Rick Jason
Rick Jason | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Richard Jacobson May 21, 1923 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | October 16, 2000 (aged 77) Moorpark, California, U.S. |
| Resting place | Hollywood Forever Cemetery |
| Alma mater | American Academy of Dramatic Arts |
| Years active | 1950–1989 |
| Spouses | Aria Allen
(m. 1950; div. 1962)Shirley Johnston
(m. 1962; div. 1962)Jutta Parr
(m. 1962; div. 1964)Pat Nelson
(m. 1968; div. 1970)Cindy Jason (m. 1983) |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Service/ |  U.S. Army Air Forces |
| Years of service | 1943–1945 |
| Rank | Private |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
Rick Jason (born Richard Jacobson; May 21, 1923 – October 16, 2000) was an American actor, born in New York City, and most remembered for starring in the ABC television drama Combat! (1962–1967).
Childhood[edit]
An only child of Jewish parents, Jason was expelled from several prep schools[1] before graduating from Rhodes Preparatory School in Manhattan.
Military service[edit]
Rick Jason served from 1943 to 1945 in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II.[2] In the late 1960s and early 1970s, he visited American troops serving in Vietnam on several USO tours.[3]
Acting career[edit]
Later, MGM was searching for an actor to replace Fernando Lamas in the 1953 movie Sombrero and gave the role to Jason, who was earlier released from Columbia Pictures. This led to Jason being cast in The Saracen Blade (1954) and This Is My Love (1954).[4]
In 1956, Jason played the lead in The Fountain of Youth, a half-hour unsold pilot written and directed by Orson Welles which won the Peabody Award in 1958.
Soon after, Jason received offers for television series. He guest-starred on ABC's anthology series, The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse. In 1954, he played Joaquin Murietta, the notorious Mexican bandit of the California Gold Rush, in an episode of Jim Davis's syndicated western series Stories of the Century, the story of a railroad detective investigating crime in the American West. He appeared on the NBC interview program Here's Hollywood, in the Rawhide episodes "Incident of the Coyote Weed" and "Incident of the Valley in Shadow", and co-starred in 1969 in The Monk.
In 1960, he starred as insurance investigator Robin Scott in The Case of the Dangerous Robin, a syndicated American television series that lasted only one season. It was not renewed due to Jason's health issues, including back problems. In 1962, he began starring in the television series Combat! as Platoon Leader 2nd Lt. Gil Hanley, probably his most memorable role. In this series he shared the starring role in an alternating episode rotation, with Vic Morrow as Sgt. Chip Saunders, though in many episodes they both appeared. The show was a hit that lasted for 152 episodes in five seasons.
After Combat!, Rick returned to stage acting. He made films in Japan and Israel, as well as films such as Color Me Dead (1969), The Day of the Wolves (1971), The Witch Who Came from the Sea (1976), Love and the Midnight Auto Supply (1977), Partners (1982) and Illegally Yours (1988). He also played Cornelius Vanderbilt in the 1989 miniseries Around the World in 80 Days. In 1973, he was a frequent character on The Young and the Restless.[5] He was also a favorite voice for TV commercial narration in the 1960s.
Retirement[edit]
After retiring from screen appearances, Jason kept busy by doing voice-overs for commercials and wrote his autobiography, Scrapbooks of My Mind. In 2000, he attended a Combat! reunion in Las Vegas with fellow cast members.[2]
Personal life[edit]
In his personal life, Jason enjoyed playing guitar, painting, sculpting, collecting wines, flying, hunting, photography, and breeding tropical fish.[5]
In 2000, Jason published his autobiography Scrapbooks of My Mind: A Hollywood Autobiography. The book describes Jason growing up in New York during the Great Depression and shares behind-the-scenes stories of his film and tv career.[6] The book was pulled from publication after his death in October 2000. An online version of the book exists on the web.
Death[edit]
Jason died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound one week after the Combat! reunion, on October 16, 2000, in Moorpark, California, where he lived. He left no note. Authorities said the actor was "despondent" over "unspecified personal matters."[2]
His body was cremated and interred at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California in the Cathedral Mausoleum.
Legacy[edit]
Concerning Combat!, pop culture scholar Gene Santoro has written:
TV's longest-running World War II drama (1962–1967) was really a collection of complex 50-minute movies. Salted with battle sequences, they follow a squad's travails from D-Day on – a gritty ground-eye view of men trying to salvage their humanity and survive. Melodrama, comedy, and satire come into play as top-billed Lieutenant Hanley (Rick Jason) and Sergeant Saunders (Vic Morrow) lead their men toward Paris ...[7]
Producer Steve Rubin wrote a tribute to Jason published in the Los Angeles Times on October 20, 2000:
The baby boomer generation lost one of its heroes on Monday — Rick Jason is gone. He was better known as Lieutenant Hanley on the long-running 1960’s World War II series, "Combat!" As they often say in Hollywood war films, we lost us a good man. Jason was not only a wonderful human being, a devoted husband, and a fine actor, he was one of our best storytellers with links to the "Golden Age" of Hollywood.[8]
Rubin concluded:
For we boomers, Rick Jason helped illuminate the legacy of World War II to those of us too young to experience or remember it. He brought dignity to the image of the fighting man at a time when Vietnam was moving us in the other direction. Over those five years of episodes, he brought home every week the sense of fear, sacrifice and the great love soldiers have for each other. Jason and the squad were our touchstones to the dynamic era of the 1940s when America won the war.[9]
Filmography[edit]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1953 | Sombrero | Ruben | |
| 1954 | The Saracen Blade | Enzio Siniscola | |
| 1954 | This Is My Love | Glenn Harris | |
| 1956 | The Lieutenant Wore Skirts | Capt. Barney Sloan | |
| 1957 | The Wayward Bus | Johnny Chicoy | |
| 1958 | Rx Murder | Jethro Jones | |
| 1958 | Sierra Baron | Miguel Delmonte | |
| 1959 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Arthur | Season 4 Episode 25: "The Kind Waitress" |
| 1968 | Teppô denraiki or The Saga of Tanegashima[10] | Capt. Pinto | |
| 1969 | Color Me Dead | Bradley Taylor | |
| 1970 | Ha-Pritza Hagdola | Beno | |
| 1971 | The Day of the Wolves | No. 4 | |
| 1971 | The Virginian (TV series) | Tom Fuller | season 9 episode 24 (Jump-up) |
| 1974 | A Time for Love | ||
| 1976 | The Witch Who Came from the Sea | Billy Batt | |
| 1977 | Love and the Midnight Auto Supply | Councilman Ted Fredricks | |
| 1977 | Proof of the Man | Lionel Adams | |
| 1982 | Partners | Douglas | |
| 1983 | Shôsetsu Yoshida gakko | General Douglas MacArthur | |
| 1988 | Illegally Yours | Freddie Boneflecker |
Notes[edit]
- ^ Jason (2000), "Bored in School"
- ^ a b c Variety (2000)
- ^ Jason (2000), "Pat Calls It Quits and I Go To Nam"
- ^ Jason (2000) "The Saracen Blade at Columbia Pictures"
- ^ a b Los Angeles Times
- ^ Scrapbooks of My Mind (July 29, 2000)
- ^ Santoro, Gene (March–April 2011). "Infantrymen on the Small Screen". World War II. 25 (6). Leesburg, Virginia: Weider History Group: 69. Retrieved August 24, 2013.
- ^ Steve Rubins (October 20, 2000)
- ^ Steve Rubin (October 20, 2000)
- ^ "鉄砲伝来記" (in Japanese). Kinenote. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
References[edit]
- Jason, Rick. Scrapbooks of My Mind : A Hollywood Autobiography; Strange New Worlds; 1st edition 29 July 2000; ISBN 978-0970162403
- "'Combat!' Actor Rick Jason Found Dead". Los Angeles Times. October 17, 2000. Retrieved March 4, 2022.
- Obituary in Variety; 9 November 2000
- Jason, Rick (July 2000). Scrapbooks of My Mind : A Hollywood Autobiography. ISBN 0970162405.
- Rubin, Steve (February 23, 2001). "A Final Salute to Lieutenant Hanley". Archived from the original on 2001-02-23. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
External links[edit]
- Rick Jason at IMDb
- The Fountain of Youth on YouTube
- The Life and Sad Ending of Rick Jason (December 18, 2020) Access Date: March 9, 2022
- A Salute to Rick Jason (as platoon leader 2nd Lt. Gil Hanley) 2018 Access Date: March 9, 2022
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- 1923 births
- 2000 deaths
- 2000 suicides
- 20th-century American Jews
- 20th-century American male actors
- American male film actors
- American male stage actors
- American male television actors
- American male voice actors
- Burials at Hollywood Forever Cemetery
- Jewish American male actors
- Jewish American military personnel
- Male actors from New York City
- Military personnel from New York City
- Military personnel from New York (state)
- People from Moorpark, California
- Suicides by firearm in California
- United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II
- United States Army Air Forces soldiers