Джек Клугман: Жизнь и карьера актера

American actor (1922–2012)

Jack Klugman (April 27, 1922 – December 24, 2012) was an American actor of stage, film, and television. He began his career in 1950 and started television and film work with roles in 12 Angry Men (1957) and Cry Terror! (1958). During the 1960s, he guest starred on numerous television series. Klugman won his first Primetime Emmy Award for his guest starring role on The Defenders in 1964. He also made a total of four appearances on The Twilight Zone from 1960 to 1963. In 1965, Klugman replaced Walter Matthau as Oscar Madison in the Broadway play The Odd Couple. Five years later, he reprised that role in the television adaptation of The Odd Couple opposite Tony Randall. The series aired from 1970 to 1975. Klugman won his second and third Primetime Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award for his work on the series. From 1976 to 1983, he starred in the title role in Quincy, M. E., for which he earned four Primetime Emmy Award nominations.

Klugman was born in Philadelphia, the youngest of six children born to Rose, a milliner, and Max Klugman, a house painter. His parents were Russian Jewish immigrants. Klugman served in the United States Army during World War II. He attended Carnegie Institute of Technology, now Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh. While there, his drama teacher told him, "Young man, you are not suited to be an actor. You are suited to be a truck driver." After the war, he pursued acting roles in New York City while sharing an apartment with friend, and fellow ex GI turned actor Charles Bronson. The following year, he appeared in the live television broadcast of Producers' Showcase in the episode "The Petrified Forest" with Humphrey Bogart and Henry Fonda. Klugman later said the experience was the greatest thrill of his career. He went on to appear in several classic films, including as juror number five in 12 Angry Men (1957), of which he was the last surviving cast member. In 1959, he returned to Broadway in the original production of Gypsy: A Musical Fable. In 1960, Klugman was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor (Musical) for his role in the show but lost to Tom Bosley in Fiorello!. He remained with Gypsy until it closed in March 1961. From 1960 to 1963, Klugman appeared in four episodes of The Twilight Zone series: "A Passage for Trumpet" (1960), "A Game of Pool" (1961), "Death Ship" (1963), and "In Praise of Pip" (1963), tying Burgess Meredith for the most appearances in a starring role on the series. In 1964, he won his first Primetime Emmy Award for his guest starring role on The Defenders. The same year, Klugman was cast in the starring role in the situation comedy Harris Against the World. The series was a part of an experimental block of sitcoms that aired on NBC entitled 90 Bristol Court. Harris Against the World, along with the other sitcoms that aired in the block, were cancelled the following year due to low ratings. Klugman continued the decade with multiple guest roles on television, including appearances on The F. B. I., Ben Casey, The Name of the Game, The Fugitive, and Insight. He also appeared on Broadway in Tchin Tchin from October 1962 to May 1963. From 1960 to 1963, Klugman appeared in two episodes of the series The Untouchables: "Loophole" (1961) and "An Eye for an Eye" (1963).

In 1965, Klugman replaced Walter Matthau in the lead role of Oscar Madison in the original Broadway production of The Odd Couple. He reprised the role when the play was adapted as a television series, which was broadcast on ABC from 1970 to 1975. Over the course of the show's five year, 114 episode run, Klugman won two Primetime Emmy Awards for his work on the series. In 1973, during the run of the series, Klugman and Odd Couple co star Randall recorded an album titled The Odd Couple Sings for London Records. Roland Shaw and The London Festival Orchestra and Chorus provided the music and additional vocals.

After the cancellation of The Odd Couple in 1975, Klugman returned to television in 1976 in Quincy, M. E., initially broadcast as part of the NBC Mystery Movie umbrella series, before becoming a weekly program. Klugman portrayed Dr. Quincy, a forensic pathologist who worked for the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office and solved crimes. He was nominated for four Primetime Emmy Awards for his work on the series and also wrote four episodes. A total of 148 episodes of Quincy aired over eight seasons, ending in 1983. In 1984, Klugman starred in Lyndon, a one man show based on Prideaux's script, inspired in part by Merle Miller's taped conversations and directed by George Schaefer. In 1986, Klugman starred in the sitcom You Again? co starring John Stamos as Klugman's character's son. The series was broadcast on NBC for two seasons before being cancelled. During the show's run, Klugman also appeared on Broadway in I'm Not Rappaport. The show closed in 1988. The following year, he co starred in the television miniseries Around the World in 80 Days.

In 1989, Klugman's throat cancer (with which he was first diagnosed in 1974) returned. His illness sidelined his career for the next four years. He returned to acting in a 1993 Broadway revival of Three Men on a Horse, with Tony Randall. That same year, he again reunited with Tony Randall in the television film The Odd Couple: Together Again. The next year, Klugman co starred in the television film Parallel Lives. In 1993, he appeared on a special "celebrity versus regulars" version of the British quiz show Going for Gold, emerging as the series winner. In 1996, he co starred in The Twilight of the Golds and the comedy film Dear God. He resumed his television career with guest appearances on Diagnosis: Murder. He also starred in The Outer Limits episode "Glitch" and appeared in an episode of the TV series Crossing Jordan. Klugman starred in both the 1997 Broadway revival and the 2007 off Broadway revival of The Sunshine Boys. In 2005, Klugman co starred in the comedy film When Do We Eat?. That same year, he published Tony and Me: A Story of Friendship, a book about his long friendship with his The Odd Couple co star Tony Randall. Klugman gave the eulogy at Randall's memorial service in 2004. In 2008, he sued NBC Television over missing profits from his show Quincy M. E. The lawsuit was filed in California state court, with Klugman requesting NBC to show him the original contract. Klugman was originally supposed to play Juror #9 in a stage production of Twelve Angry Men at the George Street Playhouse that was set to open on March 13, 2012. However, he had to withdraw from the production because of illness.

Klugman married actress Brett Somers in 1953. The couple had two children, Adam (who had a cameo as Oscar Madison as a child in two flashbacks on The Odd Couple) and David. He had a stepdaughter, Leslie Klein, from Somers's first marriage. (Klein was married to Jim Fyfe, an actor and theater director.) The couple separated in 1974 and divorced in August 1977; they did not make their divorce public. In 2007, Somers died from cancer at age 83. Because Klugman did not remarry until after Somers died (nor did Somers ever remarry), it was erroneously reported that the two had remained married but separated for the rest of Somers's life. Klugman's 18 year relationship with actress Barbara Neugass ended in 1992 and led to a palimony suit that Neugass ultimately lost. Klugman began living with Peggy Crosby in 1988. They married in February 2008, shortly after Somers's death.

Klugman was an avid Thoroughbred racing fan. He owned Jaklin Klugman, who finished third in the 1980 Kentucky Derby behind the great filly Genuine Risk and Grade 1 stakes winner Akinemod. Klugman said Jaklin Klugman's success was the biggest thrill of his life. His farm where he kept up to 100 horses was called El Rancho De Jaklin named after his horse. In the 1980s, Klugman licensed his name for use by a popcorn franchise named "Jack's Corn Crib".

YearAwardCategoryWorkResult 1969 British Academy Film Awards Best Actor in a Supporting Role Goodbye, Columbus 1971 Golden Globe Awards Best Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy The Odd Couple 1973 1964 Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role The Defenders 1971 Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series The Odd Couple 1972 1973 1974 Best Lead Actor in a Comedy Series 1975 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series 1977 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series Quincy, M. E. 1978 1979 1980 1960 Tony Awards Best Featured Actor in a Musical Gypsy 2004 TV Land Awards Quintessential Non Traditional Family The Odd Couple