Best Known As: Oscar Madison in TV's The Odd Couple
Jack Klugman is a versatile character actor who appeared on Broadway and in television from the 1950s through the 1990s. He is best known for playing sportswriter Oscar Madison in the TV comedy series The Odd Couple from 1970-75. (Tony Randall played his roommate, Felix Unger.) From 1976 to 1983 Klugman played a crimefighting medical examiner on another series, Quincy M.E..
Klugman married actress Brett Somers in 1956; they separated in the 1970s... In the 1990s Klugman battled throat cancer, leaving his voice with an audible rasp... While a struggling young actor, Klugman once roomed with Charles Bronson... Klugman's series Quincy was reportedly inspired by well-known Los Angeles County coroner Thomas Noguchi... Quincy's first initial was known to be "R" but his full first name was never revealed on the show.
Career Highlights: Days of Wine and Roses, 12 Angry Men, Act One
First Major Screen Credit: 12 Angry Men (1957)
Biography
Commenting on his notorious on-set irascibility in 1977, Jack Klugman replied that he was merely "taking Peter Falk lessons from Robert Blake," invoking the names of two other allegedly hard-to-please TV stars. Klugman grew up in Philadelphia, and after taking in a 1939 performance by New York's Group Theatre, Klugman decided that an actor's life was right up his alley. He majored in drama at Carnegie Tech and studied acting at the American Theatre Wing before making his (non-salaried) 1949 stage-debut at the Equity Library Theater. While sharing a New York flat with fellow hopeful Charles Bronson, Klugman took several "grub" jobs to survive, at one point selling his blood for $85 a pint. During television's so-called Golden Age, Klugman appeared in as many as 400 TV shows. He made his film debut in 1956, and three years later co-starred with Ethel Merman in the original Broadway production of Gypsy.
In 1964, Klugman won the first of his Emmy awards for his performance in "Blacklist," an episode of the TV series The Defenders; that same year, he starred in his first sitcom, the 13-week wonder Harris Against the World. Far more successful was his next TV series, The Odd Couple, which ran from 1970 through 1974; Klugman won two Emmies for his portrayal of incorrigible slob Oscar Madison (he'd previously essayed the role when he replaced Walter Matthau in the original Broadway production of the Neil Simon play). It was during Odd Couple's run that the network "suits" got their first real taste of Klugman's savage indignation, when he and co-star Tony Randall threatened to boycott the show unless the idiotic laughtrack was removed (Klugman and Randall won that round; from 1971 onward, Odd Couple was filmed before a live audience). It was but a foretaste of things to come during Klugman's six-year (1977-83) reign as star of Quincy, M.E.. Popular though Klugman was in the role of the crusading, speechifying LA County Coroner's Office medical examiner R. Quincy, he hardly endeared himself to the producers when he vented his anger against their creative decisions in the pages of TV Guide. Nor was he warmly regarded by the Writer's Guild when he complained about the paucity of high-quality scripts (he wrote several Quincy episodes himself, with mixed results).
After Quincy's cancellation, Klugman starred in the Broadway play I'm Not Rappaport and co-starred with John Stamos in the 1986 sitcom You Again?. The future of Klugman's career -- and his future, period -- was sorely threatened when he underwent throat surgery in 1989. He'd been diagnosed with cancer of the larynx as early as 1974, but at that time was able to continue working after a small growth was removed. For several years after the 1989 operation, however, Klugman was unable to speak at all. Jack Klugman has since appeared in an Odd Couple reunion special, reciting his lines with some difficulty in a hoarse whisper. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Jacob Joachim "Jack" Klugman (born April 27, 1922) is an American stage, film and television actor, known for his roles in sitcoms, movies, television and on Broadway. He is best-known for his role as Tony Randall's sloppy roommate, Oscar Madison, in The Odd Couple shown on American television during the 1970s, and for his starring role in Quincy, M.E., in the 1970s and 1980s. He attended Carnegie Mellon University and graduated in 1948. In 1957, he appeared in the film 12 Angry Men as juror number 5 and is the last surviving actor who played a juror in that movie.
He is best known for his starring roles in two popular television series of the 1970s and early 1980s: The Odd Couple (1970–1975) and Quincy, M.E. (1976–1983). Jack also starred in the original Broadway production of The Odd Couple, after replacing Walter Matthau.[1] He won two Emmy Awards for the television version of The Odd Couple.
Klugman was nominated for a Tony Award in 1960 for Best Supporting Actor (Musical) for his role in Gypsy, losing to Tom Bosley in Fiorello!.[2] During the pre-Broadway tryout tour in 1959, several songs were cut, including a song for the character 'Herbie' (played by Klugman) called "Nice, She Ain't" cut because Klugman had a terrible singing voice.
Quiz show appearances
In 1993, Klugman appeared on a special 'celebrity versus regulars' version of the United Kingdom quiz show Going for Gold. The special episode was mostly made up of actors and actresses that appeared in programmes that were on around the same time slot as Going for Gold competing against past series winners. Klugman was invited to participate as the show Quincy, M.E., in which he starred, was often on afterwards. Klugman won this special airing before going on to win the entire 1993 series.
Klugman also appeared on the very first week of the 1970s revival of Match Game and then from time to time filled in for his then-wife, Brett Somers when she became a regular on the program a few weeks later.[3]
Dispute over Quincy M.E. profits
In 2008, Klugman sued NBC Television concerning missing profits from his show Quincy M.E.[4] The lawsuit was filed in Superior Court, with Klugman requesting NBC to show him the original contract.[4] Klugman stated that his production company, Sweater Productions, should have received twenty five percent of the show's net profits.[4] As of the filing date, only an accounting statement had been submitted by NBC.[4]
Writing
In 2005, Klugman published Tony And Me: A Story of Friendship, a book about his long friendship with his Odd Couple co-star Tony Randall. Included with the book was a DVD featuring outtakes from the show.
Personal life
Klugman in August 2005
Klugman is the father of two children: Adam (who had a cameo as Oscar Madison as a child in a flashback on The Odd Couple) and David, both from his marriage to Match Game regular Brett Somers. Klugman and Somers were married in 1953, however, they had legally separated in 1974, although technically they never divorced, and remained married until her death in 2007 at the age of 83.[5] They only lived together as husband and wife for 21 of their 54 year marriage. Klugman later joked that he never divorced Somers so that he would not make the mistake of marrying again.[citation needed] It was Klugman, who appeared on the first week of Match Game in 1973, who asked the show's production company, as a stipulation to his appearance, that they give Somers a guest slot on the panel. She fit in so well with the panelists (particularly Charles Nelson Reilly), that she stayed with the show for its entire nine-year run (ending in 1982). Klugman continued to appear on other episodes of Match Game until he and Somers separated, although he would make guest appearances infrequently. Klugman has lived with Peggy Crosby (the ex-wife of Bing Crosby's son, Phillip Crosby) since 1988; however, it was not until February 2008, after Somers's death, that Klugman and Crosby finally married.[6][7]
Klugman was close friends with Odd Couple co-star Tony Randall and gave the eulogy at Randall's memorial service.
Health issues
A heavy smoker, Klugman was originally diagnosed with throat cancer in 1974. In 1989 he lost a vocal cord to cancer, but he continued to act on stage and on television. He survived the cancer, though the lost vocal cord has left Klugman with a raspy, scratchy voice. During the 1990s his television credits included a guest starring role in Diagnosis Murder. His cancer was written into his character, where Klugman played a detective who had previously been shot in the throat and had to solve an outstanding case before he died of cancer in the episode "Voices Carry". He also appeared in a second episode, in which he was the murderer. He would also have his cancer written into the story line of The Odd Couple: Together Again, a reunion TV movie he performed with Tony Randall. The movie opened with Oscar in the hospital after his surgery and Felix finding out that Oscar didn't tell him about it in order to keep him from driving him "nuts" during the recovery.
Thoroughbred horse racing
Klugman's character on the Odd Couple television show, a fan of thoroughbred horse racing, was mirrored in his real life. One of his horses, Jaklin Klugman, was voted the 1980 California Horse of the Year after winning several races, including the 1980 California Derby and Jerome Handicap, finishing third in the Kentucky Derby. The horse was once featured in a commercial for Aksarben race track.[8] The horse also appears in a framed photo located in the room in Quincy's boathouse through the later series.
Scene Smoking: Cigarettes, Cinema & the Myth of Cool (2001) (documentary)
Crossing Jordan (2002)
When Do We Eat? (2005)
3/9/1965 Everyone Gets Hit In The Mouth Sometime (The Fugitive) Played Gus
References
^"The Odd Couple byNeil Simon (St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture Summary)". http://www.bookrags.com/research/the-odd-couple-sjpc-03/. Retrieved 2009-02-20. "...1965 play The Odd Couple and the subsequent 1967 movie, starring Walter Matthau as the sloppy sportswriter Oscar Madison ... In the television series, Oscar was played by Jack Klugman (who had taken over the role from Matthau on Broadway)..."
^ The Tony Award Book by Lee Allen Morrow, Abbeville Press, 1987
