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Actor David Huddleston, who starred in such well-known films as 鈥淏lazing Saddles鈥� and 鈥淭he Big Lebowski,鈥� has died.

Mr. Huddleston also appeared in movies including 鈥淔ools鈥� Parade鈥� and 鈥淩io Lobo鈥� and guest-starred on TV shows such as 鈥淭he Wonder Years鈥� and 鈥淭he West Wing.鈥�

He had experience onstage as well, with his Broadway career including starring roles in a 1997 Broadway production of 鈥�1776鈥� and a 1984 version of the play 鈥淒eath of a Salesman.鈥澛�

鈥淏lazing Saddles鈥� director Mel Brooks spoke about Huddleston, who portrayed the mayor of the town depicted in the film, in .

"It was a great privilege to work with David Huddleston on 'Blazing Saddles,'" Mr. Brooks said. "His performance was sublime. He helped make all those Johnsons of Rock Ridge immortal. He was one of a kind and will be greatly missed."聽

鈥淪addles,鈥� which was released in 1974 and stars Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Madeline Kahn, and Harvey Korman, is often called one of the best film comedies of all time. The American Film Institute placed it at number six on their , while the Writers Guild of America named it the eighth-funniest screenplay ever written.

What鈥檚 the secret to the movie鈥檚 success? (, "It may be my favorite movie.") writes that the movie鈥檚 treatment of racism and other issues is still impressive today. 鈥淔our decades on, it remains as biting a satire as ever,鈥� Ms. Faulx writes.聽

"On a very simple, pure and basic level, 'Blazing Saddles' is simply hilariously funny聽鈥� for all 95 minutes, from the opening moments through to the brilliant, transcendent ending,"聽 wrote in a review of the film.

"One underlying brilliance here," Mr. Neufeld wrote, "was to take old comedic conventions, add some new, anti-establishment, anti-convention comedy conventions 鈥� and basically just use everything, whether it appeared to work,聽stick, taste good or stick to the wall. However, in the end, it all did indeed work, stick, taste good and stick to the brain."