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John Randolph

Highest Rated: 100% Pretty Poison (1968)

Lowest Rated: 25% Sibling Rivalry (1990)

Birthday: Jun 1, 1915

Birthplace: New York, New York, USA

Actor John Randolph has played many businessmen, judges (as in "Frances" 1982), officials (the Mayor in "Earthquake" 1974), police chiefs (as in "Serpico" 1973) and authority figures (memorably as Jack Nicholson's father in "Prizzi's Honor" 1985). Prolific on the stage, Randolph started out in one of the Federal Theatre Project's famous "Living Newspapers" which were prevalent during the Depression. He appeared on early TV in the late 1940s and made his feature debut in "The Naked City" (1948), but his career hit a snag in 1951 when he was blacklisted amid the rampant McCarthyist paranoia of the day. It would take almost 15 years for Randolph's career to recover fully. Although over the course of his career Randolph appeared in the original stage productions of "The Sound of Music," "Paint Your Wagon," "The Visit," "Come Back, Little Sheba" and "Command Decision," it took John Frankenheimer's casting of him in the intriguing science-fiction film "Seconds" (1966) to rejuvenate his career. Cast as a middle-aged man who undergoes a special surgical process and emerges looking decades younger (the role was then played by Rock Hudson), Randolph gave a very moving performance and found his own professional second wind. Supporting roles in features thereafter typically cast him as alternately kindly, tense or crusty types, including Beau Bridges' father in "Gaily, Gaily" (1969), Samuel Adams in the Revolutionary War drama short "Independence" (1976) and another mayor in "Iron Maze" (1991). He also supplied the voice of John Mitchell for the acclaimed "All the President's Men" (1976). Stage work continued to offer the veteran actor good opportunities, and Randolph won both a Tony and a Drama Desk Award for his work on Broadway in Neil Simon's "Broadway Bound" (1987). A talented actor whose name eludes many but whose face is usually recognized as that of an old pro, Randolph was ideal for TV, and he kept busy on many TV-movies and in the short-lived series "Lucas Tanner" (1975), "Angie" (1978-80), "Annie McGuire" (1988-89) and "Grand" (1990). Although he only played the role in a few episodes, Randolph certainly received wide visibility as the title heroine's father on the popular sitcom "Roseanne" in 1989. Randolph's subsequent feature credits have included "The Wizard of Loneliness" (1988) and "Sibling Rivalry" (1990).

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Highest-Rated Movies

100% 71% Pretty Poison
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93% 88% Serpico
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86% 69% Heaven Can Wait
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85% 62% Prizzi's Honor
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82% 72% There Was a Crooked Man
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79% 87% Seconds
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75% 53% Escape From the Planet of the Apes
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72% 86% National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation Watchlist
71% 80% Little Murders
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70% 73% You've Got Mail
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Filmography

Movies TV Shows
The Dogwalker 50% 2000 Ike Actor You've Got Mail 70% 73% 1998 Schuyler Fox Actor A Price Above Rubies 57% 53% 1998 Rebbe Moshe Actor The Hotel Manor Inn 1995 Gus Actor A Foreign Field 73% 1993 Waldo Actor American Clock 1993 Older Lee Baumler Actor Iron Maze 22% 1991 Mayor Peluso Actor Sibling Rivalry 25% 32% 1990 Charles Turner Sr. Actor National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 72% 86% 1989 Clark Wilhelm Griswold, Sr. Actor The Wizard of Loneliness 80% 1988 Doc Actor Matlock: The Investigation 1987 Sam Gerard Actor Vital Signs 1986 Actor As Summers Die 50% 1986 Augustus Tompkins Actor Prizzi's Honor 85% 62% 1985 Angelo "Pop" Partanna Actor Lovely but Deadly 1983 Franklin Van Dyke Actor Shooting Stars 1983 Producer Actor The Adventures of Nellie Bly 1981 Joseph Pulitzer Actor Heaven Can Wait 86% 69% 1978 Former owner Actor Nowhere to Run 1978 Marian's Father Actor The Gathering 80% 1977 Dr. Hodges Actor Tail Gunner Joe 1977 Gen. Larkin Actor Secrets 1977 Ed Warner Actor Lucan 1977 Dr. Don Hoagland Actor Kill Me if You Can 100% 1977 Judge Lewis Goodman Actor Nowhere to Hide 1977 Narrator
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