Jack Klugman - #35

'Odd Couple' actor Klugman dies at 90. He was number 35 on the list.

He was number 35 on the list.

Actor Jack Klugman, best known for playing messy sportswriter Oscar Madison in TV's "The Odd Couple," died December 24 at age 90. Klugman won two Emmys for his role in the sitcom, plus won an Emmy in 1964 for a role in "The Defenders." Klugman also starred in "Quincy, M.E." as medical examiner Dr. R. Quincy from 1976 to 1983.

Actor Jack Klugman, best known for playing messy sportswriter Oscar Madison in TV's "The Odd Couple," died December 24 at age 90. Klugman won two Emmys for his role in the sitcom, plus won an Emmy in 1964 for a role in "The Defenders." Klugman also starred in "Quincy, M.E." as medical examiner Dr. R. Quincy from 1976 to 1983.

"So when (executive producer) Garry Marshall called me, I thought he'd seen me do it on Broadway and that's why he wanted me. He said, 'No, I never saw you.' I said, 'So why did you want me?' He said, 'Well, I saw you in 'Gypsy,' and Ethel Merman was singing to you, and she was spitting all over you.' "

Marshall continued, Klugman said: " 'You know, that's a good actor, he's not showing that she's spitting all over him.' That's why he hired me."

The show, based on a Neil Simon play, was the hilarious story of two recently divorced men who became mismatched roommates. Madison was the gruff, wisecracking slob. Felix Unger, played by the late Tony Randall, was the neurotic neat freak who was a professional photographer.

But while the characters were always at odds with each other, the actors got along famously.

When asked by King if he had a natural simpatico with Randall, Klugman said: "Oh, yeah, it happened so beautifully."

He said the two made up a lot of the script on the spot.

"He would provoke you into saying something funny. That's true improvisation," he told King. "It was wonderful. I had a great time. I learned a lot."

Randall, who died in 2004, was succinct. "It just clicked," he told King.

According to Klugman, the show, which made its debut in 1970, was on the verge of being canceled every year until it actually was axed in 1975.

The show lives on in syndication, just as Klugman told Randall it would.

"You see, when were on originally, we never had a rating." Randall told King in 1996. "We were not a success. It's hard to believe, but Jack always said, 'Someday, we'll come back in reruns, and they'll find us because we know we were good,' and he just was right dead center on target."

That paid off nicely for the actors, who received part ownership; Klugman said he received 10% while Randall got 20%. It earned Klugman far more than the $7,000 an episode he made for the last season of 22 episodes.

Klugman and Randall later reunited for a 1993 TV movie "The Odd Couple: Together Again" and the 1999 Broadway play, "Sunshine Boys," according to the Internet Movie Database website. They also performed the stage version of "The Odd Couple" in London.

When "The Odd Couple" ended, he didn't want to do another TV series, Klugman told King, even though he got a lot of offers for more comedies. He said he eventually became fascinated with the lead character in "Quincy."

"This guy is two heroes in one. He is a cop, he is a doctor," he said he told his agent. The show was successful because even though it was about death, it lacked violence. It was about social issues, he said.

Klugman also won an Emmy in 1964 for outstanding single performance by an actor in a leading role for portraying a blacklisted actor in an episode of "The Defenders."

Klugman's stage, film and television acting career spanned more than five decades.

One of his first breaks was as a 29-year-old understudy in the comedic play "Mister Roberts," starring Henry Fonda.

Klugman spent 15 months on the road and played the role of a doctor for two months. The doctor was supposed to be about 40 years old.

"I always looked old anyway. When I was 22, I looked 80," Klugman said.

A Philadelphia native, Klugman also made his mark in movies, including an early role as a member of the jury in 1957's "12 Angry Men," and as Ali McGraw's father in "Goodbye, Columbus" in 1969.

He was the last of the 12 actors from "12 Angry Men" to pass away.

His earliest acting was on the stage in New York, where he continued to perform throughout his life.

Some of his memorable early TV appearances included roles on "The Twilight Zone" and the crime drama "Naked City." The Internet Movie Database lists 97 television and film credits for Klugman.

A battle with throat cancer in the late 1980s reduced his voice to a rasp, but it did not end his career.

Klugman was also a big fan of the ponies.

"I always was a player," he said. "I had been gambling on horses since I was a kid, 15 years old. And when I came (to Los Angeles), I came involved with people" with whom he began to buy horses.

One of the race horses turned up lame so Klugman agreed to breed the horse and sell the foal.

Instead he decided to keep it and name it Jack. But when it was born, he was told the horse was a female so he named it Jacklin. When he received the horse, it turned out it was a male after all.

Jacklin Klugman finished third in the 1980 Kentucky Derby and fourth in the Preakness Stakes.

Klugman was first married to the late Brett Somers -- an actress and regular panelist on the TV quiz show "Match Game" -- from 1953 until her death in 2007, the website said. People magazine reported that the two separated in 1974 but never divorced.

At the time of his death, he was married to former actress and longtime girlfriend Peggy Crosby, whom he married in 2008 when he was 85. Klugman is also survived by another son, David.

Filmography

Film Year             Title       Role       Notes

1952      Grubstake                           Alternative title: Apache Gold

1956      Time Table          Frankie Page     

1957      12 Angry Men    Juror No. 5         

1958      Cry Terror!          Vince, a thug     

1962      Days of Wine and Roses                Jim Hungerford

1963      I Could Go on Singing      George

1963      The Yellow Canary           Lt. Bonner          

1963      Act One                Joe Hyman         

1965      Hail, Mafia          Phil         Alternative title: Je vous salue, mafia!

1968      The Detective    Dave Schoenstein           

1968      The Split               Harry Kifka         

1969      Goodbye, Columbus       Ben Patimkin     

1971      Who Says I Can't Ride a Rainbow!             Barney

1976      Two-Minute Warning     Sandman            

1996      The Twilight of the Golds              Mr. Stein             

1996      Dear God             Jemi      

2005      When Do We Eat?            Artur    

2010      Camera Obscura               Sam       (final film role)

Television Year Title       Role       Notes

1950      Suspense             Louie     Episode: "Murder at the Mardi Gras"

1953      Colonel Humphrey Flack                                2 episodes

1954      Rocky King Detective                      Episode: "Return for Death"

1954      Inner Sanctum   Various roles      3 episodes

1954–1956          Justice                   3 episodes

1955      Producers' Showcase      Jackie    Episode: "The Petrified Forest"

1955      Treasury Men in Action                  Episode: "The Case of the Betrayed Artist"

1955–1956          Goodyear Television Playhouse                 2 episodes

1955–1956          Armstrong Circle Theatre                              2 episodes

1957      Alfred Hitchcock Presents             George Benedict              Episode: "Mail Order Prophet"

1958      Gunsmoke          Earl Ticks              Episode: "Buffalo Man"

1958      General Electric Theater                Murphy                Episode: "The Young and Scared"

1957      General Electric Theater                Peter Tong          Episode: "A New Girl In His Life"

1959      The Walter Winchell File               Allie Sunshine    Episode: "Death Comes in a Small Package: File #37"

1960–1963          The Twilight Zone                             4 episodes

1961      Follow the Sun Steve Bixel          Episode: "Busman's Holiday"

1961      Target: The Corruptors!                 Otto Dutch Kleberg, Greg Paulson             1x02 Pier 60, 1x18 Chase the Dragon

1961      Straightaway      Buddy Conway Episode: "Die Laughing"

1962      The New Breed Floyd Blaylock    Episode: "All the Dead Faces"

1962      Cain's Hundred Mike Colonni      Episode: "Women of Silure"

1962      Naked City          Peter Kannick     Episode: "King Stanislaus and the Knights of the Round Stable"

1963      The Untouchables           Solly Girsch         Episode: "An Eye for An Eye"

1963      Naked City          Arthur Crews      Episode: "Stop the Parade! A Baby Is Crying!"

1963      The Twilight Zone             Captain Ross       Episode: "Death Ship #108"

1963      Arrest and Trial Celina    Episode: "The Quality of Justice"

1963      The Fugitive        Buck Harmon     Episode: "Terror at High Point", Season 1, Episode 13

1964      The Virginian      Charles Mayhew               Episode: "Roar from the Mountain"

1964      The Defenders Joe Larch             Episode: "Blacklist"

1964      The Great Adventure     John Brown        Episode: "The Night Raiders"

1964–1965          Harris Against the World               Alan Harris          13 episodes

1965      Kraft Suspense Theatre Ozzie Keefer       Episode: "Won't It Ever Be Morning? "

1965      Ben Casey            Dr. Bill Justin      Episode: "A Slave Is on the Throne"

1965      The Fugitive        Gus Hendricks    Episode: "Everybody Gets Hit in the Mouth Sometimes", Season 2, Episode 24

1966      Fame Is the Name of the Game Ben Welcome    Television film

1967      Garrison's Gorillas            Gus Manners     Episode: "Banker's Hours"

1969      Then Came Bronson        Dr. Charles Hanrahan      Episode: "The Runner"

1970      The Bold Ones: The New Doctors               Leland Rogers    Episode: "The Diamond Millstone"

1970      The Name of the Game Captain Garrig   Episode: "The Time Is Now"

1970–1975          The Odd Couple                Oscar Madison 114 episodes

1972      Banyon                                 Episode: "The Lady Killers"

1973      Poor Devil           Burnett J. Emerson          Television film

1974      The Underground Man Sheriff Tremaine               Television film

1976      One of My Wives Is Missing         Inspector Murray Levine               Television film

1976–1983          Quincy, M.E.       Dr. R. Quincy, M.E.           147 episodes

1979      Password Plus    Himself                 Game Show Participant / Celebrity Guest Star

1979      Insight   Packy Rowe        Episode: "Rebirth of Packy Rowe"

1986–1987          You Again?          Henry Willows   26 episodes

1989      Around the World in 80 Days      Capt. Bunsby      Miniseries

1993      The Odd Couple: Together Again               Oscar Madison Television film

1994      Parallel Lives      Senator Robert Ferguson              Television film

1995      Shining Time Station: Second Chances    Max Okowsky    Television film

1997      Diagnosis: Murder           Dr. Jeff Everden                Episode: "Physician, Murder Thyself"

1999      Diagnosis: Murder           Lt. Harry Trumble             Episode: "Voices Carry"

1999      Brother's Keeper              Jack        Episode: "An Odd Couple of Days"

2000      The Outer Limits               Joe Walker          Episode: "Glitch"

2000      Third Watch       Stan Brandolini Episode: "Run of the Mill"

2002      Crossing Jordan                 Dr. Leo Gelber   Episode: "Someone to Count On"

Awards

Year       Award   Category              Title of work

1974      Golden Globe Award      Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy              The Odd Couple

1964      Primetime Emmy Award               Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role     The Defenders

(For episode: "Blacklist")

1971      Primetime Emmy Award               Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series The Odd Couple

1973      Primetime Emmy Award               Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series The Odd Couple

2004      TV Land Award Quintessential Non-Traditional Family     The Odd Couple

(Shared with Tony Randall)