James Brolin
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-->James Brolin (born as James Bruderlin on July 18, 1940, in Los Angeles, California) is a popular American television, film, character actor, producer, and director. He is 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) in height and is known for his rugged, silvery good looks.
Brolin has starred in three television series in a career which has spanned four decades, with roles as Dr. Steven Kiley on Marcus Welby, M.D. (1969–1976), Peter McDermott on Hotel (1983–1988), and Lt. Bill "Raven" Kelly on (1997–2000). He co-starred with Jason Lee and Selma Blair in the comedy movie A Guy Thing (2003). He also had a recurring role as Governor Robert Ritchie in The West Wing.
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Early life
Brolin was born James Kenneth Bruderlin in Los Angeles, California to an aeronautical engineer, Henry, and a singer, Helen, and the family settled in Westwood, after his birth. As a teenager in the mid-1950s, he was often fascinated with actor James Dean. At the same time, while his parents invited a director over to his family's house for dinner before auditioning, he met another fellow actor and classmate, Ryan O'Neal, who was about a year younger than Brolin, and the two clicked. Just one year before his old friend's graduation from Munich American High School, Brolin graduated in 1958, and his family was already encouraging him to become an actor like Ryan O'Neal.Career Stardom
At the age of 20, he changed his last name from Bruderlin to Brolin. He accepted a contract with 20th Century Fox studios, where he took 5,000 hours of acting classes. He made his acting debut in 1961 on an episode of Bus Stop. He also had small roles in several movies from Take Her, She's Mine (1963), Dear Brigitte (1965), Fantastic Voyage (1966), and many others. He also had a recurring role on the short-lived television series The Monroes, but that was soon cancelled. The following year, his first big role was in The Cape Town Affair (1967), but it did not receive any success at the box office. Brolin was ultimately fired from 20th Century Fox Studios.Marcus Welby, M.D. and Film Work
In 1968, Brolin transferred to another job at Universal Studios, where he auditioned for a co-starring role opposite longtime actor Robert Young in the popular 1970s medical drama, Marcus Welby, M.D. for ABC in 1969, where it was unquestionably one of the top-rated television shows of the day. On the show, he played Dr. Steven Kiley, a young and highly-skilled trained doctor who was asked to work with another doctor of experience, and the chemistry of Brolin & Young clicked. While working on the set of the series, he also had to study medical and layman terms, which was often complicated and risky for the show. In its first season in 1970, he was nominated and won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, and was subsequently nominated three more times. He was also nominated for Golden Globes three times for Best Supporting Actor, and won twice between 1971 and 1973, and the actor was on his way to greater fame as the years went on. When he was on hiatus from Marcus Welby, he would then star in a couple of movies, such as, Skyjacked (1972), and Westworld (1973). After launching a movie career in 1976, Brolin was very pleased that his first show finally went off the air so that the actor could concentrate on his movie career.Film Work
In the mid-1970s, he became one of Hollywood's leading men starring in a lot of movies from Gable and Lombard (1976), to High Risk (1981). When Roger Moore expressed his desire to leave the role of James Bond, Brolin did a screen test for Octopussy (1983) to become the next actor to play the super-spy, but Moore ultimately decided to continue in the series, making the audition moot.Hotel
Brolin went back to series television to star in yet another popular series, in 1983, where he teamed up with Aaron Spelling to produce a pilot for the prime-time soap opera, Hotel, for ABC. On this show, he played Peter MacDermott, a hotel manager who tried to help everybody solve their own problems and to let love in his own life at the same time. Also, co-starring on the show was Connie Sellecca, who played Brolin's promotions manager, Christine Francis, and the two clicked together. Just like his first television series, Marcus Welby, this show was also a ratings winner. In his first year, Brolin was nominated for 2 additional Golden Globes between 1983 and 1984 for Best Performance By an Actor in a TV Series, but didn't win. He would also serve as series director of the show making him the driving force of the show. In 1985, while his first marriage was failing, his emotional anger took a turn for the worst {when he was asked to invite Jan Smithers on the set of Hotel) when the writers suggested they do a storyline for Peter in which a woman needed to take very good care of him throughout this difficult time. By 1988, after 5 seasons, Hotel was about to close its doors for good and the show was cancelled.TV/Film Work
As the new decade approached, Brolin was about to become a popular 1990s film star again, as he would star in yet more films before he would star in both Angel Falls for CBS and Extreme for ABC, neither one of those shows matched Brolin's popularity of both Marcus Welby and Hotel.Pensacola: Wings of Gold
In 1997, his luck had changed as he once again returned to the small screen starring in the syndicated series , playing the role of Lt. Col. Bill "Raven" Kelly, whose job was to teach young marines in a special unit before he was promoted to work with a group of talented Marine fighter pilots. And once again, it was also a big hit, compared to his previous two series. On the show, he served as Executive Producer and Director of the series, as well, making him one of the driving forces. In 2000, the show was cancelled after only 66 episodes due to low ratings, but Brolin (who enjoys flying planes in real-life) had the honor of flying planes on the show, as well.Personal life
Brolin has been married three times.- In 1966, he met Jane Cameron Agee, an aspiring actress who was working over at 20th Century Fox Studios, and she and Brolin were married that October. The couple had 2 children, (Josh Brolin, b. February 12 1968), and (Jesse, b. 1972). They were divorced in 1985, after 19 years of marriage. Jane died in a car accident on February 13, 1995, 1 day after son Josh's 27th birthday.
- In 1985, he met Jan Smithers, an actress, on the set of Hotel, and they were married in 1986. The couple had a daughter (Molly Elizabeth, born 1987). Jan Smithers filed for divorce from Brolin in 1995, a few weeks after the death of his first wife, Jane.
- In 1996, he met the singer-actress Barbra Streisand through a friend, and the two were married in 1998.
Film Work
In late 2003, he was supposed to be playing Ronald Reagan in the TV movie The Reagans, but despite of its differences, bad scripts and high rising costs, CBS had decided to pull the plug on it, but moved to Showtime, which was also owned by Viacom. Brolin was nominated for another Emmy Award, making it his fifth Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe making it also his fifth, but didn't win. In 2005, he starred in 2 films, The Alibi (2005), and The American Standards (2005).Film and television appearances
- The Amityville Horror (1979)
- The Reagans (2003)
- A Guy Thing (2003)
- Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (1985)
In 2002, Brolin played Governor Robert Ritchie of Florida, the Republican opponent of President Jed Bartlet on the TV series The West Wing. In Bartlet's words, he'd "turned being unengaged into a Zen-like thing," and seemed to enjoy it. The character seemed to be a parody of real-life President George W. Bush, whose brother, John Ellis "Jeb" Bush, was then the real-life Governor of Florida.
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