Chuck Connors Biography
Kevin Joseph Aloysius “Chuck” Connors, an American actor, playwright, and professional basketball and baseball player, was born on April 10, 1921, and passed away on November 10, 1992. Only 13 athletes have ever competed in both Major League Baseball (Brooklyn Dodgers 1949, Chicago Cubs 1951) and the National Basketball Association (Boston Celtics 1946–48), and he is one of them. His five-year stint as Lucas McCain in the acclaimed ABC series The Rifleman (1958–1963) is what made him most famous during his 40-year film and television career.
Chuck Connors Early life and education
The elder of two children born to Marcella (née Londrigan) and Alban Francis “Allan” Connors, Irish immigrants from Newfoundland and Labrador, Connors was born on April 10, 1921, in Brooklyn, New York City. Gloria, his sister, who was two years younger than him, was his only sibling.
His mother had also obtained U.S. citizenship in 1917, and both of his parents had become citizens in 1914. In 1930, his father was working as a longshoreman in Brooklyn. He was raised a Catholic and worked as an altar boy at the Brooklyn basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
Despite the Brooklyn Dodgers’ poor record in the 1930s, Connors was a loyal fan and had dreams of joining the team. He graduated in 1939 from the Brooklyn preparatory school Adelphi Academy thanks to his talent as an athlete. More than twenty colleges and universities sent scholarship offers to him for his athletic abilities.
He choose Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey, out of those offers. He changed his name there, as well as for the school, where he played baseball and basketball. Connors had been looking for a new name because he had hated his first name, Kevin, since he was a little child. He tried “Stretch” and “Lefty” before settling on “Chuck”. His stint as a baseball player for Seton Hall is where the moniker came from. He would constantly yell, “Chuck it to me, baby!” to the pitcher at first base. “Chuck it to me!” The term remained as the rest of his teammates and spectators at the university games quickly picked it up.
After two years, Connors departed Seton Hall to sign a professional baseball contract. After the United States entered World War II, he played for two minor league teams (see below) in 1940 and 1942 before enlisting in the army. He worked as a tank warfare instructor at West Point in New York and Fort Campbell in Kentucky for the most of the conflict.
Chuck Connors Sports career
Minor League Baseball (1940–1942)
Following his graduation from college, Connors participated in four games of baseball with the Newport Dodgers of the Northeast Arkansas League, a little league affiliate of the Brooklyn Dodgers. After being let go, he waited out the 1941 season before joining the Norfolk Tars of the Piedmont League and playing 72 games there before joining the Army on October 10, 1942, in Fort Knox, Kentucky, at the conclusion of the season.
Professional basketball (1946–1948)
The 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) tall Connors joined the National Basketball League’s Rochester Royals (now the Sacramento Kings) for their 1945–46 championship season after receiving his military discharge in 1946. He joined the newly established Boston Celtics of the Basketball Association of America for the 1946–1947 campaign. Connors broke a backboard for the first time in professional basketball in 1946 while playing for the Celtics. Before the Celtics’ first home game of their debut season, he did it during pregame practice using a shot rather than a slam dunk, which is normally how a backboard is broken in modern basketball. Before departing the organization before the 1947–48 season, he participated in 53 games for Boston.
13 athletes, including Connors, have participated in both Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association. Danny Ainge, Frank Baumholtz, Hank Biasatti, Gene Conley, Dave DeBusschere, Dick Groat, Steve Hamilton, Mark Hendrickson, Cotton Nash, Ron Reed, Dick Ricketts, and Howie Schultz are the other twelve actors who have appeared.
Connors participated in the Brooklyn Dodgers’ 1948 spring training but was not selected for the team.[8] Before playing one game for the Dodgers in 1949, he spent two seasons with the Dodgers’ AAA affiliate, the Montreal Royals. Connors played first base and occasionally as a pinch hitter in 66 games with the Chicago Cubs in 1951 after spending two more seasons with Montreal. He was once more assigned to the minor levels in 1952 to play for the Los Angeles Angels, the top Cubs farm team.
Sports career notes
When acting as a middleman in negotiations between management and the players in 1966, Connors helped put an end to the well-known holdout by Los Angeles Dodgers pitchers Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax (see reserve clause). In the picture provided by the Associated Press, Connors can be seen announcing the new contracts for the pitchers alongside Drysdale, Koufax, and Dodgers general manager Buzzie Bavasi.
When he brought down a glass backboard that had been incorrectly placed with a 40-foot heave as warmups came to a conclusion before the season opening at the Boston Arena was scheduled to begin on November 5, 1946, Connors became the first professional basketball player to be credited with shattering a backboard.
Contrary to false reports, Connors was not selected in the NFL draft by the Chicago Bears.
Chuck Connors Acting career
Connors made the decision to pursue acting after realizing that he would not succeed as a professional athlete. He was seen by an MGM casting director while playing baseball close to Hollywood, and he was later signed to play a police captain in the 1952 Tracy-Hepburn movie Pat and Mike. He acted as a disobedient Marine private opposite Burt Lancaster in South Sea Woman in 1953, and later opposite John Wayne as an American football coach in Trouble Along the Way.
Television roles
In the 1955 episode “Flight to the North” of Adventures of Superman, Connors played a rare comic role. He played Sylvester J. Superman, a lanky, outlaw character who had the same name as the show’s protagonist.
In the 1956 episode “The Comeback” of the religion anthology series Crossroads, Connors was cast as Lou Brissie, a former professional baseball player wounded during World War II. The Reverend C. E. “Stoney” Jackson, played by Don DeFore, provided spiritual guidance to aid Brissie’s recovery so that he might return to the game. Whitey Martin, a coach in this episode, was portrayed by Grant Withers, a regular on Crossroads. Former soldiers Edd Byrnes, Rhys Williams, and Robert Fuller all played them. A baseball player is portrayed by X Brands.
Connors was chosen to play Burn Sanderson in the 1957 Walt Disney movie Old Yeller. He co-starred in The Hired Gun that same year.
Chuck Connors Character actor
In addition to The Big Country starring Gregory Peck and Charlton Heston, Move Over Darling starring Doris Day and James Garner, Soylent Green starring Heston and Edward G. Robinson, and Airplane II: The Sequel, Connors has appeared in several more major motion pictures.
He also developed into a cherished television character actor, making several appearances as a guest star. His first guest appearance was on an episode of Dear Phoebe on NBC. He appeared in two episodes of Dale Robertson’s NBC western Tales of Wells Fargo, one of which he starred in as the robber Sam Bass.
Other television appearances included Hey, Jeannie, The Loretta Young Show, Cavalcade of America, Gunsmoke, The Gale Storm Show, The West Point Story, The Millionaire, General Electric Theater hosted by Ronald Reagan, Wagon Train, The Restless Gun with John Payne, Murder, She Wrote, Date with the Angels with Betty White, The DuPont Show with June Allyson, The Virginian, and Night Gallery with host Ronald Reagan.
The Rifleman
For the role of Lucas McCain, a widowed rancher renowned for his proficiency with a personalized Winchester rifle, Connors outperformed 40 other actors. The ABC Western series, which ran from 1958 to 1963, was the first to show a widower father taking care of a young child. The Four Star Television producers (Dick Powell, Charles Boyer, Ida Lupino, and David Niven), according to Connors in a 1959 TV Guide interview, must have been searching at 40–50–thirty-something guys. For the 1958–1959 season, the producers at the time offered a set sum of money in exchange for 40 episodes.
Connors declined the offer because it turned out to be less than what he was now earning as a freelance actor. The creators of The Rifleman watched Old Yeller a few days later with their own kids, in which Connors portrayed a powerful father figure. After seeing him in the film, the producers decided to give him a stronger contract that included a five percent ownership stake in the program and cast Connors in the role of Lucas McCain.
The Rifleman gained rapid popularity and was fourth in the Nielsen ratings for the seasons 1958–1959, behind Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, and Have Gun, Will Travel. Lucas’s son Mark was played by Johnny Crawford, a young actor who was unknown at the time, a former Mousketeer, a baseball aficionado, and a Western enthusiast. From 1958 until the series’ end in 1963, Crawford stayed on. The Rifleman had strong Nielsen ratings up until its final season in 1962–1963, when it faced up against Lucille Ball’s hugely popular comeback to television on The Lucy Show, and ratings started to fall. Five seasons and 168 episodes later, the show was canceled in 1963.
The rifle
Two identical 44-40 Winchester model 1892 rifles, one of which was used on the show and the other as a backup, and an El Tigre, which was used in the saddle holster, were created just for the show. In later episodes, the spherical rifle levers were replaced with ones that were more “D” shaped.
Maurice “Moe” Hunt personally crafted two guns for Chuck Connors, which were never utilized in the program. He handed them to Connors since he liked the program. One of Chuck Connors’ personal rifles was given to Arnold Palmer, a friend and honorary chairman of the yearly Chuck Connors charity golf tournament, and it was on exhibit at The World Golf Hall of Fame.
Typecasting and other TV roles
Connors made an appearance in the movie Flipper in 1963. He also portrayed the character that Randolph Scott had previously played in the 1940 Irene Dunne/Cary Grant version of My Favorite Wife of the comedy Move Over, Darling opposite James Garner and Doris Day.
Connors then starred in several brief-lived series, including NBC’s post-Civil War era series Branded (1965–1966) and ABC’s Arrest and Trial (1963–1964), which starred two young actors Ben Gazzara and Don Galloway. Connors was strongly typecast for playing the single-father rancher.
1965’s Branded, Connors
Alongside British actor Ronald Howard and American actor Tom Nardini, Connors starred in the ABC series Cowboy in Africa from 1967 to 1968.
Connors appeared as a guest star in Night Gallery’s “The Ring With the Red Velvet Ropes” episode from the previous season. He served as the host of the Thrill Seekers television program in 1973 and 1974.
For his performance as a slave owner in the 1977 miniseries Roots, Connors was nominated for an Emmy Award.
On the Mutual Radio Network, Connors served as the host of several Family Theater shows. The series’ slogan, “The family that prays together stays together,” was meant to encourage prayer as a means of fostering both world peace and stronger families.
In 1983, Connors co-starred in the NBC series The Yellow Rose, about a contemporary Texas ranching family, alongside Sam Elliott, Cybill Shepherd, Ken Curtis, and Noah Beery Jr.
In the ABC TV series Spenser: For Hire, starring Robert Urich as “Spenser” (pronounced “Spenser” with an S, like the poet”) and Avery Brooks as “Hawk,” he made his debut as a guest star in the pilot episode in 1985. This role would later become known as “King Powers.”
He co-starred as drifter Janos Skorzeny in the Fox television series Werewolf in 1987.
He made a brief appearance as “Gideon” in Lee Horsley’s television series Paradise in 1988.
Connors was admitted into the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum’s Western Performers Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City in 1991.
Chuck Connors Personal life
Connors had three marriages. At one of his baseball games, he ran into Elizabeth Jane Riddell Connors, whom he later married on October 1st, 1948. They got divorced in 1961 and had four sons: Michael (1950–2017), Jeffrey (1952–2014), Stephen (born 1953), and Kevin (1956–2005).[Reference needed
The year after co-starring with Kamala Devi in Geronimo, Connors wed her in 1963. In Branded, Broken Sabre, and Cowboy in Africa, she costarred with Connors. 1973 saw their divorce.
When they both starred in the 1973 movie Soylent Green, Connors and Faith Quabius eventually became husband and wife. In 1977, they got hitched, and they got divorced in 1979.
Connors supported the Republican Party and frequently attended fundraisers for President Richard M. Nixon’s campaigns. Additionally, Connors supported Gerald Ford in 1976 and Barry Goldwater in the 1964 US presidential election. He participated in protests in 1967 in support of the Vietnam War and ran for Ronald Reagan, a personal friend.
When President Richard Nixon and the leader of the Soviet Union, Leonid Brezhnev, arrived to El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in June 1973 aboard Air Force One, they met Connors. While waiting for him and the President on the tarmac, Brezhnev spotted Connors among the crowd. After shaking Connors’ hand, Brezhnev encircled him with his arms, lifting the much taller Connors at least a foot off the ground. The audience applauded while laughing. Later, Connors gave Brezhnev a pair of Colt Single Action Army “Six-Shooters” (revolvers) that Brezhnev much enjoyed at a reception hosted by Nixon at the Western White House in San Clemente, California.
The Rifleman was an exception since it was Brezhnev’s favorite show at the time, which was rare for American television programs to be broadcast in the Soviet Union. Because of their strong friendship, Connors accepted Brezhnev’s offer to visit him in Moscow in December 1973. Connors indicated interest in traveling back to the Soviet Union for Brezhnev’s funeral when the General Secretary passed away in 1982, but the U.S. government refused to let Connors join the official group.
Connors possessed a left hand.
Connors received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on July 18, 1984 (star location: 6838 Hollywood Boulevard). He was accompanied by his family and actor Johnny Crawford, among more than 200 close friends.
Chuck Connors Charity
Through the Chuck Connors Charitable Foundation, Connors staged the annual Chuck Connors Charitable Invitational Golf Tournament at the Canyon Country Club in Palm Springs, California. Over $400,000 was raised, with all proceeds going straight to the Angel View Foundation for Crippled Children.
Who is Actor Chuck Connors?
Actor Chuck Connors’ current net worth, biography, and more information. Chuck Connors is an American actor, author, and former professional baseball and basketball player. His birth name was Kevin Joseph Aloysius Connors on April 10, 1921 in Brooklyn, New York. He is one of just 13 athletes in American professional sports history to have played for both Major League Baseball (Brooklyn Dodgers 1949, Chicago Cubs 1951) and the National Basketball Association (Boston Celtics 1946–48).
He became most well-known for his five-year role as Lucas McCain in the renowned ABC drama The Rifleman (1958–1963). He died of pneumonia and lung cancer on November 10, 1992, in Los Angeles, California.
What is Actor Chuck Connors’s age, height and weight?
Chuck was 71 years old when he passed away on November 10, 1992. He was born on April 10, 1921. He weighed roughly 86 kg (189 lbs) and was 6 feet 6 inches tall.
What is Actor Chuck Connors’s net worth?
Chuck’s estimated net worth in 1992 was $5 million. His riches was derived from his writing, acting, and professional basketball and baseball endeavors. He played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, and Boston Celtics. He also had several prominent roles in movies and TV shows, such as The Rifleman.
What is Actor Chuck Connors’s Nationality and Ethnicity?
Chuck was an Irish-born citizen of the United States. He was born in Brooklyn, New York City, to Marcella and Alban Francis Connors, Roman Catholic immigrants from Newfoundland and Labrador of Irish descent.
What is Actor Chuck Connors’s profession?
Chuck Connors played basketball and baseball professionally in addition to writing and acting. He played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, and Boston Celtics in the National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball, respectively. He also had several prominent roles in movies and TV shows, such as The Rifleman.
Who is Actor Chuck Connors married to?
Chuck Connors was married three times. He had four sons with his first wife, Elizabeth Jane Riddell Connors, whom he wed in 1948: Michael, Jeffrey, Stephen, and Kevin. In 1961, they broke up. He married Kamala Devi, his second wife, in 1963 after working with her on the film Geronimo. They also shared screen time in Branded, Broken Sabre, and Cowboy in Africa. They divorced in 1973. He married Faith Quabius, his third wife, in 1977; they later divorced. He was seeing Rose Mary Grumley when he passed away.
Does Actor Chuck Connors have children?
There were indeed four sons born to Chuck Connors’ first marriage to Elizabeth Jane Riddell. Their names were Michael, Jeffrey, Stephen, and Kevin. They appeared as the son’s classmates of his character in one of The Rifleman’s episodes. Michael, Jeffrey, and Kevin each went away in 2017, 2014, and 2005, respectively. Stephen is still around.
