Cliff Osmond | |
|---|---|
 Osmond in The Fortune Cookie | |
| Born | February 26, 1937 Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | December 22, 2012 (aged 75) |
| Alma mater | Dartmouth College University of California, Los Angeles |
| Years active | 1962–1996 |
| Spouse | Gretchen Ebrahim (1962-2012) (his death) (2 children)[1] |
| Children | 2[2] |
Cliff Osmond (born Clifford Osman Ebrahim; February 26, 1937 – December 22, 2012)[3] was an American character actor and television screenwriter. A parallel career as an acting teacher coincided with his other activities.
Osmond was born in the Margaret Hague Medical Center in Jersey City, New Jersey, and reared in Union City, New Jersey. He was a graduate of Thomas A. Edison grammar school, Emerson High School, and Dartmouth College (Bachelor of Arts in English).[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] He received his master's degree in Business Administration from the University of California, Los Angeles and advanced to candidacy for the Ph.D. in the field of Theater History at UCLA.
He starred in four films directed by Billy Wilder, including Irma la Douce, Kiss Me, Stupid (1964), The Fortune Cookie and The Front Page. Osmond played Pap in the 1981 television adaptation for The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.[13]
Osmond appeared in over one hundred films and television series. During that period he guest-starred at least half a dozen times on Gunsmoke and in the 1965 episode "Yahoo" of NBC's Laredo. He played a vengeful blind man in the “None So Blind” episode of The Rifleman in 1962, and was cast in "The Gift", (1962) of the original The Twilight Zone. He played a hippie in Ironside (1968) and appeared as well on Here's Lucy (1974), The New Land (1974), as a plumber's apprentice on work release from prison in All in the Family (1975).[14]
As a screenwriter, Osmond was nominated for a Writer's Guild Award for writing an episode of Streets of San Francisco (1973). He also wrote and directed the film The Penitent.[citation needed]
Osmond received a Best Actor award for his UCLA performance of Berthold Brecht's Baal, and the Joseph Jefferson acting award for a Chicago stage appearance in Shaw's You Never Can Tell.[citation needed]
In addition to his acting and writing careers, Osmond was an acting teacher and coach in Los Angeles and San Francisco. In the fall of 2004, he was visiting professor in acting and Guest Resident Artist at Georgetown University, teaching two acting courses and directing Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House.[citation needed]
In 2010, he wrote a book about his career and acting: Acting Is Living: Exploring the Ten Essential Elements in any Successful Performance.[citation needed]
Osmond died of pancreatic cancer on December 22, 2012.[14]
