Woody Harrelson's Father Dies While in Prison

Woody Harrelson's father, convicted murderer Charles Harrelson, died of a heart attack Wednesday at the "Supermax" federal prison in Florence, Colorado.

He was 69.

Harrelson always believed his father was innocent of charges that he killed U.S. District Judge John H. Wood in Texas in 1979. Woody was only seven years old when his father was sent away.

Charles Harrelson was a rumored professional gambler and hired hitman. After being sent to prison in Atlanta he tried to escape and was then transferred to Colorado. He was currently serving two life sentences after being prosecuted four times in three murders. He also claimed to have been involved with the Kennedy assassination.

"Woody had kind of a rough-hewn image," Michael Musto, gossip columnist for the Village Voice, told ABC News. "There was something very trailer-park about him and his appeal, so his father didn't destroy his career."

"I'm not saying my father is a saint, but I think he's innocent of that, yeah," Woody Harrelson once told ABC's Barbara Walters.

Source: ABCNews
Photo Credit: AP

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