Jack Albertson

Jack Albertson
Albertson in the special TV presentation The Sad and Lonely Sundays (1976).
Born	Harold Albertson (1907-06-16)June 16, 1907 Malden, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	November 25, 1981(1981-11-25) (aged 74) Hollywood Hills, California, U.S.
Other names	John Alberts
Occupation	Actor vaudevillian comedian dancer singer
Years active	ca. 1926–1981
Notable credit(s)	John Cleary in The Subject Was Roses (1968) Grandpa Joe in Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) Manny Rosen in The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
Television	Chico and the Man (1974–1978)
Spouse(s)	June Wallace Thompson (m. 1952)
Children	1
Relatives	Mabel Albertson (sister) George Englund (nephew) Wes Studi (son-in-law)

Jack Albertson (June 16, 1907 – November 25, 1981) was an American actor, comedian, dancer, and singer who also performed in vaudeville. Albertson is known for his role as John Cleary in The Subject Was Roses (1968), for which he received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor; Grandpa Joe in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971); Manny Rosen in The Poseidon Adventure (1972); and Ed Brown in the television sitcom Chico and the Man (1974–78). For his contributions to the television industry, Albertson was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1977 at 6253 Hollywood Boulevard.

Early life

Albertson was born on June 16, 1907, in Malden, Massachusetts, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants Flora (née Craft) and Leopold Albertson. His older sister was actress Mabel Albertson. Albertson's mother, a stock actress, supported the family by working in a shoe factory. Until at least the age of 22, Albertson was known as "Harold Albertson". His father abandoned his mother before Jack was born, and the boy was raised by his stepfather, Alex Erlich, a barber. Albertson's formal education ended after a single year in high school. During a New York Daily News interview (January 2, 1973) with Sidney Fields he reminisced: "I was bright but disruptive. I didn't do homework. To cover, I made wisecracks and funny faces at the teachers. They told me to take my business elsewhere." For a while Albertson worked at the local General Electric plant and in one of the many shoe factories in the Lynn, Massachusetts, area. He was also a rack boy in neighborhood pool parlors, where he was by his own admission a fairly good pool hustler, although he was always on guard to avoid playing anyone who could "out-hustle" him. Reportedly, at one point he ran away to sea, an undertaking not as romantic as it sounds, since his parents apparently helped him pack for the voyage. His pool hall days provided Albertson with an opportunity to learn a few tap-dance routines from his fellow hustlers, and when he was eighteen he began to be paid for his prize-winning shows. His sister Mabel taught him the first "time" steps in tap-dancing, and he picked up additional routines by watching vaudeville acts that played his hometown. About that time he started singing with a group called "The Golden Rule Four," who held their practice sessions beneath a railroad bridge.

Career

Broadway

Albertson dropped out of high school to join the vaudeville road troupe known as the Dancing Verselle Sisters. He then 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 and musicals, 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.

Film

Albertson appeared in more than 30 films. He had an early minor role in Miracle on 34th Street as a postal worker who redirects dead letters addressed to "Santa Claus" to the courthouse where Kris Kringle is on trial. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the 1968 film The Subject Was Roses. He later apologized to child actor Jack Wild for winning the award; Wild was also nominated for his role in Oliver! and Albertson expected Wild to win.

Albertson appeared as Charlie Bucket's Grandpa Joe in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971), and in The Poseidon Adventure (1972), where he played Manny Rosen, husband to Belle, played by Shelley Winters. The actor Arthur O'Connell, who physically resembled Albertson, also appeared in the movie as the ship's chaplain.

Albertson said that his one regret was that he did not reprise his role in the movie version of The Sunshine Boys. When producer Ray Stark acquired the film rights from Neil Simon in 1973, Albertson was expected to play the part, but by the time MGM had bought the rights in 1974 and was preparing to begin filming in February 1975, Albertson was not available because he was appearing on Chico and the Man on TV.

Radio

Albertson was a radio performer early in his career. Among the shows he appeared on were Just Plain Bill, Lefty, That's My Pop and The Jack Albertson Comedy Show. In the late 1940s he was for a time a regular on the Milton Berle Show.

Television

Albertson appeared in many television series, such as Hey, Jeannie! with Jeannie Carson, the syndicated Western series Frontier Doctor with Rex Allen, Rod Cameron's syndicated crime drama State Trooper, and the 1961–62 drama series Bus Stop. He guest-starred on the David Janssen crime-drama series Richard Diamond, Private Detective.

From 1960–1961, Albertson was cast in three episodes of Pete and Gladys, with Harry Morgan and Cara Williams. On January 2, 1961, Albertson was cast as Sampson J. Binton, with DeForest Kelley as Alex Jeffords, in "Listen to the Nightingale", the series finale of Riverboat, starring Darren McGavin. Albertson had a recurring role as the neighbor Walter Burton in eight episodes of the 1962 ABC sitcom Room for One More, with Andrew Duggan and Peggy McCay. He had recurring roles in Ensign O'Toole (1962–63) and Run, Buddy, Run (1966).

Other 1960s series on which Albertson appeared were NBC's sitcom, Happy starring Ronnie Burns, and Glynis, starring Glynis Johns and Keith Andes, which aired for 13 weeks in the fall of 1963. Albertson appeared in two episodes of The Twilight Zone. In a 1967 episode of The Andy Griffith Show, he played the ne'er-do-well cousin, Bradford J. Taylor, of series character Aunt Bee (Frances Bavier). He also appeared in a 1969 episode of the TV series The Virginian entitled Girl in the shadows. In 1970 Albertson appeared as Billy "Moose" Valentine in The Men From Shiloh, the rebranded name for The Virginian in the episode titled "With Love, Bullets and Valentines."

He co-starred as "The Man" Ed Brown on the popular series Chico and the Man with Freddie Prinze. He stayed for its entire run from 1974 to 1978. He earned an Emmy Award for his role in 1976.

Personal life and death

He resided for many years in West Hollywood, California. In 1978, he was diagnosed with colorectal cancer, but kept this information private and continued to act. Two of his last roles were in the television movies, My Body, My Child (1982) and Grandpa, Will You Run with Me? (1983), both filmed in 1981 and released posthumously. His final theatrical role was as the ill-tempered hunter, Amos Slade, in Disney's 24th animated feature, The Fox and the Hound, originally released in the summer of 1981, four months before his death.

He and his wife, June (July 23, 1924 – January 9, 2015) had a daughter, Maura Dhu. Albertson died on November 25, 1981, at the age of 74, of colorectal cancer. He and his elder sister, Mabel Albertson, (who died ten months later from Alzheimer's disease) were cremated and their ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1938	Next Time I Marry	Reporter
1940	Strike Up the Band	Barker	Uncredited
1947	Miracle on 34th Street	Al	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
	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	Monkey on My Back	Sam Pian
	Man of a Thousand Faces	Dr. J. Wilson Shields
	Don't Go Near the Water	Rep. George Jansen
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?	Officer Hodges
	Days of Wine and Roses	Trayner
1963	Son of Flubber	Mr. Barley
1964	Kissin' Cousins	Capt. Robert Jason Salbo
	A Tiger Walks	Sam Grant
	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	Changes	The Father
	Justine	Cohen
1970	Squeeze a Flower	Alfredo Brazzi
	Rabbit, Run	Marty Tothero
1971	Once Upon a Dead Man
	Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory	Grandpa Joe Bucket
	The Late Liz	Reverend Gordon Rogers
1972	Pickup on 101	Jedediah Bradley
	The Poseidon Adventure	Manny Rosen
1981	Dead & Buried	William G. Dobbs
	The Fox and the Hound	Amos Slade	Voice, final theatrical role

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1956	I Love Lucy	Helicopter Dispatcher	Episode: "Bon Voyage"
	Crusader	Ernie Duchek	Episode: "The Syndicate"
	Sheriff of Cochise	Greenbriar Merritt	Episode: "Closed for Repairs"
1957–1959	The Thin Man	Lt. Harry Evans	14 episodes
1957–1960	Have Gun – Will Travel	Mayor Whiteside Jason Coldwell Bookie	3 episodes
1958	Bachelor Father	Charlie Sharpe Salesman	2 episodes
	The People's Choice	Luther Jenkins	Episode: "Daisies Won't Tell", with Jackie Cooper
1959	Richard Diamond, Private Detective	Fallace	Episode: "Boomerang Bait"
1959–1961	The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis	Bison Lodge Member Police Sergeant Newspaper Reporter Mr. Quimby Police chief	5 episodes
1959–1962	The Jack Benny Program	Reporter	6 episodes
1960	The Gale Storm Show	Freddy Morell	Episode: "Show Biz"
	The Tab Hunter Show	Coach	Episode: "My Darling Teacher"
	The Ann Sothern Show	Mr. Dooley	Episode: "Billy"
	Happy	Ed Langley	Episode: "Chris' Night Out"
	Klondike	Eskimo Eddie	Episode: "Sure Thing, Men"
1961	Riverboat	Sampson J. Binton	Episode: "Listen to the Nightingale"'
	The Twilight Zone	Jerry Harlowe	Episode: "The Shelter"
1961–1964	Mister Ed	Paul Fenton	7 episodes
1962	The Dick Van Dyke Show	Mr. Eisenbauer	Episode: "The Twizzle"
	Bus Stop	Lawson	Episode: "Turn Home Again"
	Lawman	Doc Peters	Episode: "The Unmasked"
	Saints and Sinners	Dr. Felixson	Episode: "All the Hard Young Men"
	Room for One More	Walter Burton	8 episodes
1962–1963	Ensign O'Toole	Lt. Cdr. Virgil Stoner	32 episodes
1963	Glynis	Al	Episode: "The Pros and Cons"
	The Twilight Zone	The Genie	Episode: "I Dream of Genie"
	The Lieutenant	District Attorney	Episode: "Cool of the Evening"
1964	Death Valley Days	Pearlman	Episode: "Sixty-Seven Miles of Gold"
1966–1967	Run for Your Life	Harry Krissel	2 episodes
1967	The Andy Griffith Show	Bradford J. Taylor	Episode: "Aunt Bee's Cousin"
1968	Ironside	Money Howard	Episode: "Side Pocket"'
1968–1972	Bonanza	Jonathan May Enos Blessing	2 episodes
1969	The Big Valley	Judge Ben Moore	Episode: "The Battle of Mineral Springs"
	The Monk	Tinker	ABC Movie of the Week
1969–1970	Land of the Giants	Professor Kirmus Inidu	2 episodes
	The Virginian	Billy "Moose" Valentine Nathaniel E. "Doc" Watson	2 episodes
1969–1974	Gunsmoke	Moses Darby Joshua Finch Lucius Prince Danny Wilson	3 episodes
1970	Marcus Welby, M.D.	Mr. Chambers	Episode: "Go Get 'Em, Tiger"
	The Immortal	Dr. Koster	Episode: "Reflections on a Lost Tomorrow"
	Daniel Boone	Sweet	Episode: "Run for the Money"
	Nanny and the Professor	Edwin Higgenbotham Botkin	Episode: "The Haunted House"
1971	Love, American Style	Archie	Segment: "Love and the Second Time"
1971–1972	Dr. Simon Locke	Dr. Andrew Sellers
1972	Night Gallery	Bullivant	Episode: "Dead Weight"
1973	The Streets of San Francisco	Tim Murphy	Episode: "The Set-Up"
1974	Gunsmoke	Moses Darby	Episode: "Cowtown Hustler" S19E22 Aired on May 11, 1974
1974–1978	Chico and the Man	Ed Brown	88 episodes Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (1976) Nominated-Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (1975, 1977)
1975	Tony Orlando and Dawn	Himself	Episode: #1.20
	Mitzi and 100 Guys	Himself	TV movie
	Cher	Himself	Episode: "Episode #1.4" Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Continuing or Single Performance in Variety or Music
	Match Game '75	Himself	5 episodes
1976	Donny & Marie	Himself	Episode dated April 6, 1976
1978	Grandpa Goes to Washington	Senator Joe Kelley	7 episodes
1980	Charlie's Angels	Edward Jordan	Episode: "Angel in Hiding"
1982	My Body, My Child	Poppa MacMahon	TV movie; filmed in 1981; released posthumously; final television role
	Terror at Alcatraz	George 'Deacon' Wheeler	TV movie, (final film role)

External links

• Jack Albertson on IMDb
• Jack Alberston on TCM.com
• Jack Albertson at AllMovie
• Jack Albertson at the Internet Broadway Database
• Jack Albertson at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Jack Albertson at Find a Grave