Jack Albertson

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Jack Albertson
Born	June 16, 1907(1907-06-16) Malden, Massachusetts, USA
Died	November 25, 1981 (aged 74) Hollywood, California, USA
Other name(s)	Jackie Alberts
Awards won Academy Awards Best Supporting Actor 1968 The Subject Was Roses Emmy Awards Outstanding Lead Actor - Comedy Series 1974 Chico and the Man Tony Awards Best Supporting Actor 1965 The Subject Was Roses

Jack Albertson (June 16, 1907 – November 25, 1981) was an American award-winning character actor dating to vaudeville. A comedian, dancer, singer, and musician, Albertson is perhaps best known for his role as Grandpa Joe in the 1971 version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. For contributions to the television industry,Jack Albertson was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6253 Hollywood Boulevard .^[1]

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2.1 Broadway 2.2 Film 2.3 Television 3 Personal life and death 4 Filmography 5 Television credits - recurrent roles 6 Television - guest roles 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Early life

Albertson was born in Malden, Massachusetts, the son of Russian-born Jewish immigrants Flora Craft and Leopold Albertson.^[2][3] His sister was actress Mabel Albertson. Albertson's mother, a stock actress, supported the family by working in a shoe factory.^[2] Albertson dropped out of high school and traveled to New York City in an attempt make it big in show business. He was too poor to get a room in a flophouse, so in the winter he would sleep on the IRT subway for a nickel, and hide out when the transit workers would clear out the train at the end of the line. In the summer he would sleep in Central Park. Albertson's first real job in show business was with a vaudeville road troupe, the Dancing Verselle Sisters. He was considered a complete entertainer from the old school.

[edit] Career

[edit] Broadway

Albertson worked in burlesque as a hoofer (soft shoe dancer) and straight man to Phil Silvers on the Minsky's Burlesque Circuit. Besides vaudeville and burlesque, he appeared on the stage in many Broadway plays including High Button Shoes, Top Banana, The Cradle Will Rock, Make Mine Manhattan, Show Boat, Boy Meets Girl, Girl Crazy, Meet the People, The Sunshine Boys (for which he received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor), and The Subject Was Roses (for which he won a Tony for Best Supporting Actor). He was also known for two radio programs, Just Plain Bill and The Jack Albertson Comedy Show.

[edit] Film

Albertson appeared in over 30 films. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the 1968 film The Subject Was Roses. He appeared as Charlie Bucket's Grandpa Joe in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971), and in The Poseidon Adventure (1972), where he was the husband who encouraged his wife, the former swimming champion (played by Shelley Winters in her Oscar-nominated role) to swim for safety. Albertson said that his one regret was that he was not asked to reprise his role in the movie version of The Sunshine Boys.

[edit] Television

Television also saw much of Albertson's talent. He appeared in dozens of series, including Jack Sheldon's short-lived Run, Buddy, Run on CBS in 1966. He starred in Chico and the Man, for which Albertson won an Emmy, making him one of the few entertainers to win the triple crown of entertainment (a Tony, an Oscar, and an Emmy).

[edit] Personal life and death

Albertson was married to Wallace (Wally) Thompson and had one daughter, Maura. He resided for years in West Hollywood, California. In 1978, he was diagnosed with colorectal cancer, but kept this information private so he could continue to act. He made two television movies, My Body, My Child (1982) and Grandpa, Will You Run With Me? (1982), that were released posthumously.

Albertson died on November 25, 1981, from colorectal cancer. He was cremated and his ashes scattered in the Pacific Ocean.

[edit] Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Other notes
1938	Next Time I Marry	Reporter	unconfirmed
1940	Strike Up the Band	Barker	uncredited
1947	Miracle on 34th Street	Post Office mail sorter next to Lou	uncredited
1952	Anything Can Happen	Flower Vendor	uncredited
1954	Top Banana	Vic Davis
1955	Bring Your Smile Along	Mr. Jenson
1956	Over-Exposed	Les Bauer	uncredited
	The Harder They Fall	Pop
	The Eddy Duchin Story	Piano tuner	uncredited
	The Unguarded Moment	Prof
	You Can't Run Away from It	Third proprietor
1957	Man of a Thousand Faces	Dr. J. Wilson Shields
	Don't Go Near the Water	Rep. George Jansen
	Monkey on My Back	Sam Pian
1958	Teacher's Pet	Guide
1959	Never Steal Anything Small	Sleep-Out Charlie Barnes
	The Shaggy Dog	Reporter	uncredited
1961	The George Raft Story	Milton
	Lover Come Back	Fred
1962	Convicts 4	Art Teacher
	Period of Adjustment	Desk Sergeant
	Who's Got the Action?	Hodges
	Days of Wine and Roses	Traynor
1963	Son of Flubber	Mr. Barley
1964	Kissin' Cousins	Capt. Robert Jason Salbo
	The Patsy	Theatergoer with Helen
	Roustabout	Lou (tea house manager)
1965	How to Murder Your Wife	Dr. Bentley
1967	The Flim-Flam Man	Mr. Packard
1968	How To Save A Marriage and Ruin Your Life	Mr. Slotkin
	The Subject Was Roses	John Cleary	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
1969	Justine	Cohen
	'Changes	The Father
1970	Squeeze A Flower	Alfredo Brazzi
	Rabbit, Run	Marty Tothero
1971	Once Upon A Dead Man
	Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory	Grandpa Joe
	The Late Liz	Rev. Gordon Rogers
1972	Pickup on 101	Hobo
	The Poseidon Adventure	Manny Rosen
1981	The Fox and the Hound	Hunter (Amos Slade)	voice
	Dead and Buried	William G. Dobbs
1982	The American Adventure	Mark Twain

[edit] Television credits - recurrent roles

Year	Show	Role	Other notes
1957-1959	The Thin Man	Lt. Harry Evans	14 episodes
1959-1962	The Jack Benny Program	Reporter	6 episodes
1961-1964	Mister Ed	Paul Fenton	7 episodes
1962	Room for One More	Walter Burton
1971-1972	Doctor Simon Locke	Dr. Andrew Sellers
1974-1978	Chico and the Man	Ed Brown	1975 - Nominated - Emmy Award 1976 - Won - Emmy Award 1977 - Nominated - Emmy Award
1978	Grandpa Goes to Washington	Sen. Joe Kelley

[edit] Television - guest roles

Year Show Role Other notes 1956 I Love Lucy Helicopter Dispatcher "Bon Voyage" episode 1957-1960 Have Gun, Will Travel 3 episodes 1958 Bachelor Father "Bentley and the Finishing School" episode 1960 The Gale Storm Show Freddy Morell 1 episode 1959-1961 The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis various roles 5 episodes 1961-1963 The Twilight Zone 2 episodes 1962 The Dick Van Dyke Show Mr. Eisenbauer 1 episode 1966-1967 Run for Your Life Harry Krissel 3 episodes 1967 The Andy Griffith Show Bradford J. Taylor 1 episode 1968-1972 Bonanza 2 episodes 1969 The Big Valley Judge Ben Moore 1 episode 1969-1970 Land of the Giants 2 episodes The Virginian 2 episodes 1969-1974 Gunsmoke 3 episodes 1970 Marcus Welby, M.D. Mr. Chambers 1 episode Daniel Boone Sweet 1 episode Nanny and the Professor Edwin Higgenbotham Botkin 1 episode 1971 Love, American Style Archie segment "Love and the Second Time" 1972 Night Gallery Bullivant 1 episode 1973 The Streets of San Francisco Tim Murphy 1 episode 1975 Tony Orlando and Dawn Himself 1 episode Cher Himself Emmy Award 1976 Donny & Marie Himself Episode dated 6 April 1976 1980 Charlie's Angels Edward Jordan 1 episode [edit] See also Vaudeville Broadway theatre Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory Chico and the Man [edit] References ^ Hollywood Walk of Fame database. Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. ^ a b http://www.genealogymagazine.com/albertson.html ^ http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70F1EFD38591A728DDDAE0894D9405B838BF1D3 [edit] External links Jack Albertson at Allmovie Jack Albertson at Find A Grave Jack Albertson at the Internet Movie Database v • d • e Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor George Chakiris (1961) · Ed Begley (1962) · Melvyn Douglas (1963) · Peter Ustinov (1964) · Martin Balsam (1965) · Walter Matthau (1966) · George Kennedy (1967) · Jack Albertson (1968) · Gig Young (1969) John Mills (1970) · Ben Johnson (1971) · Joel Grey (1972) · John Houseman (1973) · Robert De Niro (1974) · George Burns (1975) · Jason Robards (1976) · Jason Robards (1977) · Christopher Walken (1978) · Melvyn Douglas (1979) · Timothy Hutton (1980) Complete list · (1936–1940) · (1941–1960) · (1961–1980) · (1981–2000) · (2001-present) v • d • e Primetime Emmy Award for Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program Harvey Korman / Brenda Vaccaro (1974) · Jack Albertson / Cloris Leachman (1975) · Chevy Chase / Vicki Lawrence (1976) · Tim Conway / Rita Moreno (1977) · Tim Conway / Gilda Radner (1978) · George Hearn (1985) · Whitney Houston (1986) · Robin Williams (1987) · Robin Williams (1988) · Linda Ronstadt (1989) · Tracey Ullman (1990) · Billy Crystal (1991) · Billy Crystal (1992) · Dana Carvey (1993) · Tracey Ullman (1994) · Barbra Streisand (1995) · Tony Bennett (1996) · Bette Midler (1997) · Billy Crystal (1998) · John Leguizamo (1999) · Eddie Izzard (2000) Complete list: (1974-2000) · (2001-present) v • d • e Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor - Comedy Series Jack Albertson (1976) · Carroll O'Connor (1977) · Carroll O'Connor (1978) · Carroll O'Connor (1979) · Richard Mulligan (1980) · Judd Hirsch (1981) · Alan Alda (1982) · Judd Hirsch (1983) · John Ritter (1984) · Robert Guillaume (1985) · Michael J. Fox (1986) · Michael J. Fox (1987) · Michael J. Fox (1988) · Richard Mulligan (1989) · Ted Danson (1990) · Burt Reynolds (1991) · Craig T. Nelson (1992) · Ted Danson (1993) · Kelsey Grammer (1994) · Kelsey Grammer (1995) · John Lithgow (1996) · John Lithgow (1997) · Kelsey Grammer (1998) · John Lithgow (1999) · Michael J. Fox (2000) Complete list: (1950-1975) · (1976-2000) · (2001-present) v • d • e Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play Arthur Kennedy (1949) · Eli Wallach (1951) · John Cromwell (1952) · John Williams (1953) · John Kerr (1954) · Francis L. Sullivan (1955) · Ed Begley (1956) · Frank Conroy (1957) · Henry Jones (1958) · Charlie Ruggles (1959) · Roddy McDowall (1960) · Martin Gabel (1961) · Walter Matthau (1962) · Alan Arkin (1963) · Hume Cronyn (1964) · Jack Albertson (1965) · Patrick Magee (1966) · Ian Holm (1967) · James Patterson (1968) · Al Pacino (1969) · Ken Howard (1970) · Paul Sand (1971) · Vincent Gardenia (1972) · John Lithgow (1973) · Ed Flanders (1974) · Frank Langella (1975) Complete list: (1947-1975) · (1976-2000) · (2001-present)