Warning: SPOILERS for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Here's every Rick Dalton movie and TV show from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio, Dalton is one of the three main leads in Quentin Tarantino's film, along with his loyal best friend and stuntman Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) and actress Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie). DiCaprio's remarkable performance turned Dalton into a complex but endearing leading man the audience roots for despite his failings and vices.
Quentin Tarantino's loving ode to the film business circa 1969, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is primarily centered around Rick Dalton's uncertain acting career. Dalton was the star of a Western TV series on NBC called Bounty Law in the late 1950s/early 1960s, but his career fell on hard times when he left the show to become a movie star. However, his movie career didn't take off and, by February 1969, Dalton had been relegated to appearing in guest-starring roles as "the heavy" (or bad guy) in various television series. As his agent Martin Schwarz (Al Pacino) explained to Rick, his career trajectory now involved making the leads of other TV shows look good by getting the better of Bounty Law's Jake Cahill, which is how the audience was beginning to see Dalton.
As a result of feeling like "a has-been," the insecure Dalton developed severe anxiety and a serious alcohol problem. Meanwhile, Rick yearned to be cast in one of Roman Polanski's films; the Polish director of Rosemary's Baby and his wife Sharon Tate had just moved in next door to Dalton, and Rick felt that starring in a Polanski movie would be his ticket to the Hollywood A-List. Ultimately, the solution to Rick's career troubles was to go to Rome and star in Spaghetti Westerns; his successful stint in Italy gave Dalton's movie career an encouraging uptick, but when he returned to Los Angeles on August 1969, his future was still uncertain.
In typical Tarantino fashion, the director indulged his deep love of movies and TV shows, melding fact and fiction into Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Tarantino went the extra mile by concocting a detailed film history for Rick Dalton that believably integrated his fictional struggling movie star into the Hollywood of the era. Further, Dalton and Booth's steadfast friendship was modeled after Burt Reynolds and his longtime stuntman Hal Needham, and Dalton's career was inspired by Reynolds' at that time, along with actors Edd Byrnes, Ty Hardin, and William Shatner.
Here's Rick Dalton's filmography in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood:
- Operazione Dyn-O-Mite! (1970) - Jason
- Hell's Boats (1970) - Lt. Cmdr. Jeffords
- Red Blood, Red Skin (1970) - Romeo Douglas
- Nebraska Jim (1970) - Nebraska Jim
- Kill Me Quick, Ringo, Said The Gringo (1969) - Ringo
- Lancer (TV Series) (1969) - "Pilot" - Caleb DeCoteau
- F.B.I. (TV Series) (1969) - "All The Streets Are Silent" - Michael Murtaugh
- Land of the Giants (TV Series) (1968) - "Capture" - Dr. David Hellstrom
- Bingo Martin (TV Series) (1967) - "Heck to Pay" - Rocky Ryan
- The Green Hornet (TV Series) (1967) - "Hornet Hunter" - Thompson Shaw
- Tarzan (TV Series) (1967) - "Jewel of the Jungle" - Brick Bedford
- Salty, The Talking Sea Otter (1967) - Jed Martin
- The 14 Fists of McClusky (1966) - Sgt. Mike Lewis
- Tanner (TV Movie) (1965) - Joe Tanner
- Hullabaloo (TV Series) (1965) - Guest Star, Himself
- Hellfire, Texas (1964) - Major Travis Jackson
- Big Game (1963) - Randy Wilson
- Commanche Uprising (1961) - Lt. Warwick Winston
- Red Apple Cigarettes Commercial - Himself
- Bounty Law (TV Series) (1959-1963) - Jake Cahill
While Dalton was clearly a successful working actor, true movie stardom eluded him. The big role Rick failed to get that stings him the most is the lead in The Great Escape, which made Steve McQueen a star. But despite his anxieties and drinking problem, Dalton was indeed a talented actor; his guest-starring role in Lancer as Caleb DeCoteau was praised by its director, and his young co-star Trudi Fraser (Julia Butters) called it "the best acting I've ever seen in my whole life." Meanwhile, the flamethrower Dalton used in 14 Fists of McCluskey played a key role in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood's finale when his neighbor Sharon Tate is targeted for murder by the Charles Manson Family.
