Chuck Connors
|
|
Connors-chuck.jpg
Kevin Joseph Connors (April 10, 1921 - November 10, 1992) was an actor and professional basketball and baseball player.
Born to Irish-American parents in Brooklyn, New York, Connors grew up with a sister named Gloria. He attended a private high school and later attended Seton Hall in South Orange, New Jersey. He then dropped out in 1942 to join the army at Camp Campbell, Kentucky and next went to West Point.
After his discharge from the military in 1946, he joined the Boston Celtics and left the team for spring training with the Brooklyn Dodgers. He played for numerous minor league teams before joining the Dodgers in 1949 for a few weeks. Later, in 1951 he also played for the Chicago Cubs. He was then sent to the minor leagues again, in 1952, and there he was spotted by an MGM casting director for an upcoming Tracy-Hepburn film Pat and Mike, in which he played a state police captain.
In addition to his films, he also starred in the television Western series The Rifleman, as well as the 1967 Cowboy in Africa TV series, alongside Ronald Howard and Tom Nardini. In 1973 and 1974 he hosted a television series called Thrill Seekers. Chuck Connors is also a character in O. Henry's short story "Sisters of the Golden Circle" which says that he led reform in New York in O. Henry's time.
In 1991, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Chuck Connors died of lung cancer in 1992 at the age of 71 in Los Angeles, California.
Brief Filmography
- Airplane II: The Sequel (1982) ... as The Sarge
- Roots (mini-series) (1977) ... as Tom Moore
- Soylent Green (1973) ... as Tab Fielding
- Go Kill Everybody and Come Back Alone (1968) ...as Clyde
- Dark Shadows (1966)
- Move Over, Darling (1963) .... as Adam
- The Big Country (1958)
- Old Yeller (1957) ... as Burn Sanderson
- Pat and Mike (1952) ... as Police captain
See also: Other notable figures in Western films
External link
- Chuck Connors at IMDB.com (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0175488/)
Chuck Connors is also a character in O. Henry's short story "Sisters of the Golden Circle" which says that he led reform in New York in O. Henry's time.