’70s Show” and “The West Wing.”
Lively’s other film credits include “Shocker” (1989), “Air America” (1990), “Showdown in Little Tokyo” (1991), “Passenger 57” (1992), “The Beverly Hillbillies” (1993), “Mulholland Falls” (1996), “American Pie 2” (2001) and “The Perfect Game” (2009). His last credit was in the 2020 horror film “Phobic” as Jack Sanders.
Lively is survived by his wife Elaine and their children, as well as his sister Judith and nine grandchildren.
A version of this story first appeared on Variety.com.