Cliff Osmond

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).{{cite web |title=Clifford Osman Ebrahim '59 |url=https://dartmouthalumnimagazine.com/clifford-osman-ebrahim-%E2%80%9959 |website=Dartmouth Alumni Magazine |access-date=12 June 2023 |language=en |date=May 2013}}{{cite web |title=An Interview With Cliff Osmond (Part One) |url=https://classictvhistory.wordpress.com/2013/01/03/an-interview-with-cliff-osmond-part-one/ |website=The Classic TV History Blog |access-date=12 June 2023 |language=en |date=3 January 2013}}{{cite web |title=An Interview With Cliff Osmond (Part Two) |url=https://classictvhistory.wordpress.com/2013/01/08/an-interview-with-cliff-osmond-part-two/ |website=The Classic TV History Blog |access-date=12 June 2023 |language=en |date=8 January 2013}}{{cite web | url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2012/12/29/cliff-osmond-and-film-actor-who-taught-thousands-students/rNGnugZ0INLmNAaaEbWEoO/story.html | title=Cliff Osmond, character actor in films, TV – the Boston Globe | website=The Boston Globe }}{{cite web | url=https://www.palipost.com/cliff-osmond-75-character-actor-in-many-movies-tv/ | title=Cliff Osmond, 75; Character Actor in Many Movies, TV | date=10 January 2013 }}{{cite news |title=Cliff Osmond, 75, TV and film actor who taught thousands of students |url=https://www.boston.com/news/national-news/2012/12/28/cliff-osmond-75-tv-and-film-actor-who-taught-thousands-of-students/ |access-date=12 June 2023 |work=boston.com |agency=Legacy}}{{cite news |title=Cliff Osmond, teacher, prolific character actor with Dallas ties, dies at 75 in California |url=https://www.dallasnews.com/news/obituaries/2012/12/29/cliff-osmond-teacher-prolific-character-actor-with-dallas-ties-dies-at-75-in-california/ |access-date=12 June 2023 |work=Dallas News |date=29 December 2012 |language=en}}{{cite news |title=Passings: Cliff Osmond |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-passings-20121231-story.html |access-date=12 June 2023 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=31 December 2012}}{{cite news |last1=Slotnik |first1=Daniel E. |title=Cliff Osmond, Prolific Character Actor, Dies at 75 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/28/arts/television/cliff-osmond-prolific-character-actor-dies-at-75.html |access-date=12 June 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=28 December 2012}} 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.{{cite web| title=Cliff Osmond| url=http://www.allmovie.com/artist/cliff-osmond-p105233| publisher=allmovie.com| access-date=28 December 2012}}

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).

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.{{Cite book |last=Henderson |first=Sanya Shoilevska |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7sE8wrp-5BEC&dq=%22cliff+osmond%22+%22The+Penitent%22&pg=PA224 |title=Alex North, Film Composer: A Biography, with Musical Analyses of a Streetcar Named Desire, Spartacus, The Misfits, Under the Volcano, and Prizzi's Honor |year=2003 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-1470-3 |page=224 |language=en}}

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 |date=September 2022}}

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 |date=September 2022}}

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 |date=September 2022}}

Osmond died of pancreatic cancer on December 22, 2012.{{cite news| title=Actor Cliff Osmond dies at 75| url=https://variety.com/2012/scene/news/actor-cliff-osmond-dies-at-75-1118063991/| date=December 27, 2012| newspaper=Variety| access-date=January 22, 2018}}

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• The Rifleman (1962) – None So Blind
• The Rifleman (1962) – Bartender (uncredited)
• Wagon Train (1962) "The John Bernard Story" – Ben Gill
• Irma La Douce (1963) – Police Sergeant
• Have Gun, Will Travel (February 22, 1963) – "Caravan" – Koro
• The Raiders (1963) – Private Jean Duchamps
• Wild and Wonderful (1964) – Hercule – Giselle's Uncle
• Kiss Me, Stupid (1964) – Barney
• Laredo (1965, TV) – Midas Mantee / Running Antelope
• The Fortune Cookie (1966) – Purkey
• Batman (1967, TV) – Andante
• Hogan's Heroes (1967, TV) – Season 3 Episode One "The Crittendon Plan" – Marko
• Three Guns for Texas (1968) – Running Antelope
• The Devil's 8 (1969) – Bubba
• Gunsmoke (1970) "Celia" – Ben Sommars
• Sweet Sugar (1972) – Burgos
• Invasion of the Bee Girls (1973) – Captain Peters
• Oklahoma Crude (1973) – Massive Man
• The Front Page (1974) – Jacobi
• Sharks' Treasure (1975) – Lobo
• Emergency! (1975) – S4Ep5 – Clide
• Bob Newhart Show (1975) – S4Ep5 – Leonard de Paolo
• Joe Panther (1976) – Rance
• Guardian of the Wilderness (1976) – McCollough
• The Mouse and His Child (1977) – C. Serpentina (voice)
• The Great Brain (1978) – Mr. Kokovinis
• The North Avenue Irregulars (1979) – Big Chin
• The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again (1979) – Wes Hardin (Bank-robber)
• Beggarman, Thief (1979, TV) – Sagerac
• Hangar 18 (1980) – Sheriff Barlow
• The Adventures of Nellie Bly (1981, TV) – Stanfil
• Lone Star Sports Bar & Grill (1983) – Cal
• In Search of a Golden Sky (1984) – Russ McGuire
• For Which He Stands (1996) – Javier Chavez (final film role)

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Category:1937 births

Category:2012 deaths

Category:American male film actors

Category:American male television actors

Category:Deaths from pancreatic cancer in California

Category:Emerson High School (Union City, New Jersey) alumni

Category:Male actors from Jersey City, New Jersey

Category:Actors from Union City, New Jersey

Category:Male actors from Los Angeles

Category:Dartmouth College alumni

Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni

Category:Georgetown University faculty

Category:American memoirists

Category:Western (genre) television actors

Category:Burials at Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery, Santa Monica