'Fast Eddie' Dies

By Stephen M. Silverman

09/25/1997 at 12:00 AM EDT

Pool player "Fast Eddie" Parker, 69, who reputedly inspired the 1961 movie "The Hustler" (in which his character, called "Fast Eddie" Felson was played by Paul Newman, who reprised the role for the 1986 "The Color of Money"), died on Friday of a heart attack while appearing at a billiards tournament in southern Texas, his wife Peg told Reuters. "He had been having no health problems at all, and he was having a ball down there," she said. Parker had been known as "Fast Eddie" since High school.