On this day in 1922, veteran character actor JACK KLUGMAN was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Perhaps best known for his starring television roles of the 1970s and 1980s, Jack Klugman is also an accomplished film and stage actor. He grew up poor in Philadelphia, the son of a house painter and a hat maker. After studying drama at Carnegie Mellon University, Klugman went to New York City to pursue an acting career.Klugman made his Broadway debut in Clifford Odets’ Golden Boy in 1952. He also found work on such television shows as Actor’s Studio and The Philco Television Playhouse. On the big screen, he appeared in Grubstake (1952), Time Table (1956) and 12 Angry Men (1957) alongside Henry Fonda, E. G. Marshall, and Ed Begley. Directed by Sidney Lumet, 12 Angry Men provided an inside look at the members of a jury during a murder trial. It earned three Academy Award nominations, including Best Motion Picture.
Soon Klugman was earning some accolades himself. He received a Tony Award nomination for his role in the musical Gypsy with Ethel Merman in 1960 and won an Emmy Award for his appearance on the series The Defenders in 1964. Klugman had his first encounter with his most famous character in 1965 when he briefly took over the role of Oscar Madison from Walter Matthau in the original Broadway production of The Odd Couple. The comedy written by Neil Simon focused on the relationship between two divorced men who become roommates—the neat and orderly Felix and the grumpy, slovenly Oscar.
Reprising his role for television, Klugman co-starred with Tony Randall as Felix in The Odd Couple, which debuted in 1970. The show was a big hit with audiences tuning in to see the humorous friendship and frequent conflicts that erupted between the two opposing personalities as they tried to share the same apartment. While their characters may have had their differences, the two actors had a strong friendship. Both Klugman and Randall were nominated five times for Emmy Awards for their work on the show. Klugman won in 1971 and 1973 and Randall took home the prize in 1975.

Near the end of The Odd Couple, Klugman faced a personal health crisis. After years of smoking, he was diagnosed with cancer of the larynx in 1974. He had surgery and treatment and was able to continue with the show. The Odd Couple ended in 1975.

Without nearly skipping a beat, Klugman moved on to another hit show—this time a drama. He starred as a medical examiner in the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office on Quincy, M.E. Seen by some as a precursor to such popular forensic science shows as CSI, the show explored many seemingly natural deaths that turned out to be murder. Quincy served as both detective and pathologist, leaving the lab to seek out the truth and solve the case.

After the show ended in 1983, Klugman made some television guest appearances and took on some stage roles, including a run on Broadway in I’m Not Rappaport. In 1989, however, Klugman had a second bout of cancer. He had continued to smoke since his earlier treatment for the disease. This time, surgeons had to remove part of his vocal cords along with the cancer on his larynx. This left the actor unable to speak for some time, and he had to undergo chemotherapy as well. It took a lot of treatment and time for him to regain his ability to talk and his voice remained permanently altered.

Despite his struggle, Klugman returned to acting. In 1993, he reteamed with old friend Tony Randall for the television movie, The Odd Couple: Together Again. The pair also appeared on Broadway together in a revival of the Neil Simon comedy, The Sunshine Boys, in 1997. He has appeared in several feature films, including Dear God (1996) and When Do We Eat? (2005), and on such shows as Third Watch, Crossing Jordan, and Presidio Med.

Most recently, Klugman has become an author, writing about one of the most pivotal relationships of his career. In Tony and Me (2007), he explored the details of their friendship, which spanned five decades.

Klugman lives in Malibu, California. He has three children from his marriage to actress and comedian Brett Somers—Adam, David, and Leslie. The couple separated in the 1970s, but never divorced. Somers died in September 2007. 

(With thanks to Biography.com)

 

 

 


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