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Cliff Osmond

Highest Rated: 96% The Fortune Cookie (1966)

Lowest Rated: 38% Invasion of the Bee Girls (1973)

Birthday: Feb 26, 1937

Birthplace: Jersey City, New Jersey, USA

With an oafish, blubber-cheeked appearance offset somewhat by his dulcet baritone lilt, Cliff Osmond spent the bulk of his younger years portraying lovable lugs and dimwitted scoundrels who were possibly just a bit slicker than they looked. The character actor got his start delivering vibrant cowpoke performances from beneath layers of dirt and grime, often appearing as a favored guest star on the rugged TV westerns of the early 1960s. Within just a few short years, he was discovered and cleaned up by legendary director Billy Wilder, who regularly cast him as boneheaded cops and lowbrow schemers in a series of madcap comedies starring the venerable duo of Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. While he often cropped up on the sidelines of such fizzy Wilder concoctions as the crooked legal lark "The Fortune Cookie" and the zany prison-and-prostitution odyssey "Irma La Douce," his signature role will always be that of Barney, the affable songwriter who offered up such droll ditties as "I'm a Poached Egg" in the tuneful rom-com hit "Kiss Me, Stupid" ('64). Osmond appeared in several more films throughout the '70s, including his Wilder swan song. the newspaper dramedy "The Front Page," but the majority of his acting career's remainder saw him return to TV guest-stardom, where he became one of the most dependable recurring players on the long-running western staple "Gunsmoke." Also dabbling in behind-the-scenes roles, he become an award-nominated TV scribe and a one-time feature-film director before retiring from show business in 1996.

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Highest-Rated Movies

96% 80% The Fortune Cookie
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73% 67% Kiss Me, Stupid
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38% 32% Invasion of the Bee Girls
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Three Guns for Texas
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California Gold Rush
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The Penitent
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The Great Brain
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17% Alexander the Great
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Guardian of the Wilderness
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The Art of Crime
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Filmography

Movies TV Shows
The Penitent 1988 Director In Search of a Golden Sky 1985 Russ McGuire Actor Incident at Crestridge 1981 Bill McLaren Actor California Gold Rush 1981 Harry Love Actor The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again 53% 1979 Wes Hardin Actor The Great Brain 1978 Actor Guardian of the Wilderness 1977 McCollough Actor The Mouse and His Child 60% 1977 C. Serpentina Voice Sharks' Treasure 38% 1975 Lobo Actor The Art of Crime 1975 Nanoosh Actor Oklahoma Crude 33% 1973 Massive Man Actor Invasion of the Bee Girls 38% 32% 1973 Captain Peters Actor Sweet Sugar 11% 1972 Burgos Actor The Heist 1972 Tom Logan Actor Three Guns for Texas 1968 Running Antelope Actor The Fortune Cookie 96% 80% 1966 Purkey Actor Alexander the Great 17% 1964 Memnon Actor Kiss Me, Stupid 73% 67% 1964 Barney Actor The Raiders 1964 Private Jean Duchamps Actor
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