Dean Stockwell of ‘Quantum Leap,’ ‘Blue Velvet’ dies at 85

NEW YORK (AP) — Dean Stockwell, a top Hollywood child actor who gained new success in middle age, garnering an Oscar nomination for “Married to the Mob” and Emmy nominations for “Quantum Leap,” has died. He was 85. Family spokesman Jay Schwartz says Stockwell died of natural causes at home Sunday.

The dark-haired Stockwell was a Hollywood veteran by the time he reached his teens. In his 20s, he starred on Broadway as a young thrill killer in the play “Compulsion" and in prestigious films such as “Sons and Lovers.”

While his career had some lean times, he reached his full stride in the 1980s, including in David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet,” in which he lip-synched Roy Orbison in a nightmarish party scene.