Yes, Wilford Brimley is still alive, and it was learned on Monday that he will be taking a break from hocking diabetes testing supplies and Quaker Oats to star in a made-for-television movie, “Sour Grapes of Wrath,” the story of race horse California Chrome and his sore loser owner Steve Coburn. Filming will begin later this month.
The mustachioed and cowboy hatted Coburn made waves on Saturday following Chrome’s fourth place finish in the Belmont Stakes, where the horse lost its bid for the Triple Crown to long-shot Tonalist, by bitching and moaning during the post-race interview on NBC and telling his wife to “shut up” on-air.
“Chrome would destroy Secretariat, and you can take that to the bank,” said Coburn later in the weekend, as he continued to flap his yapper for 48 straight hours. “He would have made glue out of Affirmed and Seattle Slew; they wouldn’t have stood a snowball’s chance in hell against my horse.”
Brimley, who will turn 80 later this year, was excited to find work again in the film industry.
“You never get old, you never die,” said Brimley, using his familiar quote from the movie Cocoon. “Anyone seen Hobbs? Roy Hobbs? Hobbs get in there.”
