Arnold Richardson (1914-2010) Cast of a lifetime as the elderly Norman Maclean in "A River Runs Through It"

"He talked about Montana, how important it was to him, and fishing," he said. "He kind of lit up. … You could definitely see the youth and vitality come out when he was speaking."

Arnold Richardson was not the best-known Montanan to appear in a Hollywood movie, but his solitary bit part – as the elderly Norman Maclean in "A River Runs Through It" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105265/ – remains one of the most iconic cinematic images of the state, partly responsible, for better or worse, for the explosion in the popularity of fly fishing in the 1990s.

For Richardson, who retired to Townsend and died Dec. 6 at 96, the response to a casting call in a Livingston newspaper led to an enjoyable brush with fame and a well-paying job one autumn. It was also a fitting highlight in a lifetime of love for Montana’s fish and streams and wild places.

"He could spend literally days on a river," his stepson, Norman Spencer, said by telephone from his home in Florida. "The whole concept was almost transcendent. … It’s almost like he was transformed when he got on a river."

By SANJAY TALWANI Independent Record

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