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Jack Warden

Jack WardenAKA John H. Lebzelter

Born: 18-Sep-1920
Birthplace: Newark, NJ
Died: 19-Jul-2006
Location of death: New York City
Cause of death: Natural Causes
Remains: Cremated

Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Actor, Boxing

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: 12 Angry Men

Military service: US Army (1938-41); US Merchant Marine (1941-42); US Army (101st Airborne, 1942-)

At 17, Jack Warden was expelled from high school for repeatedly fighting, so he turned professional, boxing as a welterweight under the name "Johnny Costello". The prize money was minimal, so he soon left the ring and worked as a bouncer at a night club, then served in the Navy and later the Merchant Marine. After America entered World War II, Warden joined the Army, serving as a paratrooper with the 101st Airborne air assault unit during World War II, and rising to the rank of Sergeant. He missed Normandy only because he broke his leg in several places landing on a fence in a nighttime practice jump, days before that battle.

Recuperating from his injuries, Warden read a play by Clifford Odets and decided to become an actor. After several years in small, local productions, his first film was 1951's You're in the Navy Now. On Broadway he appeared in The Man in the Glass Booth with F. Murray Abraham and Abe Vigoda.

In his most famous film roles, Warden played the disinterested Juror #7 in Twelve Angry Men, the bigoted boss in Edge of the City, Clark Gable's right-hand man in the submarine drama Run Silent Run Deep, the local news editor who stood behind Woodward and Bernstein in All the President's Men, the befuddled football coach in Heaven Can Wait, the doddering, gun-toting judge in And Justice for All, the German doctor in Death on the Nile, the President impressed with Peter Sellers in Being There, twin car salesmen in Used Cars, Paul Newman's law partner who argued for a settlement in The Verdict, and the theater producer in Woody Allen's Bullets over Broadway.

On the small screen, he played the coach on Mr Peepers with Wally Cox for two years, and played detectives in three later TV series, N.Y.P.D. in the late 1960s, Jigsaw John in the mid-1970s, and Crazy Like a Fox in the mid-1980s. He also played coach George Halas in the tearjerker Brian's Song, and starred in a well-remembered 1959 episode of the original Twilight Zone, as a convict imprisoned for life on an asteroid, who falls in love with his robotic minder.

Father: Jack Warden Lebzelter
Mother: Laura M Lebzelter
Wife: Dupre Warden (stage actress, "Vanda Dupre", m. 1958, one son)
Son: Christopher Warden

    High School: DuPont Manual High School, Louisville, KY

    Emmy 1971
    Expelled from School

    TELEVISION
    Crazy Like a Fox Harrison Fox, Sr. (1984-86)
    Jigsaw John John St. John (1976)
    N.Y.P.D. Lt. Mike Haines (1967-69)
    Norby Bobo (1955)

    FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
    The Replacements (7-Aug-2000)
    A Dog of Flanders (7-Aug-1999) · Jehan
    Dirty Work (12-Jun-1998) · Pops
    Bulworth (15-May-1998) · Eddie Davers
    Chairman of the Board (13-Mar-1998) · Armand
    The Island on Bird Street (23-Oct-1997)
    Ed (15-Mar-1996)
    Mighty Aphrodite (13-Sep-1995)
    Problem Child 3: Junior in Love (13-May-1995)
    Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (May-1995) · Joe Heff
    While You Were Sleeping (21-Apr-1995) · Saul
    Bullets Over Broadway (16-Sep-1994)
    Guilty as Sin (4-Jun-1993)
    Toys (18-Dec-1992) · Old Gen. Zevo
    Night and the City (16-Oct-1992)
    Passed Away (24-Apr-1992)
    Problem Child 2 (3-Jul-1991) · "Big" Ben Healy
    Judgment (13-Oct-1990)
    Problem Child (27-Jul-1990) · Big Ben
    Everybody Wins (19-Jan-1990) · Judge Harry Murdoch
    Dead Solid Perfect (18-Dec-1988)
    The Presidio (10-Jun-1988) · Sgt. Maj. Ross Maclure
    September (18-Dec-1987) · Lloyd
    The Three Kings (17-Dec-1987)
    Alice in Wonderland (9-Dec-1985)
    The Aviator (8-Mar-1985)
    Helen Keller: The Miracle Continues (23-Apr-1984) · Mark Twain
    Crackers (Feb-1984)
    The Verdict (8-Dec-1982) · Mickey Morrissey
    Carbon Copy (25-Sep-1981)
    So Fine (Sep-1981)
    Chu Chu and the Philly Flash (28-Aug-1981)
    The Great Muppet Caper (26-Jun-1981)
    Used Cars (11-Jul-1980)
    Being There (19-Dec-1979) · President
    Topper (9-Nov-1979)
    ...And Justice For All (19-Oct-1979) · Judge Rayford
    Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (18-May-1979) · Harold Meredith
    Dreamer (27-Apr-1979)
    The Champ (4-Apr-1979) · Jackie
    Death on the Nile (30-Oct-1978) · Dr. Bessner
    Heaven Can Wait (28-Jun-1978)
    The White Buffalo (May-1977) · Charlie Zane
    Raid on Entebbe (9-Jan-1977)
    All the President's Men (7-Apr-1976) · Harry Rosenfeld
    Shampoo (11-Feb-1975)
    The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (11-Apr-1974)
    Remember When (23-Mar-1974)
    Billy Two Hats (20-Mar-1974)
    The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing (31-Oct-1973)
    Brian's Song (30-Nov-1971)
    The Face of Fear (8-Oct-1971)
    Welcome to the Club (Sep-1971)
    Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (15-Jun-1971)
    Summertree (6-Jun-1971)
    Bye Bye Braverman (21-Feb-1968) · Barnet Weiner
    Blindfold (23-Dec-1965)
    The Thin Red Line (2-May-1964)
    Donovan's Reef (12-Jun-1963)
    Escape from Zahrain (23-May-1962) · Huston
    Wake Me When It's Over (8-Apr-1960)
    That Kind of Woman (Jun-1959) · Kelly
    The Sound and the Fury (27-Mar-1959)
    Run Silent Run Deep (27-Mar-1958) · Mueller
    Darby's Rangers (12-Feb-1958) · Master Sgt. Saul Rosen
    12 Angry Men (13-Apr-1957) · Juror #7
    The Bachelor Party (9-Apr-1957) · The Bachelor
    Edge of the City (29-Jan-1957) · Charles Malik
    From Here to Eternity (5-Aug-1953) · Cpl. Buckley
    The Man with My Face (14-Jun-1951) · Walt Davis


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