John Vernon

Infobox actor
name = John Vernon


birthname = Adolphus Raymondus Vernon Agopsowicz
caption = Vernon in "Dirty Harry", 1971
birthdate = birth date|1932|02|24
birthplace = Saskatchewan ,Canada
deathdate = death date and age|2005|02|01|1932|02|24
deathplace = Los Angeles, California
notable role =

John Vernon (February 24, 1932 - February 1, 2005) was a Canadian actor. He made a career in Hollywood after achieving initial television stardom in Canada.

Biography

Early life

Vernon was born Adolphus Raymondus Vernon Agopsowicz in Zehner, Saskatchewan, and was baptised at the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic parish in the nearby town of Arat. Some sources list his birthplace as the nearby city of Regina, Saskatchewan. He was one of two sons of Adolf Agopsowicz, a grocer, and his wife Eleonore Krückel (also spelled as Eleanor Kriekle or Kriekel). Both parents' families immigrated to the Edenwold district in the late 19th century from the Austrian crownland and duchy of Bukovina.Fact|date=June 2007 He is of Armenian, German, and Polish descent.Fact|date=June 2007 Vernon was educated at the Banff School of Fine Arts and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London before becoming a live stage actor on the early CBC.

Career

Vernon typically played a stern, authoritarian kind of character. After minor roles on the tv show "The Forest Rangers" in the early 1960's he rose to prominence in the CBC series "Wojeck" in the late 1960s, playing a crime-fighting medical examiner (the series has been acknowledged as the inspiration for the later American series "Quincy M.E."). He left the series in order to further his acting career in the United States. In 1967 he appeared opposite Lee Marvin in "Point Blank". In 1969 he played Cuban revolutionary Rico Parra in Alfred Hitchcock's Cold War era spy movie "Topaz". After appearing in a string of television episodes and films, he became well known internationally for playing the by-the-book mayor perpetually frustrated by Clint Eastwood in the first "Dirty Harry" movie (a role he later parodied in the premiere episode of "Sledge Hammer!"). He also played the sympathetic Fletcher in Eastwood's "The Outlaw Josey Wales". Vernon is probably best remembered for his role as the deadly serious Faber College Dean Vernon Wormer in 1978's enduring cult classic "Animal House".

Many of his later roles were as villains, and he played one of the lead roles for the short-lived 1990s series "Acapulco H.E.A.T." He also did extensive voice work with the animated film "Heavy Metal" and on animated series such as "The Marvel Superheroes Show" in the 1960s, where he played Iron Man and the Sub-Mariner, to "" in the 1990s. His final work was providing the voice of Dean Toadblatt in the TV series "The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy".

Personal life

With his wife Nancy West, John Vernon was the father of actress Kate Vernon and singer Nan Vernon. On February 1, 2005, he died in Los Angeles, California of complications following heart surgery, aged 72.

External links

*imdb name|id=0006893|name=John Vernon
* [http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts/national/2005/02/03/Arts/vernonobit050203.html CBC article: "Wojeck" star John Vernon dies]
*Find A Grave|id=10424647