| Chris Sarandon | |
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Recording the voice of Jack Skellington |
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| Born | July 24, 1942 Beckley, West Virginia, United States |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Spouse | Susan Sarandon (m. 1968–1979) Lisa Ann Cooper (m. 1980–1989) Joanna Gleason (m. 1994–present) |
Chris Sarandon (born July 24, 1942) is an American actor who was married to actress Susan Sarandon between 1968 and 1979. He is best known for playing Prince Humperdinck in the film The Princess Bride, the vampire Jerry Dandridge in Fright Night and Detective Mike Norris in the first entry of the Child's Play series, and providing the speaking voice of Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Leon in Dog Day Afternoon.
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Sarandon was born and raised in Beckley, West Virginia, the son of restaurateurs Cliffie (née Cardullias) and Chris Sarandon, Sr.[1][2] His mother is of Greek descent and his father, whose surname was originally "Sarondonethes", was a Greek immigrant.[3]
In his teens, he played drums and sang back-up with a local band called The Teen Tones, which later went on to tour with such acts as Bobby Darin and Gene Vincent. He graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in Beckley. He went on to West Virginia University and earned his degree in performing arts. He earned his master's degree in theater from The Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington, D.C., where he met his first wife, actress Susan Sarandon; they divorced in 1979. Sarandon then married and divorced model Lisa Ann Cooper during the 1980s; they have three children, Stephanie, Alexis, and Michael Sarandon. He went on to marry actress and singer Joanna Gleason in 1994.
After graduation, he toured with numerous improv companies and became heavily involved in regional theatre, making his professional debut in The Rose Tattoo in 1965. In 1968, Sarandon moved to New York, where he landed his first television role as Dr. Tom Halverson on The Guiding Light (1969–1973). He appeared in the primetime TV movies The Satan Murders (1974) and Thursday's Game before landing the role of Al Pacino's transsexual wife in Dog Day Afternoon (1975), a performance which earned him nominations for Best New Male Star of the Year at the Golden Globes and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Sarandon appeared in The Rothschilds and The Two Gentlemen of Verona on Broadway, as well making regular appearances at numerous Shakespeare and George Bernard Shaw festivals in the United States and Canada. He also appeared in a series of television roles, some of which (such as A Tale of Two Cities in 1980) mirrored his affinity for the classics. He also took roles in horror films opposite the late Margaux Hemingway in the thriller Lipstick (1976) and as a demon in the shocker The Sentinel (1977).
To avoid being type cast as villainous characters, Sarandon took on various roles in the years to come, portraying the title role in the made-for-television movie The Day Christ Died (1980). He received accolades for his portrayal of Sydney Carton in a made for television version of A Tale of Two Cities (1980), co-starred with Dennis Hopper in The Osterman Weekend (1983), which was based on the Robert Ludlum novel of the same name, and co-starred with Goldie Hawn in Protocol (1984). These were followed by another mainstream success as the vampire-next-door in the teen horror film Fright Night (1985).
He is best known in the film industry for his role as Prince Humperdinck in Rob Reiner's 1987 film The Princess Bride, though he also has had supporting parts in some other successful films such as the original Child's Play (1988). In 1992, he played Joseph Curwen/Charles Dexter Ward in The Resurrected. He also provided the voice of Jack Skellington, the main character in Tim Burton's animated Disney film The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), and has since reprised the role in many other subsequent productions, including the Disney/Square video games Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II and the Capcom sequel to the original film, Oogie's Revenge. Sarandon also reprised his role as Jack Skellington for Halloween Screams and the Haunted Mansion Holiday, a three-month overlay of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland, where Jack and his friends take over the Mansion in an attempt to take over Christmas, much as his character did in the film.
Sarandon would later find work on television again with a recurring role as Dr. Burke on NBC's long-running medical drama ER.
In 1991 he performed on Broadway in the short-lived musical Nick and Nora (based on the Thin Man film) with Joanna Gleason, the daughter of Monty Hall. Sarandon married Gleason in 1994. They have appeared together in a number of films, including Edie & Pen (1996), American Perfekt (1997) and Let the Devil Wear Black (1999). In the 2000s he made guest appearances in quite a few TV series, notably as the Necromancer demon, Armand, in Charmed, and as superior court judge Barry Krumble in six episodes of Judging Amy.
He returned to Broadway in 2006 playing Signor Naccarelli in the six-time Tony award-winning Broadway musical The Light in the Piazza at Lincoln Center. Most recently he appeared in Cyrano de Bergerac as Antoine de Guiche, alongside Kevin Kline, Jennifer Garner and Daniel Sunjata. He is on the Advisory Board for the Greenbrier Valley Theatre in Lewisburg, West Virginia.