Chuck Connors

Chuck Connors
File:Connors-chuck.jpg Chuck Connors

Chuck Connors (April 10 1921 – November 10 1992) was an American actor and professional basketball and baseball player.

Biography

Early life

Connors was born Kevin Joseph Aloysius Connors in Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, Canada, the son of Marcella (Lundrigan) and Allan Connors, immigrants to Brooklyn, New York City from Ireland. Connors grew up with a two-years-younger sister named Gloria; their father was a longshoreman and their mother a homemaker. He was raised a Roman Catholic, serving as an altar boy at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

His natural athletic abilities earned him a scholarship to the private high school Adelphi Academy, and then to the Catholic college, Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey. After two years in college he then dropped out and in 1942 enlisted in the Army at Fort Knox, Kentucky, listing his civilian occupation as a ski instructor. Serving mostly as a tank-warfare instructor, he was stationed at Camp Campbell, Kentucky, and later at West Point, New York.

Sports career

Following his military discharge in 1946, he joined the newly formed Boston Celtics of the Basketball Association of America. Connors left the team for spring training with Major League Baseball's Brooklyn Dodgers. He played for numerous minor league teams before joining the Dodgers in 1949, for whom he played in just 1 game; and the Chicago Cubs in 1951, for whom he played in 66 games as a first baseman and occasional pinch hitter.He could shoot that rifle real good.I love that show. In 1952 he was sent to the minor leagues again, to play for the Cubs' top farm team, the Los Angeles Angels. Connors was also drafted by the Chicago Bears, but never suited-up for the team. Chuck Connors is one of only twelve athletes in history to have played for both Major League Baseball and in the NBA. Connors is credited with being the first professional basketball player to break a backboard. The incident occurred on November 5, 1946 during a pre-game warmup at Boston Garden when Connors hit the basket rim with a two-handed shot.

Acting career

Connors realized that he would not make a career in professional sports, so he decided to become an actor. Playing baseball near Hollywood proved to be fortuitous, as he was spotted by an MGM casting director and cast in the 1952 Tracy-Hepburn film Pat and Mike. In 1953 he starred opposite Burt Lancaster playing a rebellious Marine private in the film South Sea Woman.

Although he found some roles in feature films such as The Big Country and Soylent Green, during his career in Hollywood, Connors was best known for his television work. He appeared in a 1954 episode of Adventures of Superman titled Flight to the North, in which he played a good-natured (and very strong) backwoods fellow named Sylvester J. Superman. He was featured in an episode of CBS's The Millionaire.

He achieved stardom when cast as "Lucas McCain" in the television Western series The Rifleman (1958-1963), with Johnny Crawford as his son Mark.

Thereafter, he starred in Branded (1965-1966) and the 1967 Cowboy in Africa TV series, alongside Ronald Howard and Tom Nardini. In 1973 and 1974 he hosted a television series called Thrill Seekers. He had a key role as a slaveowner in the famous 1977 miniseries Roots. Connors also achieved infamy for an incident on NBC's prime time baseball telecast in the 1970's. At the time, the network was inviting a guest celebrity commentator to join the regular play by play crew in the broadcast booth. Connors accidentally dropped an "f-bomb" into the live telecast, stunning both the announcers and national audience.

Connors also hosted a number of episodes of Family Theater on the Mutual Radio Network. This series was aimed at promoting prayer as a path to world peace and stronger families, with the motto "The family which prays together stays together". In 1987 he co-starred in the FOX series Werewolf as drifter Janos Skorzeny. In 1991, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.

Personal life & death

Connors was frequently a supporter of the Republican Party and attended a few fundraisers for campaigns of U.S. President Richard M. Nixon, who reportedly was a fan of Connors.

Connors was introduced to Secretary General Leonid Brezhnev of the Soviet Union at a party given by Nixon at the Western White House in San Clemente, California, in June, 1973. Upon boarding his airplane bound for Moscow, Brezhnev noticed Connors in the crowd and went back to him to shake hands, and, jokingly, jump up into Connor's towering hug. The Rifleman was one of the few American shows allowed on Russian television at that time because it was Brezhnev's favorite. Connors and Brezhnev hit it off so well that Connors traveled to the Soviet Union in December, 1973. In 1982, Connors indicated interest in traveling to the Soviet Union for Brezhnev's funeral, but the U.S. government would not allow him to be part of the official delegation.

Connors died in Los Angeles at the age of 71 from lung cancer following a bout of pneumonia.

The book Carl Erskine's Tales from the Dodgers Dugout: Extra Innings (2004) includes short stories from former Dodger pitcher Carl Erskine. Connors is prominent in many of these stories.

Filmography

• The Gambler Returns: Luck of the Draw (1991) ... as Lucas McCain
• Salmonberries (1991) ... as Bingo Chuck
• Sakura Killers (1987) ... as The Colonel
• Werewolf (1987) ... as Janos Skorzeny
• Terror Squad (1987) ... as Chief Rawlings
• Airplane II: The Sequel (1982) ... as The Sarge
• Roots (1977) ... as Tom Moore
• Soylent Green (1973) ... as Tab Fielding
• Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971) ... as "Swiftie" Morgan (uncredited)
• Cowboy in Africa (1967) ... as Jim Sinclair
• Go Kill Everybody and Come Back Alone (1968) ...as Clyde
• Dark Shadows (1966)
• Move Over, Darling (1963) .... as Adam
• Flipper (1963) ... as Sandy's Dad
• Geronimo (1962) ... as Geronimo
• The Big Country (1958) .... as Buck Hannassey
• Old Yeller (1957) ... as Burn Sanderson
• South Sea Woman (1953) ... as David White
• Pat and Mike (1952) ... as Police captain

External links

• The Riflemans Rifle website - Riflemans rifle, Chuck Connors
• The Rifleman Chuck Connors - The Rifleman Chuck Connors
• Chuck Connors Fans - Rifleman, Chuck Connors Fans
• Chuck Connors at IMDb
• Find-A-Grave profile for Chuck Connors
• Baseball-Reference.com - career baseball statistics and analysis
• Basketball-Reference.com - career basketball statistics and analysis
• TV Party - Meeting with Brezhnev
• Time Magazine - Meeting with Brezhnev
• Template:Tvtome person