Jack Kruschen

Jack Kruschen was a film and television character actor with over 200 screen credits to his name. He developed an early interest in radio theater and drama, and began performing in local radio plays while still in high school. During the '40s he worked on numerous programs commissioned for the Armed Forces Radio Service, and made his film debut in 1949 with a supporting role in the gangster film "Red, Hot and Blue." Kruschen worked steadily through the early '50s in such films as "No Way Out" and "Abbott and Costello Go to Mars," and landed supporting roles on numerous TV series, including "Dragnet," "Zorro," and "The Loretta Young Show." He appeared as a soldier cut down by Martians in the 1960 film " The Angry Red Planet," and that same year earned an Oscar nomination for his role as Jack Lemmon's neighbor in the critically acclaimed "The Apartment." Kruschen later portrayed an attorney in the 1962 thriller "Cape Fear" and landed recurring roles on such TV series as "Emergency!" and "Busting Loose." In 1982 he appeared on the sketch comedy show "No Soap, Radio" and was cast in the primetime series "Remington Steele" and "Hill Street Blues." From 1985 to 1989 he appeared as Grandpa Papadapolis on the sitcom "Webster," and later landed roles on "Full House" and "Empty Nest."