Claude
The character actor who played Sonny Pruitt, Sheriff Lobo, and a wide range of film and television roles.
via Wikipedia: Claude Akins · see source
Claude Aubrey Akins (May 25, 1926 – January 27, 1994) was an American character actor. He played Sonny Pruitt in Movin' On, a 1974–1976 American drama series about a trucking team; Sheriff Lobo on The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo, a 1979–1981 American action comedy television series; and in a variety of other roles on television as well as in feature films. Akins was born in Nelson, Georgia, and grew up in Bedford, Indiana, the son of Maude and Ernest Akins. He was Cherokee. He served in the Pacific with the U.S. Army Signal Corps during World War II, then graduated from Northwestern University in 1949, where he majored in theatre arts and was trained in Shakespeare. He began his theatrical career at the Barter Theater in Abingdon, Virginia, and became an actor on Broadway in the late 1940s, with a role in The Rose Tattoo.
Quick Facts
- Birth name
- Claude Aubrey Akins
- Born
- 25 May 1926
- Birthplace
- Nelson, Georgia, U.S.
- Died
- 27 January 1994
- Place of death
- Altadena, California, U.S.
- Occupation
- Actor
- Years active
- 1953–1993
- Spouse
- Therese Fairfield, 1952, 1994 (his death)
Lore & Background
Akins was signed by talent agent Meyer Mishkin and became one of 'Meyer Mishkin's Band of Uglies,' a group of character actors that included Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, Jeff Chandler, James Coburn, Michael Ansara, and Chuck Connors. Early in his career, he did his own stunts in low-budget movies, once being run over by a wagon in a western. His film debut was in From Here to Eternity (1953). He appeared in The Caine Mutiny (1954) as one of a pair of incorrigible seamen, Horrible and Meatball, the other played by Lee Marvin. He portrayed prisoner Joe Burdette in Rio Bravo, and Naval Lt. Commander Farber in Don't Give Up the Ship with Jerry Lewis. He appeared in Porgy and Bess (1959), played Rockwell W. 'Rocky' Rockman in The Devil's Brigade, the Reverend Jeremiah Brown in Inherit the Wind (1960), and outlaw Ben Lane in Comanche Station that same year. He received critical acclaim for his performance as Sgt. Kolowicz in Sam Fuller's Merrill's Marauders (1962), especially for a scene in which his unit rests in a Burmese village and he is fed rice by an elderly woman and weeps. Fuller wrote in his memoir A Third Face that it was 'one of the scenes I'm most proud of,' and that whenever he sees it he bursts into tears. He played Seely Jones in A Distant Trumpet (1964), and the gorilla leader Aldo in Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973), the last original Apes movie. He had a small part in The Sea Chase with John Wayne, appeared with Yul Brynner and Robert Fuller in Return of the Seven (1966), and appeared in Seasons of the Heart (1993). In a 1987 interview, Akins called his film career 'disappointing,' and said his biggest regret was losing the role of 'Dragline' in Cool Hand Luke (1967) to George Kennedy, who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Reader's Guide
Akins was married to Therese Fairfield from 1952 until his death. His widow died on June 12, 2006. They had three children together. Akins died of stomach cancer in Altadena, California, on January 27, 1994, at the age of 67. In May 1993, half of his stomach had been removed in cancer surgery. He was cremated, and his ashes were returned to Altadena. In a 1987 interview, Akins said he felt 'like an outsider in a business I have been a part of for 37 years. For some reason, Hollywood's mainstream has eluded me.' He added: 'A guy who looks like Robert Redford will most often be cast as a hero. A guy like me or Ernie Borgnine plays a lot of heavies. If you're big, they think you're tough. And if you're tough, they think you're dumb.' The Claude Akins Memorial Golf Classic, a six-person scramble-format golf tournament, takes place at Otis Park Golf Course in Bedford, Indiana, in August or September of each year. Proceeds go to the Akins Scholarship and the Bedford Recreation Foundation Scholarship, given every year to a graduating senior at Bedford North Lawrence High School, as well as many recreation projects. In 1986, Akins attended the 55th annual American Indian Exposition in Anadarko, Oklahoma. Akins, who was part Cherokee, was a guest speaker and received the Outstanding Indian/Native American of the Year Award.
Elsewhere in Tom and Jerry
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