James Brolin
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| James Brolin | |
 James Brolin's screentest as James Bond 007 in Octopussy |
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| Birth name | James Kenneth Bruderlin |
| Born | July 18, 1940 (age 66) Los Angeles, California, USA |
| Other name(s) | Mr. Streisand |
| Spouse(s) | Barbra Streisand (m. Jul 1 1998, present) Jan Smithers (m. 1986 div. 1995) 1 daughter Jane Cameron Agee (m. 1966 div. 1984) 2 sons |
| Official site | Website |
| Notable roles | Dr. Steven Kiley in Marcus Welby, M.D. Ronald Reagan in The Reagans Peter McDermott in Hotel Lt. Colonel Bill "Raven" Kelly in Pensacola: Wings of Gold |
James Brolin (born on July 18, 1940) is an two-time Golden Globe Award-winning and Emmy Award-winning American television, film, character actor, producer, and director.
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[edit] Early life
The elder of two brothers, Brolin was born James Kenneth Bruderlin in Los Angeles, California to an aeronautical engineer, Henry Bruderlin, and a singer, Helen Bruderlin. The family settled in Westwood, after his birth. As a young child, he was apparently more interested in animals and airplanes, than he was in acting. When young Bruderlin was 10 in 1950, he began building model airplanes and was taught to fly them. As a teenaged moviegoer in the mid-1950s he was particularly fascinated with actor James Dean. When 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. However, Bruderlin's own acting exposed his stifling shyness. His assurance grew when O'Neal invited him to a casting agency. Brolin graduated in 1958, and his family was already encouraging him to become an actor like O'Neal.
[edit] Beginnings as a character actor
Prior to taking acting classes in school, Brolin started out as a character actor on an episode of Bus Stop in 1961. The part led to parts in other television productions such as Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Margie, Love, American Style, Twelve O'Clock High and The Long, Hot Summer. He made 3 guest appearances on the popular 1960s series Batman, alongside Adam West and Burt Ward, as well as roles in The Virginian, and Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law alongside Arthur Hill and Lee Majors. He also had a recurring role on the short-lived television series The Monroes.
At the age of 20 he changed his last name from Bruderlin to Brolin to become James Brolin. He accepted a contract with 20th Century Fox studios, where he took 5,000 hours of acting classes[citation needed]. While in school struggling to make it big, he met future young actor Clint Eastwood. Brolin also had small roles in several movies including Take Her, She's Mine (1963), Dear Brigitte (1965), Fantastic Voyage (1966). 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 by 20th Century Fox.
[edit] Television Roles
Brolin has starred in three television series in a career which has spanned four decades. He became widely-known for his roles as Robert Young's, youthful skilled and professional physician, Dr. Steven Kiley on Marcus Welby, M.D. (1969–1976), Peter McDermott on Hotel (1983–1988), and Lt. Col. Bill "Raven" Kelly on Pensacola: Wings of Gold (1997–2000). He also had a recurring role as Governor and presidential candidate Robert Ritchie in The West Wing.
[edit] Marcus Welby, M.D.
In 1968, Brolin transferred to Universal Studios, where he auditioned for a co-starring role opposite longtime actor Robert Young in the popular medical drama Marcus Welby, M.D.. The series was one of the top-rated television shows of the day. Brolin won the role of Dr. Steven Kiley, a young doctor working with another more experienced doctor, and the chemistry between Brolin & Young clicked. In its first season in 1970, Brolin 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.
[edit] Film Work
During this time, Brolin also began appearing in leading roles in films, including Skyjacked (1972), and Westworld (1973). By the mid-1970s, he was a regular leading man in films, starring in Gable and Lombard (1976), Capricorn One (1978), High Risk (1981), and The Amityville Horror (1979). When Roger Moore expressed his desire to leave the role of James Bond, Brolin screen tested for the role in the next film Octopussy (1983). Ultimately, however, Moore decided to continue in the series.
In 1985, Brolin parodied his near-hiring as James Bond in the film Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. In a film within the film, he merged the characters of Bond and Pee-Wee Herman, the "real" version of whom was played by Paul Reubens. He is referred to as "PW" and the role of Pee-Wee Herman's girlfriend "Dottie" is played by Morgan Fairchild.
[edit] Hotel
In 1983, Brolin returned to television to star in another popular series. He teamed up with producer Aaron Spelling for the pilot episode of a 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. Co-starring on the show were a couple of unfamiliar actresses and actor Shari Belafonte as Peter's receptionist, Connie Sellecca, as Brolin's promotions manager and later girlfriend, and the late Nathan Cook as Billy Griffin, an ex-con who later became Peter's best friend. Together, they each had a wonderful chemistry with Brolin, on the set. As with Marcus Welby, this show was a ratings winner. In his first year, Brolin was nominated twice for 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 a director on the show, giving him more input into the direction of the series. On one episode of Hotel, he even invited his future wife Jan Smithers to guest-star on the show as the writers suggested that they developed a storyline for them, as Brolin was going through a difficult divorce. By 1988, after 5 seasons, Hotel was about to close its doors for good and the show was cancelled. That same year, his co-star, Cook had died of an allergic reaction to penicillin, and Brolin attended his funeral.
As the new decade approached, Brolin starred in both Angel Falls for CBS and Extreme for ABC, although neither of those shows matched the popularity of his earleir series.
[edit] Pensacola: Wings of Gold
In 1997, Brolin's luck changed with the syndicated television series Pensacola: Wings of Gold. He played the role of Lt. Col. Bill "Raven" Kelly, whose job was to teach young marines in a special unit, before being promoted to work with a group of talented Marine fighter pilots. Brolin served as an executive producer and director on the series. In 2000, however, the show was cancelled after 66 episodes due to low ratings.
[edit] Career since 2000
In late 2003, he was supposed to play Ronald Reagan in the TV movie The Reagans. After creative differences, bad scripts, and high rising costs, CBS had decided to pull the plug on "The Reagans", but then chose to move it to cable channel Showtime, 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, although he didn't win. He co-starred with Jason Lee and Selma Blair in the comedy movie A Guy Thing (2003), and made two films in 2005, The Alibi and The American Standards.
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.
In 2006, Brolin played the Governor of Maine, who in order to get re-elected, opposes the legalization of gay marriage, in the A&E movie "Wedding Wars".
[edit] Personal life
Brolin has been married three times.
- In 1966, he married Jane Cameron Agee, an aspiring actress at Twentieth Century Fox. The couple had 2 children, (Josh Brolin, b. February 12, 1968), and (Jesse, b. 1972). They were divorced in 1984, after 18 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 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 and actress Barbra Streisand through a friend, and the two were married on July 1, 1998.
- He is a Democrat and supported John Kerry in the 2004 election.
- He believes the United States government was involved with carrying out the September 11, 2001 attacks. [1]
- He resides in Sherman Oaks, California with his wife, Barbra Streisand.
[edit] External links
Categories: Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | American film actors | American character actors | American soap opera actors | American television actors | American television directors | English-language film directors | The West Wing cast members | Hollywood Walk of Fame | People from Los Angeles | 1940 births | Living people | Individuals challenging the official account of 9/11
