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Sherwood Cryer | Owner of iconic club, 83

Sherwood Cryer, 83, the former owner of a Pasadena, Texas, bar and nightclub made famous by the 1980 film Urban Cowboy , has died.

Sherwood Cryer, 83, the former owner of a Pasadena, Texas, bar and nightclub made famous by the 1980 film

Urban Cowboy

, has died.

KTRK-TV in Houston cited associates of Mr. Cryer as saying he died Thursday of natural causes.

Mr. Cryer co-owned Gilley's, a quintessential Texas honky-tonk in the industrial Houston suburb that was popularized in the John Travolta and Debra Winger movie.

The club, with its trademark mechanical bull, opened in the 1970s and was named after Mr. Cryer's business partner, country singer Mickey Gilley. The club closed after the two broke up their partnership, and arson later destroyed the huge structure in 1989. - AP