Before WHITE LOTUS, Jon Gries was choked by Bruce Dern as a child in WILL PENNY & was Uncle Rico

Jon Gries is the only actor to appear in each season of WHITE LOTUS. He’s been an unforgettable character actor for decades. Remember him in NAPOLEON DYNAMITE as Uncle Rico? He was a regular on LOST, MARTIN, THE PRETENDER, DREAM CORP LLC and the TAKEN franchise. Jon made his film debut in the classic western WILL PENNY (1967) as a child actor under the name Jon Francis. The film was written and directed by his father, Tom Gries and starred Hollywood legends, Charlton Heston, Ben Johnson and Bruce Dern.
WILL PENNY was Academy Award winner Charlton Heston's favorite movie. Chuck had the title role as "Will Penny" in the 1967 western which was written and directed by Tom Gries ("Breakheart Pass," "100 Rifles," "Helter Skelter"). Of all the movies he made, WILL PENNY is Heston's favorite and also became the first film for young Jon Gries. Jon shares a memorable tale of, at the age of 9, getting cast as one of the leads in the film and then quit, walking off the set in the middle of a scene and of being “choaked out” by actor Bruce Dern, sending young Jon to the hospital. Jon has special memories of working with actress Joan Hackett and being taught and mentored by his father.

Now a successful character actor with multiple seasons of the hit series WHITE LOTUS added to his resume, Jon joined Rob Word for a conversation about his early career at the Autry Museum Sept 18, 2018 at a special gathering of child actors for episodes of A WORD ON WESTERNS.

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