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There are righteous men to whom it happens according to the deed of the wicked, and there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the deed of the righteous Kohelet 8:14 |
Jack Kruschen (March 20, 1922 – April 2, 2002) was a Canadian-born character actor who worked primarily in American film, television and radio.
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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 radio drama. He had several roles in programs made especially for the Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS) broadcast for the benefit of members on active duty in the military in the 1940s and 1950s. He had regular or recurring roles on Broadway Is My Beat (as Sgt. Muggavan), and Pete Kelly's Blues (as Red, the bass player), as well as frequent episodic roles on anthology series, Westerns and crime dramas.
He was heard on such high-profile series as Escape, Dragnet, Gunsmoke (usually as law abiding locals), Crime Classics, Frontier Gentleman, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, Nightbeat and Suspense.
His movie career is highlighted by his performance as neighbor Dr. Dreyfuss in Billy Wilder's The Apartment (for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor).
Other film assignments included George Pal's The War of the Worlds (as Salvatore, one of the first three victims, a role he reprised on the Lux Radio Theater adaptation), in Cecil B. DeMille's final film, The Buccaneer, as astronaut Sam Jacobs in the 1959 cult classic The Angry Red Planet, The Unsinkable Molly Brown (as saloon owner Christmas Morgan), Abbott and Costello Go to Mars, Lover Come Back, McLintock! (with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara), Follow That Dream (with Elvis Presley), Cape Fear, and Money to Burn.
Kruschen appeared as Maurice Pulvermacher in the original 1962 Broadway production of "I Can Get It For You Wholesale," with neophyte singer/actress, 19-year old Barbra Streisand. In 1969, he co-starred in the London staging of the musical Promises, Promises, reprising his film role in this show based on The Apartment.
Kruschen was performing on television as early as 1939, appearing in dramas on Don Lee'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 Webster and guest villain Eivol Ekdol, a villainous magicians' craftsman on Batman. He also was seen on Dragnet, Zorro, in a recurring role across three seasons on Bonanza (Italian grapegrower Giorgio Rossi,) as Tully the bartender in the 1960-1961 series "Hong Kong" (that launched Aussie actor Rod Taylor into his film career). The husky, mustachioed Kruschen seemed to specialize in playing benevolent ethnic paternal figures and had roles in Columbo, Barney Miller, The Incredible Hulk (TV series), and in later years, Murphy Brown, Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and as Pam And Jesse's grandfather Papouli on Full House.
In 1969, Kruschen co-starred with Stefanie Powers in an unsold ABC sitcom pilot, Holly Golighty, adapted from Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's.
Kruschen's final on-camera appearance was in the 1997 film 'Til There Was You (with Sarah Jessica Parker).
Kruschen was married to Marjorie Ullman from January 1947 to 1961, and his second marriage was to Violet Rafaella Mooring from 1962 to 1978 (her death). He was married a third time to Mary Pender from July 23, 1979 until April 2, 2002 when he died in Chandler, Arizona, aged 80.
Jack Kruschen
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