They watched Chris Pratt in Guardians of the Galaxy or Jurassic World. Then they heard him get emotional in an interview about his dad. And something about that hit differently. Because Chris Pratt, the guy who plays quippy action heroes suddenly sounded raw and real. And you wanted to know: who was his father?
That question has a real answer. Not the polished version. Not the cleaned up tribute. The real one.
Daniel Clifton Pratt was a taconite miner from Virginia, Minnesota. He moved his family twenty times chasing work. He settled in Lake Stevens, Washington. He coached youth sports. He remodeled houses with his hands. He got diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. He refused medication. He lost the ability to walk. He separated from his wife. He moved into assisted living. He died at 60, quietly, while his youngest son was filming one of the biggest movies ever made.
He never gave an interview. He never had an Instagram. He never asked for recognition. But without him, there is no Chris Pratt.
Quick Bio
| Detail | Information |
| Full Name | Daniel Clifton Pratt |
| Date of Birth | October 1, 1953 |
| Birthplace | Virginia, St. Louis County, Minnesota, USA |
| Date of Death | June 30, 2014 |
| Place of Death | Lake Stevens, Washington, USA |
| Age at Death | 60 years old |
| Cause of Death | Complications from multiple sclerosis (MS) |
| Nationality | American |
| Ethnicity | English, German, Swiss-German, French-Canadian |
| Spouse | Kathleen Louise “Kathy” Indahl (m. September 22, 1973; later separated) |
| Children | Angie Pratt, Daniel “Cully” Pratt, Chris Pratt |
| Parents | Donald Clifton Pratt (1910–1976), Adeline Katherine Limmer (1927–2015) |
| Career | Taconite miner → Home remodeler → General contractor |
| Movies | None, he was not an actor |
| Net Worth | No public record; modest working-class income |
| Memorial | Dan Pratt Memorial Teen Center, Lake Stevens, WA (opened 2017) |
Early Life: Virginia, Minnesota and the Iron Range
Daniel Clifton Pratt was born on October 1, 1953, in Virginia, Minnesota.
Virginia is a small city in St. Louis County. It sits at the centre of a region called the Iron Range: A stretch of northeastern Minnesota that sits on some of the world’s largest iron ore deposits.
The Iron Range is not a glamorous place. But it built a certain kind of person.
Families there worked mines. They fixed things with their hands. They did not complain. They showed up. That culture is not abstract it was the daily air Daniel Pratt breathed from childhood.
Key facts about his early life:
- Grew up in Virginia, MN, deep inside Iron Range mining country
- His ancestry: English, German, Swiss-German, and French-Canadian roots
- Father, Donald Clifton Pratt, died in 1976 when Daniel was just 22
- Known as athletic, competitive, and mechanically sharp from a young age
- Learned from childhood that physical work was identity, not just employment
That last point is crucial. It is the lens through which everything else in his life, his career, his illness, his emotional distance makes sense.
Daniel Clifton Pratt’s Parents and Family Background
Daniel came from a straightforward working-class family.
His father was Donald Clifton Pratt, born in 1910. Donald died in 1976. Daniel was 22 years old.
His mother was Adeline Katherine Limmer, born in 1927. She lived until March 23, 2015. She was 87.
Here is the part that stops most people cold:
Adeline outlived her son by just nine months.
Daniel died in June 2014. His mother died in March 2015. The Pratt family lost two generations in less than a year.
This fact appears in almost no article about Daniel Clifton Pratt. It belongs here.
Marriage to Kathy Pratt and Building a Family
On September 22, 1973, Daniel married Kathleen Louise Indahl.
Everyone called her Kathy. She was the daughter of Wallace “Wally” Indahl, whose obituary was published in the Grand Forks Herald. The wedding took place in St. Louis County, Minnesota. Daniel was 19 years old.
Together they had three children:
- Angie Pratt eldest, born around 1975; has stayed private her whole life
- Daniel “Cully” Pratt middle child; reported by multiple sources to have served in the U.S. military
- Christopher Michael Pratt the youngest, born June 21, 1979; became one of the highest-grossing actors in film history
Kathy worked as a cashier at a Safeway supermarket for decades. Daniel worked trades. It was not a wealthy household. It was a working one.
Chris has described the family as “financially modest.” Two parents. Three kids. Constant movement. Tight budgets. But both parents gave the children something more lasting than money.
A Family in Motion: Alaska, Twenty Homes, Lake Stevens
When Chris was around two or three years old, Daniel moved the entire family to Anchorage, Alaska.
Why Alaska? Higher wages for tradespeople. Daniel followed the work.
Why did they leave? Daniel grew worried about raising young children near wild bears. That is a real reason, and it tells you something about how practically his mind worked. He did not weigh abstract risks. He weighed the ones in front of him.
After Alaska, the family entered a long stretch of instability:
- They moved through approximately twenty homes across the United States
- Daniel chased mining and contracting work wherever it was available
- The children adapted to new schools, new towns, new starts
- Chris has described the period as financially lean but not unhappy
When Chris was around six or seven, the family finally settled in Lake Stevens, Washington a suburb of Seattle in Snohomish County.
They stayed.
Chris attended Lake Stevens High School. He graduated in 1997. He competed in shot put. He was known as the funny kid who made teachers and students laugh with impressions and skits.
Lake Stevens is where Daniel Pratt spent the rest of his life. And it is where his legacy lives today. Why Alaska? Higher wages for tradespeople. Daniel followed the work.
Daniel Clifton Pratt’s Career: Miner, Contractor, Problem Solver
Daniel built his working life entirely around his hands.
Early career Taconite miner:
Taconite is a low-grade iron ore found in huge deposits across Minnesota’s Iron Range. It is blasted from the earth, crushed, and processed into small pellets used in steelmaking.
Taconite mining is not easy work. Here is what it actually involves:
- Operating heavy machinery in open-pit and underground environments
- Working in all weather conditions, often in physically dangerous settings
- Long shifts that demand focus, endurance, and physical strength
- A culture built on showing up no matter what and not making excuses
That culture became Daniel’s personal code.
Later career House remodeler and contractor:
After the family settled in Lake Stevens, Daniel transitioned into home remodeling and general contracting.
He built client relationships. He completed projects with his hands. He had a reputation, according to Chris, as a “hard worker” and a “good problem solver like, physical problems.”
That phrase is from Chris’s GQ cover story in June 2015. It was a compliment, not a qualifier. Chris admired this in his father.
Community role Youth sports coach:
Beyond his paid work, Daniel also coached youth sports in Lake Stevens. He coached multiple sports, for many kids not just his own.
Chris wrote in December 2016: “My dad coached me and so many other kids in Lake Stevens in every sport and was a pillar of his community.
That is not a minor footnote. For a private man who never sought recognition, coaching kids was his way of giving back.
Daniel Clifton Height and Physical Profile
No public record documents Daniel Clifton Pratt’s exact height.
His son Chris Pratt stands at 6 feet 2 inches (188 cm). He has an athletic, broad-shouldered build that he has transformed dramatically for several film roles.
Most sources suggest Daniel carried a comparable physical frame shaped not by a gym, but by decades of mining and contracting work.
How Chris described his father’s personality:
- “Old school” his exact words, used in multiple interviews
- Tough. Physically strong. Emotionally reserved.
- Showed love through action, not words
- Dry, sharp sense of humor
- Commanded respect in a room without asking for it
- Did not tolerate complaining from others or himself
In 2025, Chris told TODAY that his dad was “very tough and very strict” and that it directly shaped how he parents his own children.
That one quote tells you two things at once. Daniel was hard. And he left a mark that Chris still carries.
Daniel Clifton Pratt’s Children and Siblings
Daniel had three children. Here is what is publicly known about each:
1. Angie Pratt
- Eldest child, born around 1975
- Has lived entirely out of the public eye
- Chris has mentioned her in tributes as someone who made quiet sacrifices for the family
2. Daniel “Cully” Pratt
- Middle child; Chris has called him one of his biggest influences
- Chris credits Cully as the main reason he started acting
- Multiple sources report Cully served in the U.S. military (specific branch and dates not confirmed in public records)
3. Chris Pratt
- Born June 21, 1979; the youngest
- Graduated Lake Stevens High School 1997
- Dropped out of community college, worked odd jobs including ticket seller and briefly as a stripper in Maui
- Lived homeless in Hawaii slept in a van on the beach
- Discovered by director Rae Dawn Chong while working as a waiter
- Became one of the highest-grossing actors in cinema history ($14.1 billion in box office earnings from leading roles as of 2025)
That last arc from a broke kid in a van in Maui to the face of two multi-billion dollar franchises does not happen without the foundation Daniel laid.
Multiple Sclerosis: The Disease That Took Everything
Daniel Clifton Pratt was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in the early 2000s.
What Is Multiple Sclerosis?
Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, progressive neurological disease
When myelin is damaged, nerve signals are disrupted. This causes:
- Fatigue and weakness in the arms and legs
- Difficulty walking and with coordination
- Problems with balance and muscle control
- Mood changes, including depression and irritability
- Cognitive changes in some patients
MS is progressive. It gets worse over time. There is no cure. Medication and physical therapy can slow the progression but they cannot reverse it.
What the Diagnosis Meant for Daniel
For most people, an MS diagnosis is devastating. For Daniel Clifton Pratt, it was something deeper.
His entire sense of self was built on physical capability. He was a man who mined ore. A man who remodelled houses with his hands. A man who coached youth sports. Everything he valued about himself, the ability to provide, to work, to be useful lived in his body.
When MS started taking that body away, it did not just affect his health. It attacked his identity.
Chris told GQ in 2015:
“When he lost his ability to walk he gave up on life. Men of his ilk are defined by their ability to provide physically for their family, and when that’s taken away, that was a joke to him.”
What Daniel did and did not do about it:
- He refused medication entirely
- He declined physical therapy
- He stopped fighting the disease in any formal sense
- He grew more withdrawn and emotionally harder to reach
- His mood worsened as his mobility declined
As the disease progressed:
- Daniel lost the ability to walk
- He and Kathy separated; Daniel eventually moved into assisted living
- He spent his final years largely watching television
- His children visited, but contact became less frequent
- The emotional distance between him and Chris widened
But even then, even from an assisted living facility, unable to walk, largely cut off from the life he had built Daniel watched every single thing Chris appeared in.
Cause of Death and What Happened in 2014
Daniel Clifton Pratt died on June 30, 2014.
He was in Lake Stevens, Washington. He was 60 years old. The cause of death was complications from multiple sclerosis.
Where Was Chris When His Father Died?
Chris Pratt was in New Orleans, filming Jurassic World.
That film would go on to gross over $1.6 billion worldwide. It made Chris a genuine global movie star. And the moment he found out his father was gone, he was standing in the middle of making it.
He chose to keep working.
He was the lead actor. Hundreds of people depended on the production continuing. Chris felt responsible for them. So he internalized the grief and kept going.
He later told GQ he “got drunk and almost got in a fight with a drug dealer outside of my hotel room.”
That was his grief. Raw, messy, dealt with alone.
After Daniel’s death, Chris felt something unexpected alongside the grief. He described it to GQ:
“I can go spend time with my sister or my mom and not have this nagging feeling, like we’ve betrayed dad and we’re not there at his bedside when he never wanted us there anyway. I think he did but he was too proud to show any appreciation if you went to visit him. It was a sad, f—ed up situation.”
That level of honesty is rare in celebrity culture. Most tributes are warm and tidy. Chris’s tribute to his father was real.
The Complicated Father-Son Relationship
Chris Pratt has used one phrase more than any other when he talks about his father:
“Fairly complicated.”
He said it in a 2024 SiriusXM interview. He said it in GQ. He said it in British GQ. It comes up every time a journalist asks why he keeps playing characters dealing with difficult fathers.
Here is what “fairly complicated” actually means when you read the primary sources:
- Daniel was emotionally reserved. He did not openly say he was proud.
- The MS made him more withdrawn and harder to be around.
- Chris felt guilt about not visiting enough. Daniel was too proud to ask.
- There was friction. There was distance. There was also deep, unspoken love.
But here is the other side:
- Daniel watched everything Chris appeared in
- He communicated pride silently, through attention
- He taught Chris to work without complaining the lesson that kept Chris going through years of rejection
- He gave Chris a tolerance for difficulty that no acting school can teach
Chris said it directly: “He didn’t really react in any way, one way or another, but he was definitely proud. If I was on TV, he watched everything I was in. So it felt like I was able to communicate with him through doing work that was on TV.”
That is a whole relationship, described in three sentences.
How Chris Processed His Father’s Death: Guardians Vol. 2
Chris did not grieve properly when Daniel died.
He buried it. He finished filming Jurassic World. He promoted it. He became the biggest action star in Hollywood. And the grief sat there, untouched.
Two years later, he started filming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
That film is, at its core, about a son who searches the galaxy for his biological father only to find the father is deeply flawed and incapable of loving him properly. Peter Quill chases a father who disappoints him. It mirrors Chris’s real life with an almost uncomfortable precision.
Chris told British GQ in December 2016:
“The truth is I ripped open some wounds that had been healing for some time. And I didn’t want to. But I knew it was right for the moment. There are wounds that are never going to be totally healed.”
He also said:
“When we face the death of a parent, you sometimes feel regret that you didn’t fully embrace what you had.”
Guardians Vol. 2 was released in May 2017. Most audiences felt its emotional weight without knowing why. Critics praised Chris’s performance without knowing what was underneath it.
Now you know.
Daniel Clifton Pratt’s Legacy: The Dan Pratt Memorial Teen Center
This is the part of Daniel’s story that almost no article tells in full detail.
In December 2016, Chris Pratt donated $500,000 to the Boys & Girls Club of Snohomish County in Lake Stevens, Washington.
How the Fundraiser Worked
Chris partnered with Omaze a platform that connects celebrities with charities through raffles. He offered fans a chance to win a visit to the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 film set.
Here is what the fundraiser achieved:
- People from over 100 countries participated
- The Omaze raffle alone raised $485,000
- State funding contributed $120,000
- Local donations filled the remainder
- Total raised: $885,000
What Was Built
The new teen center is 2,800 square feet. It is located at 1609 E. Lakeshore Drive, Lake Stevens, Washington, connected to the main Boys & Girls Club building.
The center includes:
- Computer stations for homework and digital learning
- A full-size kitchen for cooking classes
- A lounge and social area for teens
- A creative studio for film and music projects
It was named the Dan Pratt Memorial Teen Center. It opened in 2017.
Why Chris Did It
Chris explained his reasoning plainly. Lake Stevens had changed since his childhood. It had grown. And it had problems. He told HeraldNet: “There’s heroin in our school. I can’t believe it. Which is a huge reason why I wanted to create a safe space where teens can spend time when their parents are working.”
When he announced the groundbreaking, he wrote a tribute on Facebook. Here it is:
“Who is Dan Pratt? I was raised by one of the toughest SOBs on the planet. Dan Pratt made me who I am. My dad coached me and so many other kids in Lake Stevens in every sport and was a pillar of his community. He affected a lot of young men. Ask anyone who knew him, he was a certified bad ass. And now his memorial teen center will help keep kids out of trouble for many years to come. His legacy will live on. #Godisgood.”
That quote is Daniel Clifton Pratt’s whole biography in one paragraph. Written by the son who knew him best.
Daniel Pratt’s Influence on Chris Pratt’s Acting Career
Daniel was never in a movie. But he is in every significant role Chris has ever played.
Here is how that looks in practice:
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
- Peter Quill grows up without a father figure
- He is funny, emotionally guarded, fiercely loyal underneath
- The character’s emotional core maps directly onto Chris’s real experience
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
- Literally about a son searching for his father, finding him flawed, and grieving the father he deserved
- Chris has confirmed this film forced him to confront unresolved feelings about Daniel
- His performance won widespread critical praise for its emotional depth
The Garfield Movie (2024)
- Garfield’s story is built around abandonment by his father
- When asked why he took the role, Chris pointed straight to Daniel: “This happens to be hinged on Garfield feeling abandonment with his father, and so that’s, yeah. That’s a deep feeling I think a lot of people could relate to.”
In real life:
- The work ethic Daniel modeled kept Chris going through years of rejection
- When Chris was homeless in Maui, living in a van, he did not quit
- He has directly credited his father with giving him the tolerance for difficulty that made eventual success possible
Chris did not inherit fame. He inherited the thing that made fame survivable.
Jack Pratt: The Story Continues
Chris Pratt has four children.
His eldest, Jack Pratt, was born on August 17, 2012, with his first wife Anna Faris. He spent weeks in the neonatal ICU at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Doctors raised concerns about possible developmental challenges.
Jack exceeded every prediction. He is now 13 years old. In March 2026, he accompanied Chris to Tokyo for the promotion of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.
Chris and his current wife Katherine Schwarzenegger have three more children:
- Lyla Maria Schwarzenegger Pratt born August 2020
- Eloise Christina Schwarzenegger Pratt born May 21, 2022
- Ford Fitzgerald Schwarzenegger Pratt born November 8, 2024
Daniel Clifton Pratt never met any of them. But his values the ones he passed to Chris are being passed down again. Chris has said as much. He told TODAY in 2025 that his parenting style is heavily influenced by how he was raised, while intentionally being softer than his father was.
That is legacy. Imperfect. Evolving. Continuing.
Kathy Pratt: The Woman Who Kept the Family Together
Kathleen “Kathy” Pratt (née Indahl) was the steady foundation of the Pratt household.
While Daniel was tough, stoic, and emotionally reserved, Kathy provided:
- Consistency and warmth during the family’s twenty moves
- Financial stability through her long career at Safeway
- Emotional support for the children as Daniel’s illness progressed
- A continued presence in her children’s lives after the separation
Chris has honoured his mother publicly many times. She remains a present and active figure in her family’s life.
Both parents gave Chris something different. And both were necessary.
Movies, Instagram and Net Worth Straight Answers
Three questions keep showing up in searches. Here are direct answers.
Did Daniel Clifton Pratt appear in any movies? No. He was never an actor. He had no film credits of any kind. Anyone searching “Daniel Clifton Pratt movies” will find nothing because there is nothing to find. The confusion comes from his son Chris, who starred in Jurassic World (2015). That is a different film from Jurassic Park (1993), and neither involves Daniel.
Does Daniel Clifton Pratt have an Instagram account? No. Daniel died on June 30, 2014. He had no public social media presence during his lifetime. He was a deeply private man who lived entirely outside public life.
What was Daniel Clifton Pratt’s net worth? No public record exists. He earned a working-class income through mining and contracting. He left no known financial estate. His son Chris Pratt has an estimated net worth of over $80 million as of 2026. Daniel’s wealth was never financial.
8 Things Most Articles Get Wrong About Daniel Clifton Pratt
Here are eight facts that separate accurate coverage from surface-level summaries:
- He and Kathy separated before he died. As MS progressed and he lost the ability to walk, Daniel moved into assisted living. He and Kathy did not remain together until his death. This is confirmed by primary sources including Chris Pratt’s own GQ interview.
- He refused all medication and physical therapy. Chris told GQ his father responded to the MS diagnosis by giving up. He would not take medication. He would not do therapy. He felt the disease had already taken what defined him.
- His mother outlived him by nine months. Adeline Katherine Limmer Pratt died on March 23, 2015 just nine months after Daniel died in June 2014. The Pratt family lost two generations in under a year.
- He moved his family to Alaska because of bears. He relocated to Anchorage for work opportunities, then moved the family away partly out of concern about raising young children in close proximity to wild bears. This is confirmed in multiple sources.
- Chris found out his dad died while filming Jurassic World. He was in New Orleans. He chose to keep working. He did not take time off. He dealt with the grief alone.
- He coached sports for the whole community, not just his kids. Daniel coached multiple youth sports in Lake Stevens for years. Chris said he “affected a lot of young men.” Coaching was his community role.
- His grief reckoning came during Guardians Vol. 2, not Jurassic World. Chris buried the grief during filming. He confronted it two years later while shooting a film literally about a son searching for his father.
- The teen center fundraiser involved over 100 countries. The Omaze raffle drew participants from across the globe. The total raised was $885,000. Most articles either skip this section entirely or get the figure wrong.
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FAQs
Who was Daniel Clifton Pratt?
He was the father of actor Chris Pratt. A taconite miner and house remodeling contractor from Virginia, Minnesota, who raised three children in Lake Stevens, Washington. He died on June 30, 2014, at age 60, from complications of multiple sclerosis.
How did Daniel Clifton Pratt die?
He died from complications of multiple sclerosis a progressive neurological disease he battled for the last decade of his life. He was 60 years old. He passed away in Lake Stevens, Washington.
What did Daniel Clifton Pratt do for a living?
He worked as a taconite miner early in his career. He later became a house remodeler and general contractor in Washington state. He also coached youth sports in Lake Stevens.
What happened to Chris Pratt’s dad?
He was diagnosed with MS in the early 2000s. As the disease progressed, he lost the ability to walk, refused treatment, separated from his wife Kathy, and moved into assisted living. He died on June 30, 2014, while Chris was filming Jurassic World in New Orleans.
Was Daniel Clifton Pratt in Jurassic Park?
No. Daniel was not an actor and had no film credits. His son Chris Pratt starred in Jurassic World (2015) a separate franchise from the original Jurassic Park (1993). Daniel had no involvement in either.
Does Daniel Clifton Pratt have an Instagram?
No. He died in 2014 and had no social media presence.
What is the Dan Pratt Memorial Teen Center?
It is a 2,800 square foot teen center at the Boys & Girls Club in Lake Stevens, Washington. Chris Pratt funded it through a $500,000 Omaze donation in 2016. The total cost was $885,000. It opened in 2017 and was named in Daniel’s memory.
Was Cully Pratt in the military?
Multiple sources report that Daniel “Cully” Pratt, Chris’s older brother, served in the U.S. military. A specific branch and dates of service have not been confirmed in public records.
How tall was Daniel Clifton Pratt?
No public records confirm this. His son Chris stands at 6 feet 2 inches. Most sources suggest Daniel had a similar physical build from decades of physical labor.
Who were Daniel Clifton Pratt’s parents?
His father was Donald Clifton Pratt 1910 to 1976. His mother was Adeline Katherine Limmer 1927 to 2015, who died nine months after Daniel.
Did Daniel and Kathy Pratt divorce?
They separated as Daniel’s MS progressed and he could no longer live independently. He moved into assisted living for his final years. This is confirmed by Chris Pratt’s own interviews and multiple verified biographical sources.
Conclusion
He was not a perfect father. Chris has said that clearly, in multiple interviews, without apology. There was distance. There was stubbornness. There was a proud man who could not say he was proud. There was a disease that made everything harder than it already was.
But there was also a man who coached every kid in Lake Stevens who needed a coach. A man who moved his family twenty times to keep them fed. A man who showed up to a physically brutal job for decades without complaining. A man who watched everything his son ever appeared in, from a chair in an assisted living facility, because that was how he showed love.
Writing about people like Daniel Clifton Pratt matters because he represents millions of American fathers. The ones who do not get profiles or tributes. The ones whose names only surface because their children became famous. The ones whose real contribution the values they handed down, the work ethic they modeled, the endurance they demonstrated never shows up in any metric.
Chris Pratt once said he could communicate with his father through work. Through performance. Through showing up on screen and doing something worth watching.
That idea stays with you. A son and a father, separated by distance and illness and pride, finding each other through a television screen in Lake Stevens, Washington.
Daniel Clifton Pratt died at 60. But what he gave his youngest son is still visible every time Chris Pratt stands in front of a camera. That is not nothing. That is everything.
