Ned Beatty, the respected character actor of over 150 screen roles, has passed away at 83.

The Oscar-nominated Kentucky native died of natural causes at his home in Los Angeles, surrounded by friends and loved ones.

After starting his acting career in regional theatre, Beatty made his on-screen debut in the most difficult of ways as Bobby Trippe in the acclaimed thriller Deliverance (1972).

As the happy-go-lucky member of a male river-boating party terrorised by backwoods thugs, the character would find himself falling victim to a horrific sexual assault that produced the iconic film line “Squeal like a pig.”.

From then on, Beatty’s star began to soar in the 1970s as he appeared in films like The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972), The Last American Hero (1973), W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings (1975) and as hustler lawyer Delbert Reese in the Robert Altman-directed classic Nashville (1975).

1976 proved to be the high point of his career as he played slippery Miami lawyer Dardis in the political drama All the President’s Men and salesman Sweet in the comedy Silver Streak. However, the most successful role of that year came with his brief yet memorable appearance as ruthless corporate executive Arthur Jensen in the acclaimed media-based drama Network.

Despite only being on-screen for six minutes, Beatty received his sole Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor with his character’s chilling monologue about the “primal forces of nature” heralded as one of the greatest in film history.

After starring in Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), he then landed the part of Lex Luthor’s idiotic sidekick Otis in the hit comic-book blockbuster Superman (1978); a role he would later reprise (albeit briefly) in Superman II (1980).

During the 70s, Beatty also popped up in a variety of television programmes including The Waltons (1973), The Rockford Files (1974-76), M*A*S*H (1975), Hawaii Five-O (1976) and The Streets of San Francisco (1977).

After a leading role in the sitcom Szysnyk (1977-78), he received an Emmy nomination for playing a grieving father in the TV-based family drama Friendly Fire (1979). That was then followed by an appearance in the Steven Spielberg-directed war comedy 1941 (1979).

The 1980s proved a less successful one for Beatty though he did feature in a variety of films and series including Hopscotch (1980), The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1980), The Toy (1982), Stroker Ace (1983), Celebrity (1984), The Last Days of Pompeii (1984), Murder, She Wrote (1984), The Big Easy (1986), The Fourth Protocol (1987), After the Rain (1988), Last Train Home (1989), and as John Goodman’s father Ed in six episodes of the hit sitcom Roseanne (1989-93).

In 1991, he portrayed real-life Irish tenor Josef Locke in the music-based comedy Hear My Song which landed him a Best Supporting Actor nomination at the Golden Globes. That was followed by his wholesome performance as Sean Astin’s father Daniel Ruettinger in the sports drama Rudy (1993).

Another lucrative television role came as Stanley ‘The Big Man’ Bolander in the acclaimed crime series Homicide: Life on the Streets (1993-95).

Towards the end of his life, Beatty popped up in the likes of Life (1999), Thunderpants (2002), Shooter (2007), Charlie Wilson’s War (2007), Law & Order (2008), The Killer Inside Me (2010) and Rampart (2011).

He also made an impression on younger audiences with his vocal role as the deceivingly yet tragic cuddly toy Lotso in the hit Pixar sequel Toy Story 3 (2010).

That was followed by a similar character part as the Mayor in the Oscar-winning animation Rango (2011).

Beatty is survived by his fourth wife Sandra Johnson and eight children.