Biography

Richard Jaeckel

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Overview

Born
October 10, 1926 · Long Beach, Long Island, New York, USA
Died
June 14, 1997 · Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA (malignant melanoma)
Birth name
Richard Hanley Jaeckel
Nickname
- Jake
Height
5′ 7″ (1.70 m)

Biography

Stocky tough-guy character actor Richard Jaeckel was one of Hollywood's most prolific supporting stars. Born in Long Island, New York, on October 10, 1926, Jaeckel's family moved to Los Angeles when he was still in his teens. After graduation from Hollywood High School, Jaeckel was discovered by a casting director while working as a mailboy for 20th Century-Fox. Although he had some reluctance to act, Jaeckel accepted a key part in the war epic Guadalcanal Diary (1943) and remained in films for over 50 years, graduating from playing baby-faced teenagers (like Dick Clark, Jaeckel never seemed to age) to gunfighters and hired killers with ease. From 1944-48 he served in the US Navy, and after his discharge he co-starred in Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) with John Wayne. Jaeckel's other notable roles in films include one of a trio of GIs accused of raping a German girl in Town Without Pity (1961)--a standout performance--and The Dirty Dozen (1967) as tough MP Sgt. Clyde Bowren, who goes along on the mission to keep an eye on the prisoners he's trained, a role he reprised in a made-for-TV sequel in 1985. Jaeckel also received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his funny but tragic performance in Sometimes a Great Notion (1971). Although he appeared in over 70 films, he was very active in television series such as Frontier Circus (1961), Banyon (1971), Firehouse (1974), Salvage 1 (1979), At Ease (1983), Spenser: For Hire (1985) and Supercarrier (1988). From 1991-94 he played Lt. Ben Edwards on the hit series Baywatch (1989). He passed away after a three-year battle with melanoma cancer on June 14, 1997, at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. Jaeckel was 70 years old.
- IMDb mini biography by: Blythe379@cs.com

Family

Spouse
Children
Parents

Trademark

Frequently played mean cowboy and military villains
Very often his character did not survive his movie.

Trivia

Was forced to file bankruptcy in early 1994 due to a $1.7-million debt, and eventually he lost his home in Brentwood, CA, and most of his possessions. He later moved into the Motion Picture and Television Retirement Center in Woodland Hills, a retirement home for actors and other motion picture people, where he stayed for the next three years until his death in June of 1997.
He was a mail courier on the 20th Century-Fox studio lot in 1943 when a casting agent spotted him and signed him for a part in Guadalcanal Diary (1943).
His wife, Antoinette, succumbed to Alzheimer's disease and preceded him in death.
Although Jaeckel was battling cancer, director Joe Dante had originally hoped that he would be able to return to work and provide the voice of Link Static for his project Small Soldiers (1998). This film reunited Jaeckel's fellow cast members from The Dirty Dozen (1967). Jaeckel died from his cancer before shooting began.
According to Robert Osborne in "Academy Awards 1972 Oscar Annual," Jaeckel got the role in Sometimes a Great Notion (1971) when Paul Newman ran into him at Malibu Beach. Jaeckel was relaxing and swimming with his family and friends, and as Newman watched him playing with his own children, he thought that Jaeckel would be just right to play his brother in the film. Newman subsequently stood up for casting Jaeckel at later conferences with studio management, and he got the part, and an Oscar nomination.

Quotes

[on being diagnosed with melanoma cancer] I know people are pulling for me to beat this thing, but let them have a glass at the bar for me and let it go at that.
I've put 50 years in movies and my wife and I have traveled all over the world. I've been very lucky.
We're [he and his wife] not part of the Hollywood social scene. And we don't entertain much. We went through all that early in the going and I found that we just spent a lot of money doing absolutely nothing.