I met Fred at a fraternity party—a big burly guy with a handsome face and a deep voice. Deep and dramatic—and I knew before he told me that he dreamed of being an actor.
On our first date we rode his motorcycle 20 miles from campus to an old cider mill. With a gallon of cider and a bag of greasy donuts, we tramped the fields while Fred stood on stumps and proclaimed lines from Shakespeare.
Then we headed to the football game where Fred stood up in the stands to proclaim more Shakespeare. “The play’s the thing!” he cried.
It was entertaining at first, but the end came when Fred recited his own poetry beneath my dormitory window.
Thirty years later, I was sitting in my living room watching a television miniseries of “Lonesome Dove” and heard that familiar voice. “Fred!” I exclaimed and sure enough, Fred was playing the role of a buffalo hunter named “Big Swey.”
When I looked him up on the Internet, I discovered that Frederick Coffin had played in over 80 films and countless television shows. I also learned that he had died in 2003 of lung cancer.
Fred was never a star but he was always an actor. That was his dream.