Jack Warden, the red haired, stocky character actor who specialized in gruff but sympathetic characters in such crowd pleasing films such as Heaven Can Wait and Shampoo, in which he received Oscar® nominations for both, died on July 19 of natural causes in Manhattan. He was 85.

He was born John H. Lebzelter on September 18, 1920 in Newark, New Jersey, but was raised in Louisville, Kentucky. After a brief stint as a professional middleweight boxer, he pulled a three-year stint with the Navy, and then enlisted into the Army in 1942 during the outbreak of World War II. Interestingly, it was the result of an accident in the military that led to his eventual profession. While practicing a jump while preparing for the Normandy invasion, his parachute failed to function and he broke his leg in the process. He was recuperating in the hospital when a friend gave him a play, Waiting For Lefty by Clifford Odets that opened up the possibilities for Warden as an actor. Sure enough, once the war was over, he began his pursuit in earnest to start his career in the theater.

In 1946, he joined the acclaimed Alley Theatre in Dallas, and after a five-year period, he moved to New York. He got his first big break when he was cast as a physical education coach in Wally Cox's popular sitcom Mr. Peepers (1952-55). By 1955, he was on Broadway performing in Arthur Miller's A View From the Bridge and from there, his reputation rose when he acted in a chain of fine dramas on live television: Studio One, Kraft Television Theatre, and Playhouse 90, to name just a few. He then made a tremendous impact on the big screen when he notched three solid performances for some great directors in 1957: the violent, racist foreman who victimizes Sidney Poitier in Martin Ritt's gritty urban drama Edge of the City; the frustrated juror who's anxious to catch a ball game in Sidney Lumet's brilliant Twelve Angry Men; and a beautifully melancholic turn as Eddie, the groom's friend who refuses to grow up in Delbert Mann's The Bachelor Party.

Warden was off and running by the dawn of the '60s. You couldn't get enough of him on television - and that was a good thing – given the amount of depth and dimension he gave to the material. Guest appearances on programs such as Naked City, The Untouchables, The Twilight Zone and Route 66 were notable, but he also received his own series with The Wackiest Ship in the Army (1965-66) and the underrated crime drama N.Y.P.D (1967-69). By the '70s, his career was in full flight. He won an Emmy for his performance as the Chicago Bear's coach George Halas in the sentimental, but still moving television movie Brian's Song (1971); was solid as Max, the father to Richard Dreyfuss in The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974); his first Oscar® nod as the put upon husband for the smash Warren Beatty vehicle Shampoo (1975); superb as Harry Rosenfeld, the Washington Post editor in All the President's Men (1976); his second Oscar® nomination for his comic finesse as Max Corkle, the disbelieving friend to Warren Beatty in Heaven Can Wait (1978); and as the gun toting, psychologically unhinged judge who challenges Al Pacino at every turn in ...And Justice For All (1979).

Warden never quite matched his earlier peak after this fruitful period, but he was always worth watching. He made a few good films in the early '80s (Used Cars (1980), The Verdict (1982), before he scored a moderate hit series Crazy Like a Fox (1984-86). Warden was dependable in a trio of Woody Allen features: September (1987), Bullets Over Broadway (1994) and Mighty Aphrodite (1995), and made his final film appearance in the Keanu Reeves football comedy The Replacements (2000) before he decided to pull the curtain on a stellar career. He is survived by his companion, Marucha Hinds; his son, Christopher; and two grandchildren.

by Michael T. Toole