Robert Downey Sr., father of Robert Downey Jr. dies

The father of “Iron Man” actor Robert Downey Jr. has died.

Robert Downey Sr. was 85.

News of the filmmaker’s death was first reported by the New York Daily News with his wife, Rosemary Rogers, telling the publication that her husband passed in his sleep at his home in New York City.

His death was confirmed by Downey Jr. on social media.

RIP Bob D. Sr. 1936-2021…Last night, dad passed peacefully in his sleep after years of enduring the ravages of...
Posted by Robert Downey Jr on Wednesday, July 7, 2021

Downey Sr. had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

In addition to being behind the camera for many films, he also appeared in front of the camera in films such as “Boogie Nights,” “Magnolia” and “To Live And Die in L.A.”

Before becoming a filmmaker, Downey Sr. was a minor-league baseball player, served in the army and was a boxer, according to his IMDB biography.

Downey Jr. lived with his father for three years, when the actor’s parents divorced when he was 13, according to Biography.

Downey Sr. was said to have introduced his son to drugs when the “Iron Man” star was a teenager.

In an article with People magazine from 1996, Downey Jr. said, “there was always a lot of pot and coke around,” adding that the father and son had an emotional bond at the time. “When my dad and I would do drugs together, it was like him trying to express his love for me in the only way he knew how.” The article was printed after Downey Jr. had repeatedly been arrested for drug use.

Downey Jr. first shared his and his father’s history of drug use in the book “The New Breed” published in 1988, The Washington Post reported.

Downey Jr.’s son Indio Downey was also arrested for drug use in 2014.

“Unfortunately there’s a genetic component to addiction and Indio has likely inherited it,” Downey Jr. said at the time, according to The Washington Post.

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