Stocky tough-guy character actor Richard Jaeckel was one of Hollywood's most prolific supporting stars. Born in Long Island, New York, on October 10, 1926, Jaeckel's family moved to Los Angeles when he was still in his teens. After graduation from Hollywood High School, Jaeckel was discovered by a casting director while working as a mailboy for 20th Century-Fox. Although he had some reluctance to act, Jaeckel accepted a key part in the war epic _Guadalcanal Diary . He passed away after a three-year battle with melanoma cancer on June 14, 1997, at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. Jaeckel was 70 years old.
His son, Barry, is a former touring PGA golfer.
Although Jaeckel was battling cancer, director Joe Dante had originally hoped that he would be able to return to work and provide the voice of Link Static for his project Small Soldiers . This film reunited Jaeckels fellow cast members from The Dirty Dozen . Jaeckel died from his cancer before shooting began.
His wife, Antoinette, was diagnosed with Alzheimers disease shortly before his death.
Was forced to file bankruptcy in early 1994 due to a $1.7-million debt, and eventually he lost his home in Brentwood, CA, and most of his possessions. He later moved into the Motion Picture and Television Retirement Center in Woodland Hills, a retirement home for actors and other motion picture people, where he stayed for the next three years until his death in June of 1997.
According to Robert Osborne in "Academy Awards 1972 Oscar Annual," Jaeckel got the role in Sometimes a Great Notion when Paul Newman ran into him at Malibu Beach. Jaeckel was relaxing and swimming with his family and friends, and as Newman watched him playing with his own children, he thought that Jaeckel would be just right to play his brother in the film. Newman subsequently stood up for casting Jaeckel at later conferences with studio management, and he got the part, and an Oscar nomination.
Jaeckel had the distinction of being cast as an "irregular" supporting player in films alongside the likes of Paul Newman , Burt Lancaster and Glenn Ford.
Has been in three different projects about outlaw Billy the Kid. In 1954 he played Billy the Kid in an episode of "Stories of the Century" . In 1970 he appeared in Chisum as Jess Evans, a former sidekick of Billy the Kid, and then in 1973 he appeared in Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid as Sheriff Kip McKinney, who assists in capturing the infamous outlaw.
Father of Richard Jaeckel Jr..
In the early 1970s he and his wife owned a German Shepherd named "Cruncher". Cruncher was the name of a character he played on the Mike Connors series "Tightrope" .
In November of 1948, while he and his wife were in San Francisco, his oldest son, then 14 months old, fell into the family swimming pool and nearly drowned. His uncle, John Marches, happened to come into the backyard and find the baby.
Met actor Robert Blake while they were filming Town Without Pity and they became good friends, remaining close until the day Jaeckel died. Blake once said that Jaeckel was the only guy he had ever met who was "crazier than me".
He was a mail courier on the 20th Century-Fox studio lot in 1943 when a casting agent spotted him and signed him for a part in Guadalcanal Diary .
[on being diagnosed with melanoma cancer] I know people are pulling for,me to beat this thing, but let them have a glass at the bar for me and,let it go at that.
