John Saxon
American actor (1936–2020) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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John Saxon (born Carmine Orrico; August 5, 1936 – July 25, 2020) was an American actor who worked on more than 200 film and television projects during a span of 60 years. He was known for his work in Westerns and horror films, often playing police officers and detectives.
John Saxon | |
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Born | Carmine Orrico (1936-08-05)August 5, 1936 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
Died | July 25, 2020(2020-07-25) (aged 83) Murfreesboro, Tennessee, U.S. |
Resting place | Lake View Cemetery |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1954–2017 |
Spouse |
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Children | 1 |
Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Saxon studied acting with Stella Adler before beginning his career as a contract actor for Universal Pictures, appearing in such films as Rock, Pretty Baby (1956) and Portrait in Black (1961), which earned him a reputation as a teen idol and won him a Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor. During the 1970s and 1980s, he established himself as a character actor, frequently portraying law-enforcement officials in horror films such as Black Christmas (1974) and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).
Saxon appeared in numerous Italian films from the early 1960s. In a 2002 interview, he said of this period: "At the time, Hollywood was going through a crisis, but England and Italy were making a great many films. Besides, I thought the European films were of a much more mature quality than most of what Hollywood was making at the time."[1] Saxon appeared in Italian productions all through the 1970s and 1980s, until 1994, when he made Jonathan of the Bears.
In addition to his roles in horror films, Saxon co-starred with Bruce Lee in the martial arts film Enter the Dragon (1973), and he had supporting roles in the Westerns The Appaloosa (1966; for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture), Death of a Gunfighter (1969), and Joe Kidd (1972), as well as the made-for-television thriller Raid on Entebbe (1977). In the 1990s, Saxon occasionally appeared in films, with small roles in Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994) and From Dusk till Dawn (1996).