‘Odd Couple’ actor Jack Klugman dies at 90

[oneh2obabe]

Anthony McCartney
The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES, CALIF.—Jack Klugman, the prolific, craggy-faced character actor and regular guy who was loved by millions as the messy one in TV’s “The Odd Couple” and the crime-fighting coroner in “Quincy, M.E.,” died Monday, a son said. He was 90.

Klugman, who lost his voice to throat cancer in the 1980s and trained himself to speak again, died with his wife at his side.

“He had a great life and he enjoyed every moment of it and he would encourage others to do the same,” son Adam Klugman said.

Jack Klugman apparently died suddenly, and family members were not sure of the exact cause.

Never anyone’s idea of a matinee idol, Klugman remained a popular star for decades simply by playing a gruff but down-to-earth guy, his tie stained and a little loose, a cigar in hand during the days when smoking was permitted.

His was a city actor ideal for “The Odd Couple,” which ran from 1970 to 1975 and was based on Neil Simon’s play about mismatched roommates, divorced New Yorkers who end up living together. The show teamed Klugman — the sloppy sports writer Oscar Madison — and Tony Randall — the fussy photographer Felix Unger — in the roles played by Walter Matthau and Art Carney on Broadway and Matthau and Jack Lemmon in the 1968 film.

Klugman had already had a taste of the show when he replaced Matthau on Broadway, and he learned to roll with the quick-thinking Randall.

“There’s nobody better to improvise with than Tony,” Klugman said. “A script might say, ‘Oscar teaches Felix football.’ There would be four blank pages. He would provoke me into reacting to what he did. Mine was the easy part.”

They were the best of friends in real life. When Randall died in 2004 at age 84, Klugman told CNN: “A world without Tony Randall is a world that I cannot recognize.”

In “Quincy, M.E.,” which ran from 1976 to 1983, Klugman played an idealistic, tough-minded medical examiner who tussled with his boss by uncovering evidence of murder in cases where others saw natural causes.

“Everybody said, ‘Quincy’ll never be a hit.’ I said, ‘You guys are wrong. He’s two heroes in one, a cop and a doctor,’” he said in a 1987 Associated Press interview.

For his 1987 role as 81-year-old Nat in the Broadway production of “I’m Not Rappaport,” Klugman wore leg weights to learn to shuffle like an elderly man. He said he would wear them for an hour before each performance, “to remember to keep that shuffle.”

“The guy is so vital emotionally, but physically he can’t be,” Klugman said.

“We treat old people so badly. There is nothing easy about 80.”

The son of Russian Jewish immigrants, he was born in Philadelphia and began his acting career in college drama. He made his Broadway debut in 1952 in a revival of “Golden Boy.” His film credits included Sidney Lumet’s “12 Angry Men” and Blake Edwards’ “Days of Wine and Roses,” and an early television highlight was appearing with Humphrey Bogart and Henry Fonda in a production of “The Petrified Forest.”

His performance in the classic 1959 musical “Gypsy” brought him a Tony nomination for best featured (supporting) actor in a musical.

Throat cancer took away his raspy voice for several years in the 1980s. When he was back on the stage for a 1993 revival of “Three Men on a Horse,” The Associated Press review said, “His voice may be a little scratchy but his timing is as impeccable as ever.”

“The only really stupid thing I ever did in my life was to start smoking,” he said in 1996. Seeing people smoking in television and films, he added, “disgusts me, it makes me so angry — kids are watching.”

Klugman’s wife, actress-comedian Brett Somers, played his ex-wife, Blanche, in the “Odd Couple” series. The couple, who married in 1953 and had two sons, Adam and David, had been estranged for years at the time of her death in 2007.

In February 2008, at age 85, Klugman married longtime girlfriend Peggy Crosby.

In 1997, Klugman was sued by an ex-girlfriend, Barbara Neugass, who claimed he had promised to support her for the rest of her life. But a jury rejected her claim.

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/artic ... dies-at-90

[gardengirl]

Aw sad. The man was a trooper.

[Fancy]

Loved Quincy, enjoyed his acting and he lived a long life.

[GenuinelyInterested]

I too loved Quincey and everything else that he did.

Jack Klugman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jack Klugman

Klugman in November 2009
Born Jacob Joachim Klugman[1]
April 27, 1922
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died December 24, 2012 (aged 90)
Woodland Hills, California, U.S.
Nationality American
Alma mater Carnegie Mellon University
Years active 1948–2010
Spouse(s)
Brett Somers (m. 1953–2007)
Peggy Crosby (m. 2008–2012)
Children Adam Klugman
David Klugman
Awards Emmy Award (1964, 1971, 1973)[2][3]
Golden Globe Award (1974)[4]
Jacob Joachim "Jack" Klugman (April 27, 1922 – December 24, 2012) was an American stage, film and television actor.
Klugman began his career in the late 1940s on the stage. He later moved on to 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 1970, Klugman reprised his Broadway role of Oscar Madison 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.
A long-time smoker, Klugman was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1974. The cancer returned in 1989. During the course of treatment, Klugman lost a vocal cord which left him with a raspy voice.
Klugman married actress Brett Somers in 1953. The couple had two children before separating in 1974. They never divorced and were still married when Somers died in 2007. He married Peggy Crosby, with whom he lived since 1988, the following year. Klugman died on December 24, 2012 at the age of 90.

I have often been compared to his spirit and noted for our similarities in personality, even though he is some 30+ years my senior.


May you rest in peace. Thanks for everything Jack.