Biography

David Dukes

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David Dukes was born on June 6, 1945 in San Francisco, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Gods and Monsters (1998), Rawhead Rex (1986) and A Little Romance (1979). He was married to Carol Muske-Dukes and Carolyn Lee McKenzie. He died on October 9, 2000 in Lakewood, Washington, USA.

Received numerous death threats after he played a character who tried to rape Edith Bunker in the All in the Family episode Edith's 50th Birthday: Part 1 (1977) (October 16, 1977).
His wife, Carol Muske-Dukes, wrote a book titled "Life After Death", where a woman, upset at her husband for leaving her and their child, says to him, "Why don't you just die?". The next day, he dies of a heart attack on a tennis court. Shortly after the book was completed, David Dukes went to play tennis and died of a heart attack.
He collapsed and died in Spanaway, Washington while filming Rose Red (2002).
Was Rob Reiner's first choice to play the adult Gordie LaChance, the narrator of Stand by Me (1986), before being replaced by Richard Dreyfuss. In the first long shot of the adult Gordie, you can still see that it is Dukes, not Dreyfuss, sitting in the car. The story is about the character's first experiences with death. Sadly, Dukes died while appearing in another Stephen King adaptation.
On Broadway, he played both "Frankenstein" and "Dracula".

I've never burned to be a star. You have to have enough of a name to get the big parts with the best people.
Film acting is about your motivation, it's about why you decide this or that, whereas on stage the action is more important than the decision.
[on the benefits of film acting] There's a certain kind of smallness when they come in tight, a kind of subtlety and a kind of naturalism that you can't do on stage. You're allowed to be very, very real and very, very spontaneous.
The thing about television is that it fades very quickly. That so-called stardom thing is very elusive. Television churns out so much so fast that each new thing erases the last. Enduring stardom, I think, takes a body of work.
I've had so many projects where people have said, "This is the one that will launch you; you're going to be a big star." It hasn't happened although my career continues to build steadily. More parts are open to me, and more people know of me, and I like that better than suddenly being the new Eddie Murphy or John Travolta. When and if that kind of responsibility for a play or film is thrust on me, I'll be ready because I have a large backlog of experience.

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