Jack Warden: short biography and filmography

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:55

Jack Warden (1920-2006) was an American film actor who began acting shortly after the end of World War II. His filmography includes more than a hundred films in which he managed to play in less than 60 years of his career.

However, despite this, the actor did not become widely known outside of Europe, and for the Russian audience he was remembered mainly for several films and due to the Oscar nomination.

Warden's early years

Jack Warden was born on September 18, 1920 in Newark. His parents were of different nationalities: his mother Laura Costello is an Irish American, and his father is a technician and engineer John W. Lebselter, a Jew.

But Jack didn't grow up with them, he was raised by his grandparents in a town called Louisville, Kentucky. As a result, the character of the young man became very cocky, and in high school Warden was expelled from school due to brawls, often ending in fights. However, the future actor did not despair and began to earn extra money, acting as a professional boxer under the pseudonym Johnny Costello. For successfully completed 13 battles, earnings turned out to beridiculous, and the young man quickly left the ring.

After Jack Warden managed to change many professions: from a bouncer in a nightclub to a beach lifeguard, and then in 1938 he enlisted in the US Navy, where he stayed until 1941. After the young man moved to the merchant fleet, where he stayed for less than a year and joined the army, becoming a paratrooper.

In 1944, Jack badly injured his leg, because of which he spent six months in the hospital, avoiding a landing in Normandy. This may have saved his life, since most of his comrades died during this operation.

While in treatment, Warden was fond of the plays of Clifford Odets, which pushed him to the desire to become an actor, but he did not fulfill his dream right away. Only after demobilization, the man was able to go to New York to get an acting education.

Warden's career

Jack Warden made his first steps on television only in 1948, participating in the shows "Filco Television Theater" and "Studio One". In 1951, he starred in the film "You are now in the Navy", but was not noted in the credits, which somewhat depreciated his success.

However, that was enough to get Jack's attention. In the same year, he starred in the film The Man with My Face, six months later he landed a role in the television series Mr. Peepers, and his career leap came after his role in the film 12 Angry Men.

Next, actor Jack Warden starred in a lot oftelevision series and participated in various shows as a guest star. Among his works, the Russian audience especially liked "The Twilight Zone", "The Untouchables" and "My wife bewitched me." However, this is not the whole list, since the actor continued to participate in the filming until 2000, behind him about 150 films, including TV shows.

Jack Warden Filmography

As mentioned earlier, Warden has acted in a huge number of films in a very short time, so listing them all here does not make sense, too long a list.

One can only single out particularly successful films:

• "12 Angry Men";
• "Justice for all";
• "Being there";
• "Verdict";
• "All the President's Men".

Among the TV series, viewers especially highlight "The Twilight Zone", "My Wife Bewitched Me", "NYPD Blue" and "Mad Like a Fox". For the last of these, Jack was nominated for an Emmy and an Oscar for Heaven Can Wait and Shampoo.

On the Web, on popular movie sites, you can see a complete list of films starring Jack Warden. Films with his participation, as a rule, are works of certain genres, beyond which the actor, unfortunately, almost did not go.

Warden's latest film is a sports comedy"Doublers". At the time of its release, the actor was about 79 years old.

Private life

At the age of 38 (1958), Jack married Wanda Dupree (real name Wanda Ottoni). They had a son, Christopher, Warden's only child in their 42 years of marriage. However, since 1970, these bonds have become only a formality, since the couple parted ways, having lived together for 12 years. For some reason, the couple never divorced until Warden's death.

Death of an actor

Jack's difficult life nevertheless made itself felt, hitting the actor's he alth, albeit at a respectful age. Because of this, in 2000, Warden left his career - his he alth deteriorated too much in order to take further part in the filming.

As a result, the actor lasted another six years, but on July 19, 2006, at the age of 85, he died in a New York hospital with a diagnosis of heart and kidney failure.