John Dunsworth Dies: The ‘Trailer Park Boys’ Actor Was 71

John Dunsworth, who is known for his role of Jim Lahey on the hit Canadian cult mockumentary series Trailer Park Boys died today at the age of 71. His daughter and actress on the series, Sarah took to Twitter to announce the news.

“With heavy and broken hearts the family of John F. Dunsworth would like to let people know that our amazing husband, father and grandfather John Dunsworth has passed away,” she wrote. “John left this world peacefully after a short and unexpected illness.”

The official Trailer Park Boys honored the actor on Twitter saying, “We’re in shock and heartbroken by the sudden loss of our dear friend John Dunsworth. We respect the family’s wishes for privacy at this time.”

A native of Nova Scotia, Canada, Dunsworth participated in his local acting community and then signed on to Trailer Park Boys in 2001. The series followed the misadventures of a group of trailer park residents in the fictitious Sunnyvale Trailer Park in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Dunsworth played the park supervisor Jim Lahey, who was, more often than not, drunk while trying to stop the scheming of trailer park residents Ricky, Julian, and Bubbles.

The show ran for seven seasons in Canada and was revived by Netflix. Dunsworth also starred in the Trailer Park movies and one-offs including The Trailer Park Boys Christmas Special, Trailer Park Boys: Countdown to Liquor Day,
and, of course, Trailer Park Boys: The Movie. Season 12 of the series is set to premiere in the upcoming year.

In 1988, Dunsworth starred in a video documentary short entitled, John Dunsworth: The Candidate which follows an underdog provincial candidate for the New Democratic Party, as he travels around Nova Scotia trying to win support for his campaign. His candidacy in this election was real but he left the political game to focus on his acting career. Dunsworth also appeared in the 2002 movie Virginia’s Run alongside Gabriel Byrne and Joanne Whalley as well a the Syfy series Haven, an adaption of the Stephen King novel The Colorado Kid.

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