Jack Kruschen, a character actor with a flair for dialects who received an Oscar nomination as best supporting actor for his 1960 role in “The Apartment,” has died. He was 80.
Mr. Kruschen, who played the Greek grandfather in the 1980s sitcom “Webster,” had been in failing health for many years. He died while traveling April 2, but news of his death was not immediately reported.
In a career that spanned more than six decades, Mr. Kruschen appeared in more than 75 movies, including the original “Cape Fear,” “The Unsinkable Molly Brown,” “The Ladies’ Man” and “McClintock.”
He had 20 years of radio, television and movie roles behind him when he was cast as Jack Lemmon’s annoyed yet kindly neighbor, Dr. Dreyfuss, in Billy Wilder’s classic comedy “The Apartment.” The role–and Mr. Kruschen’s Oscar nomination–enabled audiences to put a name to the familiar face.
“Billy Wilder and Jack Lemmon were the best things that ever happened to me,” Mr. Kruschen told the Los Angeles Times in 1960. “They worked with me, helped me, brought out the ability to use whatever I have learned of my craft.”
In the 1940s, Mr. Kruschen became a regular on the radio and television versions of Jack Webb’s “Dragnet.”
