{"id":629673,"date":"2026-10-13T21:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T21:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/629673\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T21:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T21:04:10","slug":"bryan-cranston-in-deep-despair-at-rj-mittes-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/629673\/","title":{"rendered":"Bryan Cranston in ‘deep despair’ at RJ Mitte’s death"},"content":{"rendered":"

Actor and disability rights advocate RJ Mitte, who brought a lifetime of experience with cerebral palsy to fictional family struggles in an essential role on Breaking Bad, died yesterday<\/a> at age 34, authorities and his representatives said.<\/p>\n

Mitte played Walter White Jr., the son of Bryan Cranston’s chemistry teacher-turned-meth dealer Walter White on nearly every episode of the five seasons of the AMC show, which recently ranked as the best of the 21st century in a New York Times poll.<\/p>\n

Cranston said he is in \u201cdeep despair\u201d for the loss of his \u201csweet son”.<\/p>\n

\u201cI met him when he was only 14 years old when he was cast as Walter White Jr., a part he played with such joy and enthusiasm,\u201d Cranston said in a Facebook post.<\/p>\n

\u201cBorn with Cerebral Palsy, he never \u2014 ever \u2014 allowed that challenge to be an excuse for anything. He met the demanding shooting schedule head on with great determination.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitte told the AP in 2014 that his disability and the surrounding struggles with physical therapy, family problems and exorbitant medical bills \u2014 all key subjects on the show \u2014 made him better at his job.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou develop a different mentality and you develop a different look at how the world sees you and how you see the world,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re able to use that. And I think it\u2019s an asset instead of something that would hinder.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitte was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi.<\/p>\n

\"Breaking<\/p>\n

Breaking Bad cast members RJ Mitte, from left, Bryan Cranston, Anna Gunn and Aaron Paul (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n

He landed small guest roles on sitcoms after moving to Los Angeles to act in 2006 before landing the role on Breaking Bad in 2007. The show ran from 2008 to 2013.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat kid was pretty raw when we started shooting the pilot,\u201d Cranston said in his post, \u201cbut little by little we watched him grow into a really fine actor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cranston added, \u201cI loved him, and thoroughly enjoyed being with him throughout the years on the series, and after the spotlight on Breaking Bad dimmed.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement announcing his death, Mitte’s representatives said he \u201cbrought authenticity to the role and built a platform on disability awareness and inclusion.\u201d The statement said he used \u201chis platform to challenge stereotypes and promote greater representation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitte’s later credits included the ABC Family series Switched at Birth and the superhero satire series Guardians of Justice.<\/p>\n

He was also a producer of several independent films.<\/p>\n

As an advocate, he served as an ambassador for United Cerebral Palsy and Shriners Children’s. He was also president of his own Mitte Foundation supporting philanthropic and community initiatives around disabilities.<\/p>\n

Cameron County Justice of the Peace Cyndi Hinojosa was unable to provide a cause, but an autopsy will be performed.<\/p>\n

The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including why a summer of cyclones could be on the way, and 911 audio shows confusion in the wake of a botched execution. (Source: Breakfast)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Actor and disability rights advocate RJ Mitte, who brought a lifetime of experience with cerebral palsy to fictional…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":629674,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,1054,156,111,139,64,69,417],"class_list":["post-629673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-disability","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-north-america","tag-nz","tag-television"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=629673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}