Kevin McCarthy (actor)

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Kevin McCarthy
in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Born	February 15, 1914 (1914-02-15) (age 94) Seattle, Washington

Kevin McCarthy (born February 15, 1914) is an American actor.

1 Biography
- 1.1 Career
- 1.2 Personal life
2 Partial filmography
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Career

McCarthy was quite accomplished at a young age in the theatre. In 1949, he was cast as Biff in the London company of Death of a Salesman, starring Paul Muni. A film was made in 1951 and he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role.^[1]

McCarthy went on to have a long and distinguished career as an in-demand character actor. He has had some starring roles sprinkled in his career, most notably the science fiction film classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers. On television, he had roles in two short-lived series: The Survivors with Lana Turner; and Flamingo Road as Claude Weldon, father of the Morgan Fairchild character.

McCarthy is one of three actors (along with Dick Miller and Robert Picardo) frequently cast by director Joe Dante. Despite his advanced age, McCarthy has four feature films completed or in production in 2007.

[edit] Personal life

McCarthy was born in Seattle, Washington, the son of Martha Therese (née Preston) and Roy Winfield McCarthy.^[2] McCarthy's father was from a wealthy Irish Catholic family based in Minnesota, and his mother was born in Washington state to a Protestant father and a Jewish mother.^[3] He is the brother of the late author Mary McCarthy, and a distant cousin of former U.S. senator and presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy. He graduated from Campion High School in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin in 1932.

Beginning in 1942, McCarthy had a long and close friendship with the acclaimed actor Montgomery Clift. McCarthy and Clift were cast in the same play together, Ramon Naya's Mexican Mural. The two of them, along with McCarthy's wife Augusta Dabney McCarthy, quickly became the best of friends. They socialized together and acted in several projects together.

McCarthy was also there the night in 1956 when Clift wrapped his car around a telephone pole in Coldwater Canyon. They had spent the evening at a dinner party at the home of Elizabeth Taylor in Beverly Hills. By 11:30, Clift excused himself, but he had drunk so much that McCarthy took it upon himself to drive ahead of him and thus lead him down the hill. Minutes later, McCarthy returned to the party. "Monty's been in an accident! I think he's dead!" Clift was seriously injured and his face scarred in the accident, but he survived. Still, his career was never the same after that.^[4]