Woody Harrelson's father dies in prison

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actor Woody Harrelson's father, Charles Harrelson, has died in the federal Supermax prison in Colorado, where he was serving two life sentences for killing a U.S. judge in Texas, authorities said on Wednesday.

Harrelson, 68, was found dead in his cell on March 15 and is believed to have died of natural causes, U.S. Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Felicia Ponce said.

"He passed away on the morning of March 15. He was found unresponsive in his cell," Ponce said in a telephone interview from Washington.

She said an autopsy has been ordered.

Harrelson was convicted in 1979 for shooting U.S. District Judge John Wood in the parking lot outside his San Antonio, Texas, home.

Prosecutors said he was hired as a hitman by a drug dealer who did not want Wood, known for handing out long sentences, presiding at his trial.

Harrelson denied involvement in the killing.

He tried, but failed to escape from a federal prison in Atlanta on July 4, 1995. Ponce said he was transferred to the high-security Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, south of Denver, in October 2003.

Woody Harrelson has said he believed his father did not kill Wood and supported his unsuccessful attempts to get his conviction overturned.

The younger Harrelson is best known for his role as the bartender on the long-running NBC television comedy "Cheers" and his parts in films such as "Natural Born Killers" and "The People vs. Larry Flynt."

A spokeswoman for Harrelson was not immediately available for comment on his father's death.

Reuters/Nielsen