John Astin
Encyclopedia : J : JO : JOH : John Astin
John Astin (born March 30, 1930) is an American actor who has appeared in numerous films and television shows, but is best known for the role of Gomez Addams on The Addams Family television series and similarly eccentric comedic characters.
Astin was born in Baltimore, Maryland and attended Johns Hopkins University (Class of 1954) after transferring from Washington & Jefferson College. He studied mathematics at both institutions and was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity at Johns Hopkins.
He started in theatre, doing voice-over work for commercials. His first big break came in a small but memorable part in the Oscar-winning West Side Story in 1961. A few years later, he starred in The Addams Family (1964-1966) as Gomez Addams, the macabre head of the family. He returned on the TV show The New Addams Family as Grandpapa Adams. Astin also played the Riddler on Batman during Frank Gorshin's 2nd season departure (Gorshin came back for the 3rd). Furthermore, he made a notable appearance in popular mystery show Murder, She Wrote, as the villainous Sheriff Harry Pierce.
Astin received an Academy Award nomination for Prelude, a short film that he wrote, produced, and directed. He was nominated for an Ace Award for his work on Tales from the Crypt, and received an Emmy nomination for the cartoon voice of Gomez on ABC-TV's The Addams Family. Astin served for four years on the Board of Directors of the Writers Guild of America West, and is active in community affairs in Los Angeles and Santa Monica.
He has continued to work, appearing in a string of Killer Tomatoes films as Professor Gangreen. He also tours the one-man play [[Edgar Allan Poe: Once Upon a Midnight]], written by Paul Day Clemens and Ron Magid. Astin teaches method acting and directing in the Writing Seminars Department at Johns Hopkins University, his alma mater.
He has three sons – David, Allen, and Tom – with his first wife, Suzanne Hahn, and two sons – Sean and Mackenzie, both successful actors – with his second wife, fellow actor Patty Duke. Sean is not his biological son, but John Astin legally adopted him. John Astin is currently married to Valerie Ann Sandobal.
Selected filmography
- The Twilight Zone in an episode written by Rod Serling: A Hundred Yards Over the Rim (1961)
- West Side Story (1961) Glad Hand, Social Worker Leading Dance
- The Addams Family (1964) (television) Gomez Addams
- Evil Roy Slade (1972) Evil Roy Slade
- Freaky Friday (1976) Bill Andrews
- Teen Wolf Too (1987) Dean Dunn
- Return of the Killer Tomatoes (1988) Professor Gangreen
- The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. (1993) (television) Professor Albert Wickwire
- Mr Boogedy (1986)
- Night Court (1986) Former Mental Patient Buddy (revealed later in the series to be Judge Harry Stone's father)
- [[Gremlins 2: The New Batch]] (1990) Janitor
- Super Password Guest Star Himself
- The Frighteners (1996) The Judge
External links
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.