John Joseph Patrick Ryan (December 30, 1920 – January 21, 1998), best known by his stage name, Jack Lord, was an American television, film and Broadway actor, director and producer. He starred as Steve McGarrett in the CBS television program Hawaii Five-O, which ran from 1968 to 1980.[1]
Early years
Born in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, New York, Lord was the son of Irish-American parents. His father, William Lawrence Ryan, was a steamship company executive.[2] He grew up in Richmond Hill, Queens,[3] New York.
Lord spent the first year of the United States' involvement in World War II with the United States Army Corps of Engineers, building bridges in Persia.[3] He returned to the Merchant Marine as an able seaman before enrolling in the deck officer course at Fort Trumbull.[8] While making maritime training films, Lord took to the idea of acting.
His Broadway debut was as Slim Murphy in Horton Foote's The Traveling Lady with Kim Stanley.[12][13] The show ran for 30 performances, October 27, 1954, through November 20, 1954. Lord won the Theatre World Award[14] for his performance. Lord was then cast as Brick[15] in a replacement for Ben Gazzara in the 1955–1956 production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.[16] He had been in The Little Hut (his first play), The Illegitimist, and The Savage.
Lord was the first actor to play the character Felix Leiter[20] in the James Bond film series, introduced in 1962 in the first Bond film, Dr. No. According to screenwriter Richard Maibaum, Lord then demanded co-star billing, a bigger role and more money to reprise the role[21] in Goldfinger, which resulted in director Guy Hamilton casting Cec Linder in the role; thereafter, until David Hedison played the role for a second time in 1989's Licence to Kill, the character would be played by a different actor for each appearance.
In 1962, Lord starred as series namesake Stoney Burke,[22] a rodeo cowboy from Mission Ridge, South Dakota. The basis for the series was real-life champion rodeo rider Casey Tibbs.[23] The series featured Warren Oates and Bruce Dern in recurring supporting roles. Lord credited Gary Cooper as his on-screen role model,[9] and the inspiration for his characterization of Stoney Burke.
Lord starred in Hawaii Five-O for its 12 seasons (1968 to 1980) as Detective Steve McGarrett, appointed by the governor to head the (fictional) State Police criminal investigation department in Honolulu, Hawaii.[27] The opening sequence includes a shot of Lord standing on a penthouse balcony of the Ilikai hotel. Chin Ho Kelly,[28] the name of the police detective played by Kam Fong, was a tip-of-the-hat to Ilikai developer Chinn Ho. Lord's catchphrase, "Book 'em, Danno!",[27] became a part of pop culture. In the original run of the series (but not in syndication), at the end of each episode would be a promo: "This is Jack Lord inviting you to be with us next week for (name of episode). Be here. Aloha!" He was instrumental in the casting of native Hawaiians, instead of mainland actors.[27] Lord insisted his character drive Ford vehicles; McGarrett drove a 1967 Mercury Park Lane in the pilot, a 1968 Park Lane from 1968 to 1974, and a 1974 Mercury Marquis for the remainder of the series (this very car was shown in the 2010 remake).[29]
When series creator Leonard Freeman died in 1974, the show's ownership was shared among Lord, CBS and Freeman's estate,[27] with a contract that made Lord executive producer and gave him complete control over content. He was a hands-on partner who paid attention to minute details,[9] and was known for battles with network executives.
Cinematographers sometimes refer to a 50mm lens ("5-0") as a "Jack Lord" in reference to the name of the show that made him famous.[30]
Artist
During his years at NYU, Lord and his brother Bill opened the Village Academy of Arts.[3] Jack's childhood dream was to become an artist. His first professional sale was in 1941 to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for his two linoleum cuts, entitled Vermont and Fishing Shacks, Block Island.[2]
Personal life
In 1942, Lord married his first wife, Ann Willard. They divorced in 1947.[2] Their union produced a son, but Lord only saw him once when the boy was an infant. On August 24, 1955, his son died, aged 12 years, following a brief battle with hepatitis (he was buried in Fairfield County, Connecticut [state file number 14006]). Lord only learned of his son's death after receiving a copy of his death certificate from his son's mother. Ann Willard Ryan remarried in the 1950s and died on December 30, 2004.[29]
Lord met his second wife while house hunting in upstate New York.[31] On January 17, 1949, Lord married fashion designer Marie de Narde (1905-2005), a job she gave up to devote her time to him and his career.[3] Until 1957, the couple lived near the Lescaze House on East 48th Street in New York before moving to California.[32]
Death
After Hawaii Five-O ended its run in 1980, Lord kept a low profile and was rarely seen in public. His final TV appearance was that same year in a failed pilot for a new CBS series called M Station: Hawaii which he also directed (it had been filmed in early 1979, immediately before shooting the final season of Hawaii Five-O). Lord suffered from Alzheimer's disease for at least seven years before his death, although some accounts have suggested that he may have had the illness as early as the final season of Hawaii Five-O, in 1979.[33][34] He died of congestive heart failure at his home in Honolulu, on January 21, 1998, at the age of 77, leaving an estate of $40 million. He was a philanthropist and the entire estate went to Hawaiian charities upon his wife Marie's death at the age of 100 in 2005.[35]
Memorial
A bronze bust of Lord by Hawaii sculptor Lynn Weiler Liverton was unveiled in a ceremony at the Kahala Mall outside Macy's on June 19, 2004. The Lords lived in a condominium in the Kahala area, and they were known to frequent the neighborhood mall. The nonprofit Jack Lord Memorial Fund, which raised the money for the memorial, was co-chaired by British Hawaii Five-O fan Esperanza Isaac and Lord's co-star Doug Mossman.[36][37]
^Tucker, Kenneth (2000). Eliot Ness and the Untouchables: The Historical Reality and the Film and Television Depictions. McFarland & Company. p. 49. ISBN978-0-7864-0772-9.
^Lisanti, Tom (2010). Fantasy Femmes of Sixties Cinema: Interviews With 20 Actresses from Biker, Beach, and Elvis Movies. McFarland & Company. p. 274. ISBN978-0-7864-6101-1.
^Shatner, William; Fisher, David (2009). Up Till Now: The Autobiography. St. Martin's Griffin. p. 119. ISBN978-0-312-56163-5.
^ abcdTaylor, Philip M; Roberts, Graham (2005). The Historian, Television, and Television History. University Of Luton Press. pp. 77–94. ISBN978-1-86020-586-6.
^Rhodes, Karen (1997). Booking Hawaii Five-O : An Episode Guide and Critical History of the 1968–1980 Television Detective Series. McFarland & Company. p. 31. ISBN978-0-7864-0171-0.
