Joe Kirkwood, Jr.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Joe Kirkwood, Jr. (born May 30, 1920) is a former professional golfer on the PGA Tour, and a motion picture actor.
Kirkwood was born in Melbourne, Australia. His father Joe Kirkwood, Sr., who was a golf pro and who taught him to play golf, is acknowledged as having put Australian golf on the world map. In 1948, he and his father both made the cut at the U.S. Open, the first father and son to do so and a record tied only in 2004. When Joe Kirkwood, Jr. defeated Sam Snead to win the 1951 Blue Ribbon Open in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, they became the third father-son winner in the history of the PGA Tour which in 2005 still has only six such winners.
In 1945, Joe Kirkwood, Jr. was invited by Monogram Pictures to test for the role of boxer Joe Palooka. He got the part and starred in eleven Joe Palooka films between 1946 and 1951 plus in the 1954 television series "The Joe Palooka Story." Later in the 1950s he was one of the reporters on the popular radio program Monitor on NBC Radio.
Joe Kirkwood has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1620 Vine Street.
