Kip Niven, Actor in ‘Magnum Force,’ ‘Alice’ and ‘The Waltons,’ Dies at 73
Actor Kip Niven, who played one of the young rogue traffic cops in 'Magnum Force' and appeared on such TV shows as 'Alice' and 'The Waltons,' has died. He was 73.
He was not on the list.
Actor Kip Niven, who played one of the young rogue motorcycle cops in Magnum Force and appeared on such TV shows as Alice and The Waltons, has died. He was 73.
Niven, a theater mainstay in his native Kansas City, Missouri, died Monday, The Kansas City Star reported. Local radio station KCUR-FM said the cause of death was a heart attack.
Niven starred as legendary University of Kansas basketball coach Phog Allen in Jayhawkers (2014), written and directed by Kevin Willmott, a University of Kansas professor and recent Oscar screenplay winner for BlacKkKlansman.
“Kip was Kansas City theater and film in many ways. He was a symbol of its heart and beauty and community,” Willmott told KCUR. “He was our little piece of Hollywood right here in the backyard.”
At the conclusion of the long-running CBS sitcom Alice in 1985, Niven portrayed a country singer who sweeps Linda Lavin’s title character off her feet and takes her to Nashville to fulfill her dream of becoming a singer as well. He and Lavin were married in real life from 1982-92.
Early in his career, Niven played Alan “Red” Astrachan, one of the traffic cops — Tim Matheson, David Soul and Robert Urich were the others — who take matters into their own hands in the Dirty Harry sequel Magnum Force (1973), starring Clint Eastwood.
On Broadway, he appeared in the 1991 musical comedy Nick and Nora, and he was the Rev. Tom Marshall on episodes of CBS’ The Waltons and in a pair of subsequent telefilms.
Clifford Niven was born on May 27, 1945, in Kansas City and raised in the suburb of Prairie Village. He attended Shawnee Mission East High School and studied theater at the University of Kansas. One of his first onscreen roles came in a 1972 installment of Night Gallery.
He later showed up in the disaster pics Earthquake (1974), Airport 1975 and The Hindenburg (1975) and in other films including Midway (1976), Swashbuckler (1976), Damnation Alley (1977), New Year’s Evil (1980), The Painting (2001) and Raising Jeffrey Dahmer (2006).
His TV résumé also include stints on Marcus Welby, M.D.; Emergency!; Barnaby Jones; Hart to Hart; Spencer: For Hire; Kate & Allie; Knight Rider; and Law & Order.
Niven
returned to live in the Kansas City area in the 1990s and launched the Equity
Actors’ Readers’ Theatre (EARTh), which staged dramatic readings of plays. He
worked often on local stages and was set to perform in The Wizard of Oz at the
Starlight Theater in June.
Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
1972-1973 Emergency! (TV Series) Clive Jonas in "Nurse's
Wild" and Stan Taylor in "Peace Pipe" (1972)
Bo Jensen in "The Promise" and Billy Hanks in "School Days" (1973)
1973 Maneater Shep Saunders
1973 Magnum Force Officer Alan "Red" Astrachan
1974 Newman's Law Assistant Coroner
1974 Airport 1975 Lt. Thatcher
1974 Earthquake Walter Russell
1975 The Hindenburg Lieutenant Truscott
1976 Midway Lt. Howard P. Ady, PBY Pilot
1976 Swashbuckler Willard Culverwell
1976 Once an Eagle Ryetower
1976 The Bionic Woman - Episode: "Welcome
Home, Jaime: Part 2" Donald
Harris
1977 Damnation Alley Perry
1978 A Fire in the Sky Mac
1979 Blind Ambition Egil Krogh
1980 New Year's Evil Richard Sullivan
1980 Barnaby Jones Ted Singleton episode"
Murder in the Key of C"
1982 Hart to Hart Ford
Beebe Season 4 Episode "Harts On
Campus"
1993 Dead Before Dawn Ken Fuller
2001 The Painting Doctor
2002 More than Puppy Love Vincent
2006 Raising Jeffrey Dahmer Attorney Howard Parker
2009 The Only Good Indian Dr. Hummber
2014 Jayhawkers Forrest 'Phog' Allen
2017 The Tree Wade
Garrison
2017 Goodland Hal Bloom
2019 The Land Farmer Jim (final film role)
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