While he leaves his imprint on the formative years of television, he also had a varied and decade-spanning film career. Notably, he appeared alongside Clint Eastwood in the actor-filmmaker’s 1973 Western “High Plains Drifter,” where Ging played Morgan Allen, who had a great last line when memorably told an outlaw looking to gain entry to a safe, “I wouldn’t give you the combination to the gates of hell.”

Ging was reportedly born to a farming family in Oklahoma, and spent four years of his early days in the US Marine Corps. After receiving an honorable discharge, Ging had a college football career at the University of Oklahoma, where he scored five touchdowns and participated in the 1954 Orange Bowl. He also briefly played for a Canadian football team, the Edmonton Eskimos.

The actor’s wife, Apache, confirmed Ging’s passing to The Hollywood Reporter. The pair met in 1973 while he was filming the children’s classic “Where the Red Fern Grows” in their home state of Oklahoma. They married in 1978. According to THR, Ging is survived by his children, Adam, Casey, Erin, Charlie, and Anna, as well as several grandchildren and great grandchildren.