SAMCRO has lost another one of their own.
Actor William Lucking, who played biker Piney Winston—Opie's dad and a member of the First 9—on the series Sons of Anarchy, has died. He was 80 years old.
His rep confirmed to E! News that the actor passed away at his home in Las Vegas on Oct. 18 and shared an obituary. The actor's longtime friend and fellow actor Stephen Macht posted a similar one on Facebook on Nov. 2.
"Although William often played tough guys, in his actual life he was an elegant man with a brilliant intellect who loved to argue about politics and current affairs, discuss philosophy and physics, and assert fine-pointed opinions about art and poetry," read the message. "He was a giant of a man with the soul of a poet, one who 'contained…a tension of sorts within his being…like a boulder teetering on a hill…or a balloon expanding towards its extreme,' as one friend put it.'"
William, a native of Michigan, began his onscreen acting career in the late '60s. In addition to starring on the first four seasons of FX's Sons of Anarchy between 2008 and 2011, he appeared on TV shows such as Ironside, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, M*A*S*H, Days of our Lives, The A-Team, The X-Files and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and most recently on Switched at Birth and Murder in the First. He also starred in movies such as Erin Brockovich and Red Dragon.
"William is survived by his wife of 25 years, Sigrid Insull Lucking, a former costume designer, with whom he shared many fine adventures," the obituary continued. "He is also survived by his two daughters, Marjet Lucking and Juliana Ryan, along with Juliana's husband and two daughters, Quinlan and Lilian. William's sister, Ellen Founier, also lives in Las Vegas. William's much loved first wife, Mimi, was the mother of his children and she died of cancer in 1996. The family requests you toast his memory and celebrate his legacy."
Other Sons of Anarchy alumni who have passed away in recent years include Alan O'Neill (Hugh), Johnny Lewis, (Half Sack), Paul John Vasquez (Angel Ganz) and Dimitri Diatchenko (Head Russian), who died in 2020.