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Jack Klugman biography

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Quick Facts

  • NAME: Jack Klugman
  • OCCUPATION: Film Actor, Theater Actor, Television Actor
  • BIRTH DATE: April 27, 1922
  • DEATH DATE: December 24, 2012
  • EDUCATION: Carnegie Mellon University
  • PLACE OF BIRTH: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • PLACE OF DEATH: Woodland Hills, California
  • Full Name: Jacob Joachim Klugman
  • AKA: Jack Klugman
  • AKA: Jacob Klugman

Best Known For

Jack Klugman is an American actor best known for his role as Oscar Madison in the Broadway play The Odd Couple and the TV series of the same name.

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The Odd Couple ended in 1975.

Later Accomplishments

Hardly skipping a beat, Klugman moved on to another hit show—this time a drama. He starred as a medical examiner in the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office on Quincy, M.E. Seen by some as a precursor to such popular forensic science shows as CSI, the show explored many seemingly natural deaths that turned out to be murders. Quincy served as both detective and pathologist, leaving the lab to seek out the truth and solve the case.

After the show ended in 1983, Klugman made some television guest appearances and took on some stage roles, including a run on Broadway in I'm Not Rappaport. In 1989, however, Klugman had a second bout of cancer. He had continued to smoke since his earlier treatment for the disease. This time, surgeons had to remove part of his vocal cords along with the cancer on his larynx. This left the actor unable to speak for some time, and he had to undergo chemotherapy as well. It took a long and intensive treatment before Klugman regained his ability to talk, and his voice has remained permanently altered.

Despite his struggle, Klugman returned to acting. In 1993, he reteamed with old friend Tony Randall for the TV movie The Odd Couple: Together Again. The pair also appeared on Broadway together in 1997, in a revival of the Neil Simon comedy The Sunshine Boys. He has appeared in several feature films, including Dear God (1996) and When Do We Eat? (2005), and on such shows as Third Watch, Crossing Jordan and Presidio Med.

In his later years, Klugman became an author, writing about one of the most pivotal relationships of his career. In Tony and Me (2007), he explored the details of their friendship, which spanned five decades. In 2008, at the age of 85, Klugman married his longtime girlfriend, Peggy Crosby.

Jack Klugman died on December 24, 2012, at the age of 90, in Woodland Hills, California. He was survived by three children from his marriage to actress and comedian Brett Somers: Adam, David and Leslie. (The couple separated in the 1970s, but never divorced; Somers died in September 2007.)

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