Barnard Hughes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Barnard Hughes | |
| Birth name | Barnard Aloysius Kiernan Hughes |
| Born | July 16, 1915 Bedford Hills, New York, USA |
| Died | July 11, 2006 London, United Kingdom |
| Spouse(s) | Helen Stenborg (April 19, 1950 - July 11, 2006) (his death) 2 children |
Barnard Hughes (July 16, 1915 – July 11, 2006) was an American character actor of theater and film.
Hughes became famous for a variety of roles; his most notable roles came after middle age, and he was often cast as a dithering authority figure or grandfatherly elder.
Contents |
[edit] Personal life
Hughes was born Bernard Aloysius Kiernan Hughes in Bedford Hills, New York, to Irish immigrants Owen and Madge Hughes. Hughes attended La Salle Academy and Manhattan College in New York City.
Hughes was married to actress Helen Stenborg. They married on April 19, 1950 and remained married until his death. He was 5 days shy of his 91st birthday. They had two children, Doug and Laura, and one grandchild ([1]).
[edit] Career
According to his son Doug, Hughes changed the "e" in his first name to an "a" to help his acting career on the advice of a numerologist. Through high school and college, Hughes worked a series of odd jobs, including a stint as a dockworker and as a salesman at Macy's. He auditioned for the Shakespeare Fellowship Repertory company in New York City on the advice of a friend, and ended up joining the company for two years.
[edit] Stage roles
Hughes played more than 400 theatre roles, including the one for which he was perhaps most famous, in Hugh Leonard's Da. He won Broadway's 1978 Tony Award as Best Actor for his portrayal of the title role; he recreated the role for film in 1988 - Da.
Among his other notable roles:
- "Osgood Meeker" in the Broadway production of Noel Coward's little-known play Waiting in the Wings, directed by Michael Langham (this was Barnard Hughes' last stage role)
- "Old Man" in the Broadway production of Prelude to a Kiss, directed by Norman René
- Polonius to Stacy Keach's Hamlet
- Dogberry in the New York Shakespeare Festival production of Much Ado About Nothing
- Harry Hope in the 1985 Broadway revival of The Iceman Cometh directed by José Quintero
- Uncle Vanya (directed by Mike Nichols)
- A Doll's House
- Hogan's Goat (off-Broadway)
- The Three Sisters
- The Devil's Disciple
- Translations
[edit] Film roles
On screen, he appeared in Midnight Cowboy (1969) (which was the first (and only) X-rated film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture), and also appeared in such films as The Hospital (1971), Oh, God! (1977), First Monday in October (1981), Tron (1982), The Lost Boys (1987), Da (1988) - the screen reprise of his most successful stage-role, and Doc Hollywood (1991).
[edit] Television roles
Hughes appeared on TV in such series as Naked City, The Secret Storm, Blossom and Homicide: Life on the Street. He had a notable appearance on All in the Family as a Catholic priest doing battle with Archie Bunker, and won an Emmy for his portrayal of a senile judge on Lou Grant.
He was the central character in three short-lived sitcoms, Doc, where he played a physician, Mr. Merlin, in which he played Merlin, a magician mentoring a 20th-century teenager, and The Cavanaughs, co-starring Christine Ebersole, where he played the family patriarch (Art Carney, playing his brother, and Glynis Johns made guest appearances). Hughes sang Danny Boy on one episode.
Barnard Hughes also made a number of recurring appearances on daytime dramas including Guiding Light and As The World Turns.
