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James Van Der Beek, actor, heartthrob and the kind of Texas transplant we like, died Wednesday at the age of 48 after a lengthy battle with colorectal cancer.
To those who grew up during the rise of network teen dramas, Van Der Beek was inseparable from the role of Dawson Leery on Dawson’s Creek. It was a seminal piece of media that inspired many imitators and parodies, but the actor’s wholesome, optimistic portrayal added depth to the character, even when the show stretched the limits of believability.
Van Der Beek strayed from his boy-next-door legacy as Jonathan Moxon, a North Texas high school quarterback in the sports comedy Varsity Blues. The film was uniquely focused on the pressures that teenagers in athletics face in the Lone Star State. It was an unabashed love letter to the uplifting role that high school football has in small towns, and filming in North Dallas boosted the film’s credibility. Van Der Beek brought something special to his performance, setting him apart from the sports heroes of the past. The actor captured the authenticity of a headstrong Southerner with big dreams, a persona most Texans knew growing up. Even if Varsity Blues utilized a standard sports film structure, Van Der Beek’s performance didn’t feel like a cliche.
Talking Like a Texan
Varsity Blues was still a ‘90s teen film and included the era’s customary level of goof and raunch. The heightened performances, especially Van Der Beek’s, elevated it to cult status. In his two most well-known performances, equally ridiculed for their melodrama, Van Der Beek’s charm transformed the pieces into work worth celebration and iconification. More than plot, Varsity Blues is known for Van Der Beek’s grim attempt at a thick Southern drawl. A heartfelt monologue became a catchphrase for movie fans because of Van Der Beek’s distinctive emphasis choices.
Van Der Beek was certainly the first to poke fun at his own legacy and lack of skill in dialects, and memorably portrayed a fictionalized version of himself shortly thereafter in Kevin Smith’s Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Nonetheless, it’s hard not to see Varsity Blues as the start of the same movement that spawned distinctly Texas sports media like Glory Road, The Rookie and even Friday Night Lights.
The comedic twang didn’t ruin his appetite for Texas, and the actor improved his accent with more Western works. Two years after Varsity Blues, Van Der Beek starred alongside Ashton Kutcher in the revisionist western Texas Rangers. In 2020, he appeared in the satirical black-horror-comedy Bad Hair, directed by fellow Texan Justin Simien. While unique in tone, these three films reflected a Texan style of anti-authoritarianism that Van Der Beek came to embody.
In 2020, the man whose picture once hung in every teenage girl’s bedroom moved to Austin. Though diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2023, the actor kept his diagnosis private until 2024, when he began fundraising to afford cancer treatment therapy and to raise money for other families facing high medical fees associated with cancer treatment. In addition to selling signed jerseys, the Varsity Blues cast hosted a screening of the film at the House of Blues Dallas. Extended treatment depleted the family’s funds, and a GoFundMe started by his wife has already raised $350,000 to assist his six children.
