Jack Klugman

Biography: Jack Klugman (born April 27, 1922 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a Jewish-American television and movie actor. Klugman began acting after serving in the United States Army during World War II. He starred in several classic films including 12 Angry Men(which he says is his favorite) and Days of Wine and Roses. He also won an Emmy Award for his work on the television series The Defenders and appeared in four episodes of the acclaimed series The Twilight Zone. Klugman says his greatest thrill was appearing with Humphrey Bogart and Henry Fonda in a 1954 live television broadcast of The Petrified Forest. He is best known for his starring roles in two popular television series of the 1970s and early 1980s: The Odd Couple (1970–1975) and Quincy, M.E. (1976–1983). He won two Emmy Awards for The Odd Couple. In the early 1990s, Klugman lost a vocal cord to cancer but has continued acting on stage and on television. He survived but the effect of the cancer on his voice is signsignificant, however, and he now has a very quiet and rasping voice. Mister Klugman admits that for many years he was a heavy smoker.

He has lived with Peggy Crosby (the ex-wife of Bing Crosby's son, Phillip Crosby) since 1988. He is the father of three children: Adam, David, and daughter Leslie, all of whom are from his marriage to Match Game regular Brett Somers. Klugman and Somers were married from 1953 until 1974.

In 2005, Klugman published a book called Tony And Me: A Story of Friendship, about his long friendship with his Odd Couple star Tony Randall. Klugman said Randall was the best friend he ever had. He talked of their long working relationship and how good Randall had been to him after his cancer operation.

In recent years he has kept performing for live audiences, including his own one-man show An Evening with Jack Klugman in Burbank in the fall of 2003.… Expand