Jack Warden, the gravely voiced character actor and two-time Oscar nominee who appeared in almost 100 feature films, has died. He was 85.
Mr. Warden, who won an Emmy award for his portrayal of crusty football coach George Halas in the 1971 television movie “Brian’s Song,” died Wednesday at a New York City hospital, his Los Angeles-based business manager, Sidney Pazoff, said Friday.
Pazoff said he did not know the exact cause of death but said that the actor, who was living in Manhattan, had been in failing health for several months.
Mr. Warden first made his mark in the movies in 1957 as the sports-obsessed juror in “12 Angry Men” and received two Academy Award nominations for his work in two Warren Beatty vehicles, “Shampoo” (1975) and “Heaven Can Wait” (1978).
His small-screen resume was just as deep, with featured roles in a dozen series and appearances in about 100 shows and made-for-TV movies that stretched back to television’s golden age and included “Mr. Peepers” (1952-55) on NBC, “NYPD” on ABC (1967-69) and “Crazy Like a Fox” (1984-86) on CBS.
From the moment he broke through on Broadway in 1955 in Arthur Miller’s “A View From the Bridge,” he said he never stopped working.
“I still panic sometimes when it comes down to 20 minutes between jobs,” Mr. Warden told the Los Angeles Herald Examiner in 1984. “I love what I’m doing.” Mr. Warden debuted on television in 1950 in “The Philco Television Playhouse” production of “Ann Rutledge” on NBC and began appearing regularly in drama anthologies that often aired live.
He worked mainly, and steadily, in television and film through the 1990s, often playing the heavy in movies before inhabiting more comedic roles.
In “Shampoo,” Mr. Warden played a rich husband opposite Beatty and Julie Christie, and in “Heaven Can Wait” he played a coach for the Los Angeles Rams. One of his final film credits was in another football movie, “The Replacements.”
“Brian’s Song,” the television movie that earned him an Emmy, was the story of the bond that develops between Chicago Bears teammates Gale Sayers and Brian Piccolo, when Piccolo learns he is dying.
Jack Warden Lebzelter was born in 1920 to John Warden, an engineer and technician, and Laura Costello.
