Jody McCrea

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Joel Dee "Jody" McCrea (September 6, 1934 – April 4, 2009) ^[1] was an American film and television actor; son of veteran film actors Joel McCrea and Frances Dee, who were married from 1933 until Joel McCrea's death in 1990. The eldest of three, his brothers are David McCrea and Peter McCrea.

Career

Jody McCrea served in the United States Army, Special Services. He later briefly hosted Country Style, USA, an Army-produced recruiting television program filmed in Nashville, Tennessee, featuring various country entertainers. He began acting on the 1959-1960 television series Wichita Town with his father. He went on to star in films (mainly westerns) such as Lafayette Escadrille, The Broken Land (with Jack Nicholson), Law of the Lawless, and Cry Blood, Apache (which he also produced).

He was most notable for his comedic role as dumb-minded "Deadhead" ("Bonehead") in the 1960s Beach Party films made by American International Pictures. Other beach movies in which he has appeared include Muscle Beach Party, Bikini Beach, and Beach Blanket Bingo.

He made several television appearances, including Wagon Train, Vacation Playhouse, and The Greatest Show on Earth. He played Lieutenant Brannin, a cocky cavalry officer based loosely on George Armstrong Custer, in Sam Peckinpah's Major Dundee (1965), but his scene was deleted from the final cut.

When cast in the beach pictures, McCrea realized his comedic potential. When first offered the role of "Deadhead", for example, he was quoted at the time as saying that he "wasn't sure what the character would become". McCrea felt that the audience enjoyed Deadhead as they felt superior to him.^[2]

Later career and death

He occasionally acted in community theater as well. McCrea retired from acting altogether in 1970 after his final film Cry Blood, Apache. McCrea married a woman of the First Nations who didn't want him to be in show business, though McCrea had planned to sequels to the film.^[3] He became a rancher in Roswell, New Mexico, where he died in 2009 of cardiac arrest at age 74.

Trivia

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• Was an avid body builder
• Was the only actor appearing in the American International Pictures beach movies who could actually surf.^{[citation needed]}
• Recorded a 45 rpm single in 1964 for Canjo Records to coincide with the film Bikini Beach (Side A: "Chicken Surfer"/Side B: "Looney Gooney Bird")

Filmography

References

1. ^ Notice of death
2. ^ http://www.cinemaretro.com/index.php?/archives/3160-THE-TIDE-GOES-OUT-FOR-BEACH-PARTY-CO-STAR-JODY-MCCREA-A-TRIBUTE-BY-TOM-LISANTI.html
3. ^ http://www.cinemaretro.com/index.php?/archives/3160-THE-TIDE-GOES-OUT-FOR-BEACH-PARTY-CO-STAR-JODY-MCCREA-A-TRIBUTE-BY-TOM-LISANTI.html

External links

• Official website
• Jody McCrea at the Internet Movie Database