Buddy Duress, ‘Good Time’ actor, dead at 38

Actor Buddy Duress, who co-starred in the 2017 crime thriller “Good Time,” has died. He was 38.

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The actor’s brother, Christopher Stathis, told People on Tuesday that the Duress died in November 2023 of “cardiac arrest from a drug cocktail.”

Born in the New York City borough of Queens in 1985, Duress appeared in two independent movies by brothers Josh and Benny Safdie, Variety reported.

His film debut came in the brothers’ 2014 work, “Heaven Knows What,” according to the entertainment news website.

Duress also appeared in the films “Person to Person” (2017), “The Great Darkened Days” (2018), “Beware of Dog” (2020), “PVT Chat” (2020), “Flinch” (2021) and “Funny Pages” (2022), Variety reported.

The actor met Josh Safdie in 2013 after he was released from New York City’s Rikers Island prison after serving time for drug charges, People reported, citing a 2017 interview with SSense.

Duress was wanted by authorities for skipping a drug in-patient program and was returned to Rikers Island after filming for “Heaven Knows What” was completed, according to the magazine. He was still incarcerated when the film premiered at the New York Film Festival in 2014.

“You know, I still look back at it. If I had went to that program, I wouldn’t have been in ‘Heaven Knows What,’ and I probably wouldn’t be an actor right now,” Duress told SSense. “That’s the honest truth. I wouldn’t.”

According to the Los Angeles Times, Duress was encouraged by the brothers to write a journal while in prison, and they adapted his stories into the script for “Good Time.”

Duress would appear in the film three years later, People reported.

The actor has two more unreleased projects -- “Skull,” a short film; and “Mass State Lottery,” a feature expected to be released later this year, according to Variety.

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