Claude Akins
| Claude Akins | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Claude Marion Akins May 25, 1926 Nelson, Georgia, U.S. |
| Died | January 27, 1994 (aged 67) Altadena, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1953–1992 |
| Spouse(s) | Therese Fairfield (1952-1994; his death; 3 children) |
Claude Marion Akins (May 25, 1926 – January 27, 1994) was an American actor with a long career on stage, screen, and television. Powerful in appearance and voice, Akins could be counted on to play the clever (or less than clever) tough guy, on the side of good or bad, in movies and television. He is remembered as Sheriff Lobo in the 1970s television series B. J. and the Bear, and later The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo, a spin-off series.
Akins was born in Nelson, Georgia, and grew up in Bedford, Indiana. He served with the U.S. Army Signal Corps in World War II in Burma and the Philippines. After the war, he was a 1949 graduate of Northwestern University, where he studied Theatre and became a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity.
As a film actor, Akins first appeared in 1953's From Here to Eternity. He appeared as a seaman and shipmate of Lee Marvin in the 1954 The Caine Mutiny. He portrayed prisoner Joe Burdette in Rio Bravo (starring John Wayne, Ricky Nelson, Dean Martin, and Angie Dickinson), Naval Lt. Commander Farber in Don't Give Up the Ship (starring Jerry Lewis), Sgt Kolowicz in Merrill's Marauders, Rockwell W. "Rocky" Rockman in The Devil's Brigade, the Reverend Jeremiah Brown in the 1960 movie Inherit the Wind, outlaw Ben Lane in Comanche Station that same year, Seely Jones in A Distant Trumpet (1964), and the gorilla leader Aldo in Battle for the Planet of the Apes, the last original Apes movie in 1973. He had a tiny part in the movie The Sea Chase with John Wayne. He appeared with Yul Brynner and Robert Fuller in the film Return of the Seven (1966) (also called Return of the Magnificent Seven and The Magnificent Seven 2), and also appeared in the 1993 movie Seasons of the Heart.
...
Wikipedia