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In Remembrance: Paul Gleason
Born on May 4, 1939 in Jersey City, NJ, Gleason was raised in Miami and went on to play football for Florida State at the same time Burt Reynolds and Robert Urich attended the school. He also played Triple-A minor league baseball for a variety of teams.
Gleason became interested in acting after watch the film Splendor In The Grass (1961) with long time friend, writer Jack Kerouac. Moving to New York City, he was able to land a spot at the Actor’s Studio studying under Lee Strasburg. Gleason made his Broadway debut in 1971 opposite Maureen Stapleton in a production of Neil Simon’s The Gingerbread Lady. A year later he appeared in a revival of The Front Page with John Lithgow and Richard Thomas that ran in both New York and Los Angeles.
Gleason appeared in a handful of small, mostly uncredited film roles before landing his first supporting role in the thriller Private Duty Nurses (1971). In 1975, Gleason appeared in Doc Savage: Man Of Bronze, as “Long Tom” Roberts, one of the one titular pulp hero’s five adventuring aides. Other notable, early film appearances include 1979’s The Great Santini, Fort Apache, The Bronx and Arthur (both 1981).
In 1985, Gleason landed his breakout role in John Hughes’ comedy The Breakfast Club. As the hardnosed principal, Gleason’s character inadvertently causes the five students stuck in Saturday detention that despite their different backgrounds, they have much in common.
Gleason’s stern voice and harried features often got him cast as stressed authority figures. He appeared in such films as Trading Places (1983), Die Hard (1988), I Love Trouble (1994), Shadow Conspiracy (1997) and Van Wilder (2002). Gleason would also parody his hardnosed image in the films Loaded Weapon 1 (1993) and Not Another Teen Movie (2001).
Gleason also made guest appearances on several television series including Remington Steele, The A Team, Falcon Crest, 21 Jump Street, The Wonder Years, Seinfeld, Dark Skies, Newsradio, Nash Bridges, Melrose Place, The Drew Carey Show, Friends and Cold Case.
Gleason’s final film appearance will be in the comedy The Book Of Caleb, which is scheduled for release in 2007. |
Paul Gleason, best remembered as the tough-as-nails high school
principal in the 1985 John Hughes film The Breakfast Club,
has passed away on May 28, 2006 in Burbank, CA. He was 67.