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DeVane's claim to fame I'm a damn good actorAsk William Devane for a description of himself and he’ll respond: “I’m a damn good actor.But Devane, who stars as Gregory Sumner in “Knot’s Landing,” claims he would have become a plumber or carpenter if he hadn’t discovered acting. He was born in Albany, N.Y., on Sept. 5,1939.When he was in his teens, he joined a little neigborhood theater and discovered he had a natural bent for acting.After one year in college, he headed for New York City and enrolled in the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.After he finished his work at the academy in 1962, he began a long association with producer Joseph Papp and the New York Shakespeare Festi-^His first jobs with the com- William Devane pany were behind the scenesas an electrician and a carpenter. Then he was cast as a spear-carrier in “The Merchant of Venice” and began to move up the ranks. He appeared in a total of 15 New York Shakespeare Festival productions, and eventually won the Albert Quinton Award for his performance in “Romeo and Juliet.”Devane’s portrayal of Robert Ken O’Dunc in the off-Broadway satirical comedy “MacBird” won him additional critical attention, but did not bring him a major lead on Broadway, as he had hoped it would.In 1971, after playing in a revival of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” on both coasts, Devane decided to move to Hollywood.“It was an absolute necessity,” he states. A young actor can build a career to a certain point in New York, but when the really good stuff comes around, no one will gamble on a New York actor. They bring in a TV star.” The 6-foot Irishman played villains in television, series like “Hawaii Five-O,” Streets of San Francisco” and Medical Center” and got his big break in 1974 when he was picked to star as John F. Kennedy in “Missiles of October. That role won him his first Emmy nomination. In 1975 he won a second Emmy nomination for his powerful performance as John Henry Faulk in “Fear on Trial.” Devane’s first feature film was Lady Liberty with Sophia Loren, but it was after his two Emmy nominations that he began to receive major roles in feature films like Family Plot,” “Marathon Man” and'“Yanks.”He and his wife, Eugenie, and their two sons live in Sherman Oaks, Calif. When time permits, the family heads for their ranch in Utah, where Devane raises Arabian horses.
Newspaper Details
Lawrence Journal World
Lawrence, Kansas, US
Sat, May 11, 1985
Page 49
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
MI, USA 14 Sep 2017
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