The most popular articles on this website are about famous people that live in Montana, or at least lived in Montana at one time.
Below are three more, one that was born here and two that came along later. All are actors, and all have a long history with the state. Enjoy!
Below are three more, one that was born here and two that came along later. All are actors, and all have a long history with the state. Enjoy!
Kiefer Sutherland
Kiefer Sutherland supposedly has a home or some property around Whitefish. Now, I’ve heard his name mentioned quite a bit when it comes to celebrities in Montana, but I haven’t heard any specifics really. Let’s dig into it.
Kiefer Sutherland was born in London on December 21, 1966, and has the amazingly long name Kiefer William Frederick Dempsey George Rufus Sutherland.
At what age he was able to say that mouthful isn’t known, but his parents did up and move the family to California around 1970, although they later divorced in 1975. Kiefer moved up to Toronto with his mom – both parents are native Canadians – and began moving the process of schooling, or more aptly, moving (at least 8 schools in as many years).
Kiefer Sutherland was born in London on December 21, 1966, and has the amazingly long name Kiefer William Frederick Dempsey George Rufus Sutherland.
At what age he was able to say that mouthful isn’t known, but his parents did up and move the family to California around 1970, although they later divorced in 1975. Kiefer moved up to Toronto with his mom – both parents are native Canadians – and began moving the process of schooling, or more aptly, moving (at least 8 schools in as many years).
Somewhere along the way he decided to be an actor like his father, Donald Sutherland, and headed back to California sometime in the early ‘80s, and was even a roommate with Robert Downey, Jr. for three years during those down and out days.
Kiefer sutherland as child, c 1970
Perhaps taking pity on his son, Donald Sutherland got Kiefer his first film role, in 1983’s Max Dugan Returns. The Bay Boy cam in 1984 and then it was two years of nothing.
The big break came in 1986 when Rob Reiner cast Kiefer in Stand By Me, the film based of the short story “The Body” by Stephen King. Since then Kiefer Sutherland has been in at least 70 films and a hit TV show or two.
So what about Kiefer Sutherland and Montana? He first got interested in the state around the time The Cowboy Way came out in 1994 and that led to his interest in rodeo. It took a few years – he got serious about learning roping in 1998 – and then came in first place in the United States Team Roping Championships in Phoenix, actually, and got dang close to first at Albuquerque.
I want to point out that there are some discrepancies here, for those hard-core types. See, People magazine reported Kiefer saying he went to the championships in 1994 and 1996…but other accounts say around 1998. I’ll let you worry about it, unless someone adds something in the comments.
Kiefer likes to say that he spent most of the time shoveling manure, but roping partner John English said “Kiefer was accepted very quickly by the other cowboys.”
The big break came in 1986 when Rob Reiner cast Kiefer in Stand By Me, the film based of the short story “The Body” by Stephen King. Since then Kiefer Sutherland has been in at least 70 films and a hit TV show or two.
So what about Kiefer Sutherland and Montana? He first got interested in the state around the time The Cowboy Way came out in 1994 and that led to his interest in rodeo. It took a few years – he got serious about learning roping in 1998 – and then came in first place in the United States Team Roping Championships in Phoenix, actually, and got dang close to first at Albuquerque.
I want to point out that there are some discrepancies here, for those hard-core types. See, People magazine reported Kiefer saying he went to the championships in 1994 and 1996…but other accounts say around 1998. I’ll let you worry about it, unless someone adds something in the comments.
Kiefer likes to say that he spent most of the time shoveling manure, but roping partner John English said “Kiefer was accepted very quickly by the other cowboys.”
Stillwater River
It’s hard to tell for certain, but it seems he bought his Montana ranch shortly after that. We do know that the production company he has is called Still Water Films, named after a river that runs through his property. According to Biography.com, Kiefer started the production company in 1986…although for the life of me I don’t know how someone that just got their break in Hollywood could afford a Montana ranch with a river running through it. Daddy maybe?
Now, Montana’s Stillwater River is a 70-mile long tributary of the Yellowstone River located near Billings, or about 400 miles and six hours away from Whitefish, where Kiefer Sutherland presumably has his ranch, at least what I’ve heard from Montana locals. So you can take that for what you will. After all, the state has two river with that name.
Kiefer Sutherland can be a bit of a drinker as well, and that’s gotten him into some trouble, including in Montana. Perhaps it was a bar in Whitefish, maybe somewhere further off, but Sutherland told Men’s Journal in 2003 that he got a “good licking” in Montana. “I still have part of a beer bottle stuck in my elbow,” he told the reporter while chalking up his pool cue during the interview. If it was in Montana, I don’t doubt he’s good friends now with whoever put it there.
I’ve always been a bigger fan of Donald Sutherland, Kiefer’s father, myself. His roles in Klute, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978, and what I consider to be his turn toward villainy, 1995’s Outbreak. But I know a lot of you like Kiefer, so I hope this short bio did you proud.
Now, Montana’s Stillwater River is a 70-mile long tributary of the Yellowstone River located near Billings, or about 400 miles and six hours away from Whitefish, where Kiefer Sutherland presumably has his ranch, at least what I’ve heard from Montana locals. So you can take that for what you will. After all, the state has two river with that name.
Kiefer Sutherland can be a bit of a drinker as well, and that’s gotten him into some trouble, including in Montana. Perhaps it was a bar in Whitefish, maybe somewhere further off, but Sutherland told Men’s Journal in 2003 that he got a “good licking” in Montana. “I still have part of a beer bottle stuck in my elbow,” he told the reporter while chalking up his pool cue during the interview. If it was in Montana, I don’t doubt he’s good friends now with whoever put it there.
I’ve always been a bigger fan of Donald Sutherland, Kiefer’s father, myself. His roles in Klute, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978, and what I consider to be his turn toward villainy, 1995’s Outbreak. But I know a lot of you like Kiefer, so I hope this short bio did you proud.
Christopher Lloyd
Christopher Lloyd in high school, c 1955
One famous celebrity from the 80s that just about everyone seems to know about is Christopher Lloyd. Yep, we’re talking about Dr. Emmett Brown, Fester Adams, and of course the Reverend Jim ‘Iggy’ Ignatowski, dating from 1970s’ Taxi.
Christopher Allen Lloyd was born in Stamford, Connecticut, on October 22, 1938, and his family is actually descended from passengers of the Mayflower.
Christopher Allen Lloyd was born in Stamford, Connecticut, on October 22, 1938, and his family is actually descended from passengers of the Mayflower.
Lloyd in One Flew Over
Movies came in 1975, and the first film he was in won Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. He took to TV from 1978 to 1982 and won two Emmy awards for Taxi.
Sci-fi became his call to fame beginning with 1985’s Back to the Future and 1986’s Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, but then toward the late-80s comedy was center stage again, with 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit and 1991’s The Addams Family.
And then that was it – Christopher Lloyd pretty much vanished off the map…or did he? In regard to films, Lloyd has made one a year, at least, since those movies we all know him for from the 80s. In regard to the map, we know that he came up to Montana…at some point.
Sci-fi became his call to fame beginning with 1985’s Back to the Future and 1986’s Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, but then toward the late-80s comedy was center stage again, with 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit and 1991’s The Addams Family.
And then that was it – Christopher Lloyd pretty much vanished off the map…or did he? In regard to films, Lloyd has made one a year, at least, since those movies we all know him for from the 80s. In regard to the map, we know that he came up to Montana…at some point.
In 2008 the Tea Fire that raged through Santa Barbara and Montecito in California destroyed Lloyd’s $11 million home, as well as 200 others. It was then that he bought his home in Montana…right? I’m not so sure about that.
According to the New York Times archives, Chrisopher Lloyd was already living in Montana in 1990, because they mention him flying to New York from Montana for the interview. An article in 2010, however, says that he recently moved away from Montana. Could this have something to do with Lloyd’s marriages?
Christopher Lloyd has been married four times. The first one lasted from 1959 to 1971; the second was 1974 to 1987; the third was around 1987 to 1991; and the fourth was 1992 to 2005. Lloyd originally bought that $11 million California home in 2007…so maybe that sale really drained him or possibly one of those divorces, and he had to sell that Montana home around one of those marriages.
I’m just speculating here, for with many Montana celebrities, you’ll find conflicting dates and just weird timelines on when they live and don’t live, or own or don’t own property in Montana.
Many reports have Christopher Lloyd living in the Bitterroot Valley or around Darby. The Darby one seems like a pretty sure bet because someone commented on my earlier Famous Celebrities article and said Lloyd was at a water rights hearing. Anyone that owns a lot of land in rural areas in Montana knows that issue comes up quite a bit.
Another account has him at the Missoula airport, having a “passionate welcome” with whoever arrived to meet him. The person left a comment on my site saying:
According to the New York Times archives, Chrisopher Lloyd was already living in Montana in 1990, because they mention him flying to New York from Montana for the interview. An article in 2010, however, says that he recently moved away from Montana. Could this have something to do with Lloyd’s marriages?
Christopher Lloyd has been married four times. The first one lasted from 1959 to 1971; the second was 1974 to 1987; the third was around 1987 to 1991; and the fourth was 1992 to 2005. Lloyd originally bought that $11 million California home in 2007…so maybe that sale really drained him or possibly one of those divorces, and he had to sell that Montana home around one of those marriages.
I’m just speculating here, for with many Montana celebrities, you’ll find conflicting dates and just weird timelines on when they live and don’t live, or own or don’t own property in Montana.
Many reports have Christopher Lloyd living in the Bitterroot Valley or around Darby. The Darby one seems like a pretty sure bet because someone commented on my earlier Famous Celebrities article and said Lloyd was at a water rights hearing. Anyone that owns a lot of land in rural areas in Montana knows that issue comes up quite a bit.
Another account has him at the Missoula airport, having a “passionate welcome” with whoever arrived to meet him. The person left a comment on my site saying:
There was one little girl about 10 who very politely kind of waited off to one side and when the welcome was officially cooler, approached CL and asked him for his autograph. He was so lovely, kind, and sweet. It made me proud he chose to live in Montana, for whatever part of his life.
Patrick Duffy
He played “Goat” in the that last TV movie, and that’s probably why he jumped at the chance to appear in the infamous ‘shower scene’ during the 1985-86 season finale of Dallas, in which it was revealed his character actually hadn’t been killed and been dead and buried for the past year…it’d all been a dream!
What wasn’t a dream was the death of his parents later that year, in December 1986, or more rightly, their murder. It happened in the Boulder bar they’d owned for 34 years, two dumb teenagers just passing through to Helena and looking for an easy place to rob. Duffy flew up in a private plane provided by the Dallas production company. It’d be the last time he set foot in the town.
Duffy headed back to Dallas, where the entire 9th season was effectively declared null and void and the series started afresh, with Duffy at the helm until it went off the air in 1991, although he did return for the short-lived remake on TNT that went from 2012-14. Other than that, he lives happily and practices his Nichiren Buddhist faith.
What wasn’t a dream was the death of his parents later that year, in December 1986, or more rightly, their murder. It happened in the Boulder bar they’d owned for 34 years, two dumb teenagers just passing through to Helena and looking for an easy place to rob. Duffy flew up in a private plane provided by the Dallas production company. It’d be the last time he set foot in the town.
Duffy headed back to Dallas, where the entire 9th season was effectively declared null and void and the series started afresh, with Duffy at the helm until it went off the air in 1991, although he did return for the short-lived remake on TNT that went from 2012-14. Other than that, he lives happily and practices his Nichiren Buddhist faith.
Patrick Duffy with Parents in Montana, c 1970s
Anyone that watched CBS in the 80s remembers Dallas, the Texas prime time soap opera that aired from 1972 to 1981.
Patrick Duffy was a big part of that show, playing Bobby Ewing. Long before that, however, he was born in Townsend, Montana, on St. Patrick’s Day, 1949, something that must have been a hoot to his parents.
See, Patrick Duffy's parents owned the Owl Bar in Boulder for some time. He came back to Boulder for a short time between the end of filming The Man from Atlantis and the start of filming of Dallas, so the late-70s.
Duffy’s career really took off with Dallas, at least until the 1984-85 season finale, in which his character was killed. That meant Duffy was finished with the show, and he did some TV movies, such as From Here to Maternity and Alice in Wonderland.
Of course the official version is that Duffy left Dallas of his own accord, hoping to find better opportunities, that career-take-off that so many TV stars think will come, but so often never does. Dallas had terrible ratings during the 9th season that Duffy was away, so the show did what any self-respecting soap opera would, it brought him back.
Patrick Duffy was a big part of that show, playing Bobby Ewing. Long before that, however, he was born in Townsend, Montana, on St. Patrick’s Day, 1949, something that must have been a hoot to his parents.
See, Patrick Duffy's parents owned the Owl Bar in Boulder for some time. He came back to Boulder for a short time between the end of filming The Man from Atlantis and the start of filming of Dallas, so the late-70s.
Duffy’s career really took off with Dallas, at least until the 1984-85 season finale, in which his character was killed. That meant Duffy was finished with the show, and he did some TV movies, such as From Here to Maternity and Alice in Wonderland.
Of course the official version is that Duffy left Dallas of his own accord, hoping to find better opportunities, that career-take-off that so many TV stars think will come, but so often never does. Dallas had terrible ratings during the 9th season that Duffy was away, so the show did what any self-respecting soap opera would, it brought him back.
