Acting
Aug 9, 1914
Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
Jeff Corey
Acting
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jeff Corey (born Arthur Zwerling; August 10, 1914 – August 16, 2002) was an American actor, television director, and teacher. After being blacklisted in the 1950s, he became one of the most prominent and influential acting coaches in Hollywood, whose students included the likes of Kirk Douglas, Jack Nicholson, Robin Williams, James Dean, Jane Fonda, Peter Fonda, James Coburn, Leonard Nimoy, Cher, Barbra Streisand and Rob Reiner. He returned to film and television work in the 1960s, playing many character roles. Early life and education Corey was born Arthur Zwerling in Brooklyn, New York to working-class Jewish immigrant parents. His father, Nathan Zwerling, was from Austria-Hungary, and his mother, Mary (nee Peskin), was from Russia. He attended New Utrecht High School in Brooklyn and was active in the school's Dramatic Society. He received a scholarship to the Feagin School of Dramatic Art, where he furthered his studies. Prior to his acting career, he worked as a salesman of sewing machines. Blacklisted and teacher Corey's career was again interrupted in the early 1950s, when he was summoned before the House Un-American Activities Committee. He refused to give names of alleged Communists and subversives in the entertainment industry and went so far as to ridicule the panel by offering critiques of the testimony of the previous witnesses. That led to his being blacklisted for 12 years. "Most of us were retired Reds. We had left it, at least I had, years before," Corey told Patrick McGilligan, the co-author of Tender Comrades: A Backstory of the Hollywood Blacklist, who teaches film at Marquette University. "The only issue was, did you want to just give them their token names so you could continue your career, or not? I had no impulse to defend a political point of view that no longer interested me particularly... They just wanted two new names so they could hand out more subpoenas." Back to work in the 1960s In 1962, Corey began working in films again, and remained active into the 1990s. He played Hoban in The Cincinnati Kid (1965); Tom Chaney, the principal villain in True Grit (1969); and Sheriff Bledsoe in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (also 1969), who says to the title characters, "I never met a soul more affable than you, Butch, or faster than the Kid, but you're still nothing but two-bit outlaws on the dodge. Television Corey made guest appearances on many television series. He appeared as murder victim Carl Bascom in the Perry Mason episode, "The Case of the Reckless Rockhound" (1964). He was featured on science-fiction series, too, including an episode of The Outer Limits ("O.B.I.T.", 1963) in which he played Byron Lomax; Star Trek ("The Cloud Minders", 1969) in which he played High Advisor Plasus; as Caspay in Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970), and Babylon 5 ("Z'ha'dum", 1996) in which he played Justin. Personal life Corey married his wife Hope (nee Victorson) in 1938. They had three children. Death Corey died on August 16, 2002, aged 88, after a fall. CLR
Feature Films (131)
An up-and-coming poker player tries to prove himself in a high-stakes match against a long-time master of the game.
The Cincinnati Kid
As the west rapidly becomes civilized, a pair of outlaws in 1890s Wyoming find themselves pursued by a posse and decide to flee to South America in hopes of evading the law.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
An FBI informant has kept his new identity secret for 15 years. Now an old flame has recognised him, and the bad guys are back for revenge.
Bird on a Wire
An unhappy middle-aged banker agrees to a procedure that will fake his death and give him a completely new look and identity; one that comes with its own price.
Seconds
Stolen way back in 1880, a sack of United States mail is discovered in an old attic in 1942. The letters are finally delivered, profoundly affecting the lives of the recipients.
The Postman Didn't Ring
Follows the tumultuous presidency of the 19th President of the United States, Andrew Johnson, whose story begins with his boyhood and early life. During the Civil War, Johnson remains a staunch Unionist and, upon Lincoln's reelection in 1864, becomes his Vice President. After Lincoln is assassinated, Johnson becomes the first U.S. President ever to be impeached.
Tennessee Johnson
Television & Series (73)
The trials of a former television station manager turned newspaper city editor, and his journalist staff.
Lou Grant
Garrison's Gorillas is an ABC TV series broadcast from 1967 to 1968; a total of 26 hour-long episodes were produced. It was inspired by the 1967 film The Dirty Dozen, which featured a similar scenario of training Allied prisoners for World War II military missions. Garrison's Gorillas was canceled at the close of its first season and replaced by The Mod Squad in 1968. It managed to gather a cult following in China in the 1980s.
Garrison's Gorillas
An eccentric fun-loving judge presides over an urban night court and all the silliness going on there.
Night Court
Space. The Final Frontier. The U.S.S. Enterprise embarks on a five year mission to explore the galaxy. The Enterprise is under the command of Captain James T. Kirk with First Officer Mr. Spock, from the planet Vulcan. With a determined crew, the Enterprise encounters Klingons, Romulans, time paradoxes, tribbles and genetic supermen led by Khan Noonian Singh. Their mission is to explore strange new worlds, to seek new life and new civilizations, and to boldly go where no man has gone before.
Star Trek
Perversions of Science is a science fiction/horror television series that ran on the cable channel HBO for one season in 1997. It is a spin-off of popular horror series Tales from the Crypt also shown on HBO, and its episodes are based on EC's Weird Science comic book series. The format of Perversions of Science is very similar to Tales From The Crypt, the show was introduced by a sexualized female robot named Chrome and then an individual episode would start. After the episode was complete, Chrome would conclude Perversions of Science. Most episodes focused on a part of science fiction such as alien invasion or space/time travel. The show featured a mix of established talent and young up-and-comers. "Panic", for instance, starred a young Jason Lee and Jamie Kennedy opposite Harvey Korman. As of 2011 the series has not been released on DVD in the US. However in 2001 it was released in Japan by Pioneer Entertainment where it has since gone out of print subsequently becoming sought after by collectors.
