Samuel French, a Texas actor on the rise who portrayed the undercover FBI agent Cj Robinson in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, has died. He was 45.

French died Friday in a hospital in his birthplace of Waco, Texas, writer-director Paul Sinacore told The Hollywood Reporter. He had battled a cancer that spread through his body over the past couple of years.

French will be seen alongside Eric Roberts in his final film, playing a detective in Sinacore’s upcoming historical drama Towpath, set in 1964 during the civil rights movement. Watch the trailer here.

“Samuel was a dear friend and an incredible actor,” Sinacore said. “Towpath wouldn’t exist without him, and the incredible intensity he brought to the role of Det. Bernard Crooke set the tone for the entire film. Together we were on an extraordinary journey, giving everything we had to realize a shared creative vision.