Jack Kruschen


Jacob "Jack" Kruschen was a Canadian character actor who worked primarily in American film, television and radio. Kruschen was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Dr. Dreyfuss in the 1960 comedy-drama The Apartment.

Early life

Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba as Jacob Kruschen, to Moses Kruschen and Sophie Kruschen, both of Russian Jewish descent, Jacob and his family migrated to New York City in the early 1920s, and then to California. His sister, Miriam, was born in New York City in 1927.

Career

Radio

Kruschen began his radio career while still in high school, and during the 1940s, he became a staple of West Coast radio drama. He had several roles in programs made especially for the Armed Forces Radio Service broadcast for the benefit of members on active duty in the military in the 1940s and 1950s. He had regular or recurring roles on Broadway Is My Beat, and Pete Kelly's Blues, as well as frequent episodic roles on anthology series, Westerns and crime dramas.
He was heard on such high-profile series as Escape, Dragnet, Gunsmoke, Crime Classics, Frontier Gentleman, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, Nightbeat and Suspense.

Films

His movie career is highlighted by his performance as neighbor Dr. Dreyfuss in Billy Wilder's The Apartment.
Other film assignments included George Pal's The War of the Worlds, in Cecil B. DeMille's final film, The Buccaneer, as astronaut Sam Jacobs in the 1959 cult classic The Angry Red Planet, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Abbott and Costello Go to Mars, Lover Come Back, McLintock!, Follow That Dream, Cape Fear, starring Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum, and Money to Burn with Eve McVeagh.

Stage

Kruschen appeared as Maurice Pulvermacher in the original 1962 Broadway production of I Can Get It for You Wholesale with neophyte singer/actress, 19-year-old Barbra Streisand. In 1969, he co-starred in the London staging of the musical Promises, Promises, reprising his film role in this show based on The Apartment.

Television

Kruschen was performing on television as early as 1939, appearing in dramas on Don Lee's experimental television station in Los Angeles, where he was seen on some two hundred television sets with three-inch screens. Thereafter, Kruschen's television career included guest villain Eivol Ekdol, a villainous magicians' craftsman on Batman. He was seen in twelve episodes of NBC's Dragnet as well as the ABC/Desilu series, Zorro. He had a recurring role across three seasons on Bonanza as Tully the bartender in the 1960–1961 ABC series Hong Kong. He played the doctor in two episodes of The Rifleman: "Trail of Hate" and "Baranca". He also played Clyde Bailey in "The Retired Gun" and Sammy in "One Went to Denver".
In 1969, Kruschen co-starred with Stefanie Powers in an unsold ABC sitcom pilot, Holly Golighty, adapted from Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's. The husky, mustachioed Kruschen seemed to specialize in playing benevolent ethnic paternal figures and had roles in Columbo , Barney Miller, Odd Couple, Busting Loose, The Incredible Hulk, and, in later years, Murphy Brown, '.
He appeared in the recurring role of "Grandpa Papadopolis" on Webster, and in the early 1990s, as another Greek grandfather and as Pam and Jesse's grandfather, Iorgos "Papouli" Katsopolis on Full House, appearing in only two episodes before his character is killed off in the episode, "The Last Dance".
His final on-screen appearance was in the 1997 film Til There Was You'' as "Mr. Katz".

Personal life and death

Kruschen was married to Marjorie Ullman from January 1947 to 1961, and his second marriage was to Violet Rafaella Mooring from 1962 to 1978. He was married a third time, to Mary Pender from July 23, 1979, until April 2, 2002, when he died in Chandler, Arizona, while vacationing. He had been in ill health for some time. He was 80. Though he died on April 2, his death was not widely reported to the media until late May 2002. He was survived by his children and his third wife.

Complete filmography