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Jack Kruschen

 

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Jack Kruschen



 
 
Jack Kruschen (March 20, 1922 – April 2, 2002) was a Canadian-born character actor
Character actor

A character actor is one who predominantly plays a particular type of role rather than leading actor ones. Character actor roles can range from bit parts to leading actor....
 who worked primarily in American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 film
Film

Film encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the film industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or special effects....
, television
Television

Television is a widely used telecommunication mass-media for transmitting and receiving moving , either monochrome or color, usually accompanied by sound....
 and radio
Radio programming

Radio programming is the content that is Broadcasting by radio stations.The original inventors of radio, such as Nikola Tesla and Guglielmo Marconi, expected it to be used for one-on-one communication tasks where telephones and telegraphs could not be used because of the impossibility of stringing wires from one point to another, such as in...
.

in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Kruschen began his radio career while still in high school, and during the 1940s, he became a staple of West Coast
West Coast of the United States

The "West Coast", "Western Seaboard", or "Pacific Coastline" are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. It most often comprises California, Oregon and Washington....
 radio drama
Radio drama

File:Opname van een hoorspel Recording a radio play.jpgRadio drama is a form of audio storytelling broadcast on radio broadcasting. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagination the story....
. He had regular or recurring roles on Broadway Is My Beat
Broadway Is My Beat

Broadway Is My Beat, a radio drama, ran on CBS from February 27, 1949 to August 1, 1954. With music by Robert Stringer, the show originated from New York City during its first three months on the air, with Anthony Ross portraying Times Square Detective Danny Clover....
 (as Sgt. Muggavan), and Pete Kelly's Blues
Pete Kelly's Blues (radio series)

Pete Kelly's Blues was an United States radio drama which aired over NBC as an unsponsored summer replacement series from July 4 through September 19, 1951....
 (as Red, the bass player), as well as frequent episodic roles on anthology
Anthology

An anthology, literally a "garland" or "collection of flowers", is a collection of literary works, originally of poems. In genre fiction and especially science fiction, anthology is used to categorize collections of shorter works such as short story and short novels, usually collected into a single volume for publication....
 series, Westerns and crime dramas.

He was heard on such high-profile series as Escape
Escape (radio program)

Escape was radio's leading anthology series of high adventure, airing on CBS from July 7 1947 to September 25 1954. Since the program did not have a regular sponsor like Suspense , it was subjected to frequent schedule shifts and lower production budgets, although ARCO signed on as a sponsor for five months in 1950....
, Dragnet, The Rifleman
The Rifleman

The Rifleman is an United States Western television program that ran from on American Broadcasting Company, from September 30, 1958 to April 8, 1963, a production of Four Star Television....
, Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke

Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
 (usually as law abiding locals), Crime Classics
Crime Classics

Crime Classics was a U. S. radio docudrama which aired over CBS from June 15, 1953, to June 30, 1954.Created, produced, and directed by radio actor/director Elliott Lewis, the program was a historical True crime series, examining crimes and murders from the past....
, Frontier Gentleman
Frontier Gentleman

Frontier Gentleman was a radio Western series heard on CBS from February 2 to November 16 1958, initially heard Sunday afternoons at 2:30pm through March when it moved to 7pm....
, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar
Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar

Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar was a radio drama about a "fabulous" freelance Insurance Investigations "with the action-packed expense account." The show aired on CBS Radio from January 14, 1949 to September 30, 1962....
, Nightbeat
Nightbeat

Nightbeat was a radio drama series that aired on NBC from February 6, 1950 until September 25, 1952, sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer and Wheaties....
 and Suspense
Suspense (radio program)

Suspense was a radio drama series broadcast on CBS from 1942 through 1962.One of the premier drama programs of the Old-time radio, was subtitled "radio's outstanding theater of thrills," and focussed on suspense thriller-type scripts, usually featuring leading Hollywood actors of the era....
.


movie career is highlighted by his memorable performance as neighbor Dr. Dreyfuss in Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder

Billy Wilder was an Austrian-United States journalist, filmmaker, screenwriter, and film producer, whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films....
's The Apartment
The Apartment

The Apartment is a Cinema of the United States comedy film-drama film produced and directed by Billy Wilder, and starring Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, and Fred MacMurray....
 (for which he received an Academy Award
Academy Awards

The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers....
 nomination for Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actor

Best Supporting Actor or Best Supporting Actress is an praise given by a group of film or theatre professionals in recognition of the work of supporting actor and character actor actors....
).

Other film assignments included George Pál
George Pál

George Pal , born Gy?rgy P?l Marczincs?k, was a Hungarian-born United States animator and film producer, principally associated with the science fiction genre....
's The War of the Worlds (as Salvatore, one of the first three victims, a role he reprised on the Lux Radio Theater
Lux Radio Theater

Lux Radio Theater, one of the genuine old-time radio anthology series adapted first Broadway theatre stage works, and then films to hour-long live radio presentations....
 adaptation), The Unsinkable Molly Brown (as saloon owner Christmas Morgan), Abbott and Costello Go to Mars
Abbott and Costello Go to Mars

Abbott and Costello Go To Mars is a 1953 in film science fiction comedy film Film director by Charles Lamont and starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello....
, Lover Come Back
Lover Come Back

Lover Come Back is a 1961 in film romantic comedy released by Universal Studios. The film stars Doris Day and Rock Hudson in their second film together....
, McLintock!
McLintock!

McLintock! is a 1963 comedy Western movie starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara, and loosely based on Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew....
 (with John Wayne
John Wayne

John Wayne was an Academy Award- and Golden Globe Award-winning United States film actor. He epitomized rugged masculinity and has become an enduring American icon....
 and Maureen O'Hara
Maureen O'Hara

Maureen O'Hara is an Irish people film actor and singer.Born to Charles Stewart Parnell FitzSimons and Marguerita Lilburn in Ranelagh, County Dublin, Ireland not long before partition, the famously red hair O'Hara has been noted for playing fiercely passionate heroines with a highly sensible attitude....
) and Cape Fear
Cape Fear (1962 film)

Cape Fear is a 1961 in film film about an attorney whose family is stalked by a criminal whom he helped to send to jail. It stars Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum as Max Cady, Polly Bergen, Lori Martin, Martin Balsam, Jack Kruschen, Telly Savalas, Paul Comi and Barrie Chase....
.

chen was performing on television as early as 1939, appearing in dramas on Don Lee
Don Lee (broadcaster)

Donald Musgrave Lee was the exclusive west coast distributor of Cadillac automobiles in the early 20th century. In 1919 Lee purchased the Earl Automobile Works of Hollywood, California....
's experimental television station in Los Angeles, where he was seen on some 200 TV sets with three-inch screens.

His TV career included the regular role of Grandpa Papadopolis on the situation comedy
Situation comedy

A situation comedy, usually referred to as a sitcom, is a genre of comedy programs which originated in radio. Today, sitcoms are found almost exclusively on television as one of its dominant narrative forms....
 Webster
Webster (TV series)

Webster is an United States situation comedy that premiered on American Broadcasting Company on September 16, 1983, and ran on that network until September 11, 1987, but continued in first-run Television syndication until 1989....
 and guest villain Eivol Ekdol, a villainous magicians' craftsman on Batman
Batman (TV series)

Batman is a 1960s United States television series, based on the DC Comics comic book Batman. It aired on the American Broadcasting Company network for two and a half seasons from January 12, 1966 in television to March 14, 1968 in television....
.






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Encyclopedia


Jack Kruschen (March 20, 1922 – April 2, 2002) was a Canadian-born character actor
Character actor

A character actor is one who predominantly plays a particular type of role rather than leading actor ones. Character actor roles can range from bit parts to leading actor....
 who worked primarily in American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 film
Film

Film encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the film industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or special effects....
, television
Television

Television is a widely used telecommunication mass-media for transmitting and receiving moving , either monochrome or color, usually accompanied by sound....
 and radio
Radio programming

Radio programming is the content that is Broadcasting by radio stations.The original inventors of radio, such as Nikola Tesla and Guglielmo Marconi, expected it to be used for one-on-one communication tasks where telephones and telegraphs could not be used because of the impossibility of stringing wires from one point to another, such as in...
.

Radio

Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Kruschen began his radio career while still in high school, and during the 1940s, he became a staple of West Coast
West Coast of the United States

The "West Coast", "Western Seaboard", or "Pacific Coastline" are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. It most often comprises California, Oregon and Washington....
 radio drama
Radio drama

File:Opname van een hoorspel Recording a radio play.jpgRadio drama is a form of audio storytelling broadcast on radio broadcasting. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagination the story....
. He had regular or recurring roles on Broadway Is My Beat
Broadway Is My Beat

Broadway Is My Beat, a radio drama, ran on CBS from February 27, 1949 to August 1, 1954. With music by Robert Stringer, the show originated from New York City during its first three months on the air, with Anthony Ross portraying Times Square Detective Danny Clover....
 (as Sgt. Muggavan), and Pete Kelly's Blues
Pete Kelly's Blues (radio series)

Pete Kelly's Blues was an United States radio drama which aired over NBC as an unsponsored summer replacement series from July 4 through September 19, 1951....
 (as Red, the bass player), as well as frequent episodic roles on anthology
Anthology

An anthology, literally a "garland" or "collection of flowers", is a collection of literary works, originally of poems. In genre fiction and especially science fiction, anthology is used to categorize collections of shorter works such as short story and short novels, usually collected into a single volume for publication....
 series, Westerns and crime dramas.

He was heard on such high-profile series as Escape
Escape (radio program)

Escape was radio's leading anthology series of high adventure, airing on CBS from July 7 1947 to September 25 1954. Since the program did not have a regular sponsor like Suspense , it was subjected to frequent schedule shifts and lower production budgets, although ARCO signed on as a sponsor for five months in 1950....
, Dragnet, The Rifleman
The Rifleman

The Rifleman is an United States Western television program that ran from on American Broadcasting Company, from September 30, 1958 to April 8, 1963, a production of Four Star Television....
, Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke

Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
 (usually as law abiding locals), Crime Classics
Crime Classics

Crime Classics was a U. S. radio docudrama which aired over CBS from June 15, 1953, to June 30, 1954.Created, produced, and directed by radio actor/director Elliott Lewis, the program was a historical True crime series, examining crimes and murders from the past....
, Frontier Gentleman
Frontier Gentleman

Frontier Gentleman was a radio Western series heard on CBS from February 2 to November 16 1958, initially heard Sunday afternoons at 2:30pm through March when it moved to 7pm....
, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar
Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar

Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar was a radio drama about a "fabulous" freelance Insurance Investigations "with the action-packed expense account." The show aired on CBS Radio from January 14, 1949 to September 30, 1962....
, Nightbeat
Nightbeat

Nightbeat was a radio drama series that aired on NBC from February 6, 1950 until September 25, 1952, sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer and Wheaties....
 and Suspense
Suspense (radio program)

Suspense was a radio drama series broadcast on CBS from 1942 through 1962.One of the premier drama programs of the Old-time radio, was subtitled "radio's outstanding theater of thrills," and focussed on suspense thriller-type scripts, usually featuring leading Hollywood actors of the era....
.


Films

His movie career is highlighted by his memorable performance as neighbor Dr. Dreyfuss in Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder

Billy Wilder was an Austrian-United States journalist, filmmaker, screenwriter, and film producer, whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films....
's The Apartment
The Apartment

The Apartment is a Cinema of the United States comedy film-drama film produced and directed by Billy Wilder, and starring Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, and Fred MacMurray....
 (for which he received an Academy Award
Academy Awards

The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers....
 nomination for Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actor

Best Supporting Actor or Best Supporting Actress is an praise given by a group of film or theatre professionals in recognition of the work of supporting actor and character actor actors....
).

Other film assignments included George Pál
George Pál

George Pal , born Gy?rgy P?l Marczincs?k, was a Hungarian-born United States animator and film producer, principally associated with the science fiction genre....
's The War of the Worlds (as Salvatore, one of the first three victims, a role he reprised on the Lux Radio Theater
Lux Radio Theater

Lux Radio Theater, one of the genuine old-time radio anthology series adapted first Broadway theatre stage works, and then films to hour-long live radio presentations....
 adaptation), The Unsinkable Molly Brown (as saloon owner Christmas Morgan), Abbott and Costello Go to Mars
Abbott and Costello Go to Mars

Abbott and Costello Go To Mars is a 1953 in film science fiction comedy film Film director by Charles Lamont and starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello....
, Lover Come Back
Lover Come Back

Lover Come Back is a 1961 in film romantic comedy released by Universal Studios. The film stars Doris Day and Rock Hudson in their second film together....
, McLintock!
McLintock!

McLintock! is a 1963 comedy Western movie starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara, and loosely based on Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew....
 (with John Wayne
John Wayne

John Wayne was an Academy Award- and Golden Globe Award-winning United States film actor. He epitomized rugged masculinity and has become an enduring American icon....
 and Maureen O'Hara
Maureen O'Hara

Maureen O'Hara is an Irish people film actor and singer.Born to Charles Stewart Parnell FitzSimons and Marguerita Lilburn in Ranelagh, County Dublin, Ireland not long before partition, the famously red hair O'Hara has been noted for playing fiercely passionate heroines with a highly sensible attitude....
) and Cape Fear
Cape Fear (1962 film)

Cape Fear is a 1961 in film film about an attorney whose family is stalked by a criminal whom he helped to send to jail. It stars Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum as Max Cady, Polly Bergen, Lori Martin, Martin Balsam, Jack Kruschen, Telly Savalas, Paul Comi and Barrie Chase....
.

Television

Kruschen was performing on television as early as 1939, appearing in dramas on Don Lee
Don Lee (broadcaster)

Donald Musgrave Lee was the exclusive west coast distributor of Cadillac automobiles in the early 20th century. In 1919 Lee purchased the Earl Automobile Works of Hollywood, California....
's experimental television station in Los Angeles, where he was seen on some 200 TV sets with three-inch screens.

His TV career included the regular role of Grandpa Papadopolis on the situation comedy
Situation comedy

A situation comedy, usually referred to as a sitcom, is a genre of comedy programs which originated in radio. Today, sitcoms are found almost exclusively on television as one of its dominant narrative forms....
 Webster
Webster (TV series)

Webster is an United States situation comedy that premiered on American Broadcasting Company on September 16, 1983, and ran on that network until September 11, 1987, but continued in first-run Television syndication until 1989....
 and guest villain Eivol Ekdol, a villainous magicians' craftsman on Batman
Batman (TV series)

Batman is a 1960s United States television series, based on the DC Comics comic book Batman. It aired on the American Broadcasting Company network for two and a half seasons from January 12, 1966 in television to March 14, 1968 in television....
. He also was seen on Dragnet
Dragnet (series)

Dragnet, also known as L.A. Dragnet and syndicated as Badge 714, is a long-running radio and television Police procedural about the cases of a dedicated Los Angeles police detective, Sergeant Joe Friday, and his partners....
, Zorro, Columbo
Columbo

Columbo is an American crime fiction TV series, starring Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo, a homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department....
, Barney Miller
Barney Miller

Barney Miller is a sitcom television series set in a New York City Police in Greenwich Village that ran from January 23, 1975 to May 20, 1982 on American Broadcasting Company....
,
and in later years, Murphy Brown
Murphy Brown

Murphy Brown is an United States situation comedy which aired on CBS from November 14, 1988 to May 18, 1998, for a total of 247 episodes. The program starred Candice Bergen as the eponymous Murphy Brown , an investigative journalist and news anchor for FYI, a fictional CBS television newsmagazine....
, Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and as Jesse's grandfather Papouli on Full House
Full House

Full House is an Television in the United States television sitcom that ran from September 22, 1987 in television to May 23, 1995 in television on American Broadcasting Company....
.

In 1969, he co-starred with Stefanie Powers
Stefanie Powers

Stefanie Powers is an Emmy Award-nominated United States actress and singer, who's best known for her role as Robert Wagner's wife and crime-fighting partner, Jennifer Hart, on the popular 1980s crime drama, Hart to Hart....
 in an unsold ABC sitcom pilot, Holly Golighty, adapted from Truman Capote
Truman Capote

Truman Capote was an United States writer whose short stories, novels, plays, and non-fiction are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's and In Cold Blood , which he labeled a "non-fiction novel"....
's Breakfast at Tiffany's
Breakfast at Tiffany's (novella)

Breakfast at Tiffany's is a novella by Truman Capote first published by Random House in 1958 in literature....
.

His final on-camera appearance was in the 1997 film, Til There Was You (with Sarah Jessica Parker
Sarah Jessica Parker

Sarah Jessica Parker , also sometimes referred to by her initials SJP, is an American film, television and theater actress and producer. She is best known for her leading role as Carrie Bradshaw on the HBO television series Sex and the City, for which she won four Golden Globe Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and two Emmy Awar...
). He was married to Marjorie Ullman from January 1947 to 1951, and his second marriage was with Mary Pender from July 23, 1979 until April 2, 2002 when he died in Chandler, Arizona
Chandler, Arizona

Chandler is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, Arizona, and is a prominent suburb of the Phoenix Metropolitan Area . It is bordered to the north and west by Tempe, Arizona, to the north by Mesa, Arizona, to the west by Phoenix, Arizona, to the south by the Gila River Indian Reservation, and to the east by Gilbert, Arizona....
, aged 80.

External links