Dean Stockwell Biography

Dean Stockwell (born Robert Dean Stockwell, March 5, 1936) is an American actor of film and television, with a career spanning over 65 years. As a child actor under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer he first came to the public's attention in films such as Anchors Aweigh and The Green Years; as a young adult he played a lead role in the 1957 Broadway and 1959 screen adaptations of Meyer Levin's Compulsion, a novel based on the true-life story of Leopold and Loeb.

More recently he became widely known for television roles, playing Rear Admiral Albert "Al" Calavicci in the 1989–1993 television series Quantum Leap, and Brother Cavil in the Sci Fi Channel 21st century revival of Battlestar Galactica.

Early life

Stockwell was born Robert Dean Stockwell in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, the younger son of Nina Olivette, an actress and dancer, and Harry Stockwell, an actor and singer. His elder brother was actor Guy Stockwell.

Career

In 1945, he appeared in a main character role (Donald Martin) in the musical movie Anchors Aweigh alongside Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly. Some of his other notable child roles included that of Robert Shannon in The Green Years (1946), Gregory Peck's son in Gentleman's Agreement (1947), as the son of William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles, Nick Jr., in Song of the Thin Man (1947), and as Lionel Barrymore's grandson and Richard Widmark's protege in Down to the Sea in Ships (1949). He also starred in the lead role of The Boy with Green Hair in 1948, and in The Secret Garden in 1949. In 1950, he appeared in a lead role alongside Errol Flynn in Kim, the film of Rudyard Kipling's novel.

Unlike many child actors, he continued to act past his teenage years. In 1957, he starred as Judd Steiner in the Broadway adaptation of Compulsion, based on the Leopold and Loeb story; he played the same role in the 1959 film adaptation Compulsion. In 1958, he joined Gloria Talbott and Dan Blocker as guest stars in the episode "Mercyday" of the NBC western series The Restless Gun, starring John Payne.

In 1960, he played coal miner's son Paul Morel in the British film Sons and Lovers, an American actor cast as an Englishman, working alongside Trevor Howard and Wendy Hiller. In 1961, Stockwell appeared in the premiere episode of ABC's Bus Stop series, which starred Marilyn Maxwell. In 1962, he appeared in an adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's play Long Day's Journey Into Night along with Katharine Hepburn, Ralph Richardson and Jason Robards. In 1964, Stockwell guest-starred in an episode of NBC's medical drama The Eleventh Hour.

In the early 1960s, Stockwell dropped out of show business, becoming active in the hippie subculture.

Stockwell appeared in a 1969 episode of Bonanza as a down-and-out former Union soldier. He then appeared in two episodes of the mystery series Columbo. In 1973, he was the leading actor in a horror B-film called The Werewolf of Washington. Stockwell played Jack Whittier, a reporter who had an affair with the daughter of the U.S. President and is sent to Hungary. There he is bitten by a werewolf, and then gets transferred back to Washington, D.C., where he gets a job as the press secretary to the President. During the mid-1970s Stockwell worked as a real-estate broker.

In 1984, he appeared in Wim Wenders' critically acclaimed film Paris, Texas, and in that same year, in David Lynch's film version of Dune as Wellington Yueh. The following year he turned in a brief but significant role as attorney Bob Grimes in William Friedkin's To Live and Die in L.A. In 1986, Stockwell made an appearance in another Lynch production, the neo-noir thriller Blue Velvet. In 1988, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Mafia boss Tony "the Tiger" Russo in the comedy Married to the Mob. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 29, 1992 (Leap Day) following the success of Quantum Leap.

Along with Jack Lemmon and Marcello Mastroianni, Stockwell won the award for best actor at the Cannes Film Festival twice, for Compulsion and Long Day's Journey Into Night.

Stockwell joined the cast of Battlestar Galactica starting with its second season finale, portraying what became the lead antagonist, Cylon John Cavil.

Personal life

Stockwell married actress Millie Perkins in 1960 and the two divorced in 1962. In 1981 he married Joy Marchenko, with whom he had two children; they divorced in 2004.

Stockwell has been widely reported to be the godfather of actress Amber Tamblyn; however, in a 2009 interview with Parade Magazine, Tamblyn explained that Stockwell was one of three famous friends of her father, actor Russ Tamblyn, who were always around the house when she was growing up, and who were big influences on her life. The other two, in addition to Stockwell, were actor Dennis Hopper, and musician Neil Young. The word "godfather" was "just a loose term I've always used for all of them," Tamblyn explained in the interview, suggesting that Stockwell's "godfather" moniker is informal, at best.

Stockwell is an accomplished artist who creates both digitally enhanced photographs and original collages in the style of his friend and fellow artist, Wallace Berman. During his time at the University of California, Berkeley, Stockwell immersed himself in music and wrote several small compositions. As part of his friendship with musician Neil Young, Stockwell designed the album cover art for American Stars 'N Bars. Together, they directed Human Highway, which Stockwell also co-wrote. The title track from Young's 1970 album After the Gold Rush is based on the title of a screenplay written by Stockwell.

Stockwell is an avid golfer and would play golf during breaks in filming episodes of Quantum Leap. He's a martial artist, holding instructor rank in Modern Arnis.

Filmography

Features

• The Horn Blows at Midnight (1945) walk-on
• The Valley of Decision (1945)
• Anchors Aweigh (1945)
• Abbott and Costello in Hollywood (1945)
• The Green Years (1946)
• Home, Sweet Homicide (1946)
• The Mighty McGurk (1947)
• The Arnelo Affair (1947)
• The Romance of Rosy Ridge (1947)
• Song of the Thin Man (1947)
• Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
• Deep Waters (1948)
• The Boy with Green Hair (1948)
• Down to the Sea in Ships (1949)
• The Secret Garden (1949)
• Stars in My Crown (1950)
• The Happy Years (1950)
• Kim (1950)
• Cattle Drive (1951)
• Gun for a Coward (1957)
• The Careless Years (1957)
• Compulsion (1959)
• Sons and Lovers (1960)
• Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962)
• Rapture (1965)
• Psych-Out (1968)
• The Dunwich Horror (1970)
• The Last Movie (1971)
• Paper Man (1971)
• The Loners (1972)
• The Werewolf of Washington (1973)
• The Pacific Connection (1975)
• Win, Place or Steal (1975)
• Eadweard Muybridge, Zoopraxographer (1975) (documentary) (narrator)
• Tracks (1976)
• One Away (1976)
• Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976)
• She Came to the Valley (1979)
• Alsino and the Condor (1982)
• Wrong Is Right (1982)
• Human Highway (1982)
• Paris, Texas (1984)
• Dune (1984)
• To Kill a Stranger (1985)
• Papa Was a Preacher (1985)

• The Legend of Billie Jean (1985)
• To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)
• Blue Velvet (1986)
• The Time Guardian (1987)
• Banzai Runner (1987)
• Gardens of Stone (1987)
• Beverly Hills Cop II (1987)
• Smokescreen (1988)
• The Long Haul (1988)
• The Blue Iguana (1988)
• Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988)
• Married to the Mob (1988)
• Buying Time (1989)
• Limit Up (1990)
• Sandino (1990)
• Catchfire (1990)
• Friends and Enemies (1992)
• The Player (1992)
• Chasers (1994)
• The Langoliers (1995) (TV)
• Naked Souls (1995)
• Mr. Wrong (1996)
• Last Resort (1996)
• McHale's Navy (1997)
• Midnight Blue (1997)
• Living in Peril (1997)
• Air Force One (1997)
• The Rainmaker (1997)
• The Shadow Men (1998)
• Sinbad: The Battle of the Dark Knights (1998)
• Restraining Order (1999)
• Water Damage (1999)
• The Venice Project (1999)
• Rites of Passage (1999)
• The Flunky (2000)
• Monopoly Men (2000)
• Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000) (direct-to-video) (voice)
• Inferno (2001)
• In Pursuit (2001)
• Italian Ties (2001)
• CQ (2001)
• The Quickie (2001)
• Buffalo Soldiers (2001)
• The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
• The Deal (2006)
• The Cool School (2007) (documentary)
• Max Rose (2013)
• C.O.G. (2013)
• Persecuted (2013)

Short subjects

• A Really Important Person (1947)
• Some of the Best (1949)

Television work

• Wagon Train ("The Ruth Owens Story") (1957)
• Wagon Train ("The Juan Ortega Story") (1957)
• Cimarron City (as Bud Tatum in "Kid on a Calico Horse") (1958)
• Johnny Staccato ("Nature of the Night") (1959)
• Checkmate (TV series) ("Cyanide Touch") (1960)
• The DuPont Show with June Allyson, ("The Dance Man") (1960)
• Stagecoach West ("Red Sand") (1960)
• The Twilight Zone ("A Quality of Mercy") (1961)
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents ("The Landlady") (1961)
• The Alfred Hitchcock Hour ("Annabel") (1962)
• Combat! ("High Named Today") (1963)
• Kraft Suspense Theatre ("Their Own Executioners") (1964)
• Bonanza ("The Medal") (1969)
• Paper Man (1971 film) ("The Medal") (1971)
• The Failing of Raymond (1971)
• Adventures of Nick Carter (1972) (unsold pilot)
• Columbo ("The Most Crucial Game") (1972)
• Mission: Impossible ("The Pendulum") (1973)
• Night Gallery ("Whisper") (1973)
• The Streets of San Francisco (1973)
• Police Story (1974)
• Columbo: Troubled Waters" (1975)
• Ellery Queen ("The Adventure of the Blunt Instrument") (1975)
• Cop on the Beat (1975)
• Three for the Road (1975)
• A Killing Affair (1977)
• Greatest Heroes of the Bible (1978) (miniseries)
• Born to Be Sold (1981)
• The A-Team: A Small and Deadly Force (1983)
• Miami Vice ("Bushido") (1985)
• Kenny Rogers as The Gambler, Part III: The Legend Continues (1987)
• Murder, She Wrote ("Deadpan") (1988)
• The Twilight Zone ("Room 2426") (1989)
• Quantum Leap (1989"1993)
• Captain Planet and the Planeteers (cast member from 1990"1992) (voice)
• Son of the Morning Star (1991)
• Shame (1992)
• Fatal Memories (1992)
• Caught in the Act (1993)

• Bonanza: The Return (1993)
• In the Line of Duty: The Price of Vengeance (1994)
• Vanishing Son II (1994)
• Justice in a Small Town (1994)
• The Innocent (1994)
• Chicago Hope (1994)
• Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1994)
• Madonna: Innocence Lost (1994)
• Deadline for Murder: From the Files of Edna Buchanan (1995)
• The Langoliers (1995)
• The Man from Snowy River (1995)
• Nowhere Man ("You Really Got a Hold on Me") (1995)
• Twilight Man (1996)
• Unabomber: The True Story (1996)
• Close to Danger (1997)
• The Tony Danza Show (1997"1998)
• Phenomenon: The Lost Archives (1998)
• It's True (1998) (unsold pilot)
• What Katy Did (1999)
• They Nest (2000)
• Stargate SG-1 (2002)
• Star Trek: Enterprise (2002)
• First Monday (2002)
• JAG (recurring cast member from 2002"2004)
• American Black Beauty (2005)
• Battlestar Galactica (recurring cast member from 2006)
• Crash (2008)
• The Nanny Express (TV movie) (2009)