Biography

Claude Akins

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Overview

Born
May 25, 1926 · Nelson, Georgia, USA
Died
January 27, 1994 · Altadena, California, USA (stomach cancer)
Birth name
Claude Marion Akins
Height
6′ 1″ (1.85 m)

Mini bio

Broad-shouldered and beefy Claude Akins had wavy black hair, a deep booming voice and was equally adept at playing sneering cowardly villains as he was at portraying hard-nosed cops. The son of a police officer, Akins never seemed short of work and appeared in nearly 100 films and 180+ TV episodes in a career spanning over 40 years. He originally attended Northwestern University, and went on to serve with the US Army Signal Corps in World War II in Burma and the Phillipines. Upon returning, he reignited his interest in art and drama and first appeared in front of the camera in 1953 in From Here to Eternity (1953). He quickly began notching up roles in such TV shows as Dragnet (1951), My Friend Flicka (1955), Gunsmoke (1955) and Zane Grey Theatre (1956). He also turned in several strong cinematic performances, such as gunfighter Joe Burdette in the landmark western Rio Bravo (1959), Mack in the excellent The Defiant Ones (1958), Sgt. Kolwicz in Merrill's Marauders (1962) and Earl Sylvester in the gripping The Killers (1964). In the early 1970s Akins turned up in several supernatural TV films playing "no-nonsense" sheriffs in both The Night Stalker (1972) and The Norliss Tapes (1973), and was unrecognizable underneath his simian make-up as war-mongering Gen. Aldo in Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973). Akins continued starring in films and TV right up until the time of his death from cancer in 1994. By all reports a very gregarious, likable and friendly person off screen, Akins was married for over 40 years to Theresa "Pie" Fairfield, and had three children, Claude Marion Jr., Michele & Wendy.
- IMDb mini biography by: firehouse44

Family

Spouse

Trivia

Served as a Master Sergeant in the US Army Signal Corps during World War II.
He was always very friendly to everyone and was very gracious in signing every autograph request.
First performed at the age of 5 in a church play in which he played a bird.
Akins majored in speech and theater at Northwestern University. Later, he trained at the Barter Theater in Abingdon, Virginia in the late 1940s and toured in such shows as "The Hasty Heart" and "The Comedy of Errors". He made his Broadway debut in a small, uncredited role in "The Rose Tattoo" in 1951.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Akins appeared in many television commercials as the spokesmen for AAMCO transmission, with the slogan "Double A, [honk, honk], M, C, O".

Quotes

Between the war movies I've been in and the heavies I've played, I have about 1,000 dead behind me. I've been killed a good many times, but I took a lot of guys with me.
I was very fortunate that I get paid for what I love to do. I know a lot of good actors who simply can't find work. Every time I get a job, I say to myself, 'You've beaten the odds.'
[on his role in From Here to Eternity (1953)] My first scene on film was where I walk into the office and report Private Prewitt absent to Sergeant Warden, played by Burt Lancaster -- and I was scared to death. Burt was one of the big stars of that era, but still very nice. Fred Zinnemann, the director, was extremely patient and understanding. And somehow I got through it. My panic has always been the time right up to the end of my first scene. Once that first shot is in the can, I'm home free.
A guy who looks like Robert Redford will most often be cast as a hero. A guy like me or Ernie Borgnine plays a lot of heavies. If you're big, they think you're tough. And if you're tough, they think you're dumb.
Hell, acting is acting, whether it's for the movies, TV or the stage,