James Karen passes away at 94 leaving a great legacy behind. The Poltergeist actor had more than 200 onscreen appearances including ‘Return of the Living Dead’, ‘Wall Street’, ‘The China Syndrome’ and the ‘Little House on the Prairie’ finale.
His fans were blown away by the news and Walnut Grove is moaning the loss of the prolific actor. It’s such a huge loss for everyone. During his 70 years of acting career, Karen depicted both bad and good authoritative figures. He also acted in Oliver Stone’s movies including, ‘Wall Street’, ‘Nixon’ and ‘Any Given Sunday’.
Karen learnt this art at the Neighbourhood Playhouse, New York from Sanford Meisner, his acting teacher. His Broadway debut began with ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ which was Elia Kazan’s original production in 1947. There, he was Karl Malden’s understudy and Marlon Brando was his co-actor.
Karen even said once that people may not know his name, but everyone knows him by his face as he has worked so much. He married Susan Reed, who was a zither player and renowned folk singer, but the two separated in 1967. They named Buster Keaton as the godfather of their son. Karen later married Alba in 1986.
Karen was given his first role in a comedy at the theater. He said in an interview,
That’s when I began working. It was terrific for me. It gave me a real reason to exist, and to live. I was doing exactly what I wanted to do.
He did several plays with the theater after that and then joined the Air Force during the World War II. Karen has such a huge list of the roles that he has played. You name it and he has done it. Everyone is truly amazed by his passion for acting and the zeal with which he did his work.
Source: Hollywood Reporter, Free Republic
