Actor who won fame as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and crimesolving medical examiner Quincy
Television was the medium that conferred stardom on the actor Jack Klugman, who has died aged 90. In a long, distinguished career that also embraced theatre and film, he was principally identified with two television characters: Oscar Madison, the slovenly, down-to-earth, cigar-smoking flatmate of the neurotically neat Felix Unger (Tony Randall) in the long-running comedy series The Odd Couple (1970-75; in the play and film, Felix's surname was spelt Ungar), and Quincy in Quincy, Me (1976-83), a crime-solving medical examiner.
Born in a poor neighbourhood of Philadelphia, the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants, Klugman had a tough childhood. His father, a house painter, died young, forcing his mother to make hats in her kitchen to buy food and clothing for her six children. Young Jack, who worked as a street peddler, later observed: "Poverty can teach lessons that privilege cannot.
Television was the medium that conferred stardom on the actor Jack Klugman, who has died aged 90. In a long, distinguished career that also embraced theatre and film, he was principally identified with two television characters: Oscar Madison, the slovenly, down-to-earth, cigar-smoking flatmate of the neurotically neat Felix Unger (Tony Randall) in the long-running comedy series The Odd Couple (1970-75; in the play and film, Felix's surname was spelt Ungar), and Quincy in Quincy, Me (1976-83), a crime-solving medical examiner.
Born in a poor neighbourhood of Philadelphia, the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants, Klugman had a tough childhood. His father, a house painter, died young, forcing his mother to make hats in her kitchen to buy food and clothing for her six children. Young Jack, who worked as a street peddler, later observed: "Poverty can teach lessons that privilege cannot.
- 12/26/2012
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
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