James Karen
James Karen was an American character actor of Broadway, film and television. Karen is known for his roles in Poltergeist, The China Syndrome, Wall Street, The [Return of the Living Dead], Invaders from Mars and The Pursuit of Happyness, but was perhaps best known as the signature pitchman for Pathmark, famously appearing in commercials for the now-defunct East Coast-based supermarket chain from the late 1970s to the early 1990s which earned his nickname "Mr. Pathmark".
Karen is also known for his recurring television role as Tom Bradford's boss, Eliot Randolph, in Eight Is Enough. He was nominated for a Saturn Award for his 1985 role in The Return of the Living Dead. He also appeared in an episode of Cheers as Frasier's mentor and the father of Carla's sixth child.
Early life
Karen was born Jacob Karnofsky in Wilkes-Barre, in northeastern Pennsylvania, the son of Russian-born Jewish immigrants Mae and Joseph H. Karnofsky, a produce dealer. His cousin was Morris Carnovsky, a prominent actor and co-founder of the Group Theatre.As a young man, Karen was encouraged to be an actor by U.S. Democratic Congressman Daniel J. Flood, who was an amateur thespian himself, recruiting him into a production at the Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre. He attended the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York. Karen also served in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II.
Career
Karen's big break came when he was asked to understudy Karl Malden in the original Broadway production of A [Streetcar Named Desire (play)|A Streetcar Named Desire].On television, he played Dr. Burke on As the World Turns and was the original Lincoln Tyler on All My Children. He was perhaps best known for his recurring role on the television series Eight Is Enough. He is also well-known on the East Coast for his 20 years as television and radio spokesman for the Pathmark supermarket chain. On the streets of New York, Karen was known as "Mr. Pathmark".
Karen appeared in an episode of the 1977 NBC situation comedy The Kallikaks, and played Earl Silbert in the 1979 miniseries Blind Ambition, and M*A*S*H season 11, episode 12 on 1/23/83. A decade later, he appeared in an episode of The Golden Girls as a prospective love interest for Dorothy. He is also known for having played Herbert Purcell, a businessman and leader of a local Ku Klux Klan chapter, in a 1981 episode of The Jeffersons; and the evil tycoon Nathan Lassiter, who killed the town of Walnut Grove in the final TV movie of Little House on the Prairie. Karen was a lifelong member of The Actors Studio. Karen's other notable film credits include The China Syndrome and Oliver Stone's Wall Street.
Perhaps his best known roles were in the low-budget horror comedy The Return of the Living Dead, where Karen starred as the manager of a medical warehouse who inadvertently releases a gas that re-animates the dead, and in Poltergeist where he played real-estate developer Teague, who built the California planned community of Cuesta Verde on top of a former cemetery. In a 2006 interview about his role in The Return of the Living Dead, Karen noted that he helped write most scenes for his character: “It was the deal where he figures out he’s becoming a zombie and decides to incinerate himself in the crematorium...He kisses his wedding ring as he goes in. It was a very emotional scene, but it also got me out of being one of the rain-drenched zombies milling around outside the place at the end of the film. I didn't really want to do all that muddy stuff".
Karen was set to appear in Superman Returns as Ben Hubbard, but his scenes were ultimately cut. Later in his career, Karen was recognized for his role as Martin Frohm in the 2006 film The Pursuit of Happyness. His final film roles were in the low-budget films Bender, directed by John Alexander, and Cynthia.
Personal life and death
He was married to Susan Reed, the actress and folk singer, with whom he had one son, Reed. Reed's godfather was Buster Keaton, Karen's good friend. Karen and Reed divorced in 1967. He married Alba Francesca in 1986.Karen died on October 23, 2018, at his home in Los Angeles, at the age of 94.
The dedication of James Curtis’s 2022 biography Buster Keaton: A Filmmaker's Life reads “In memory of James Karen.”
Selected filmography
- Sources:Film as PasserbyFrankenstein Meets the Space Monster as Dr. Adam SteeleHercules in New York as Professor CamdenI Never Sang for My Father as Old Age Home DirectorSit Down, Shut Up, or Get Out as Mr. NewmanRivals as Child PsychiatristAmazing Grace as Mr. AnnenbergAll the President's Men as Hugh Sloan's LawyerSomething for Joey as Dr. WingreenMary Jane Harper Cried Last Night as Dr. SuttermanThe Gathering as Bob BlockCapricorn One as Vice President PriceOpening Night as BellboyF.I.S.T. as Mr. AndrewsInstitute for Revenge as Power BrokerThe China Syndrome as Mac ChurchillThe Jazz Singer as Barney CallahanTake This Job and Shove It as LoomisPoltergeist as Mr. TeagueTime Walker as Dr. Wendell J. RossmoreFrances as Judge HillierKiss Me Goodbye as Lawyer Sam's Son as Mr. CollinsThe Boy Who Loved Trolls as RichmanThe Return of the Living Dead as Frank JohnsonJagged Edge as Andrew HardestyInvaders from Mars as General Climet WilsonHardbodies 2 as LoganBillionaire Boys Club as Mr. Fairmont Sr.Wall Street as Mr. LynchReturn of the Living Dead Part II as Ed MathewsGirlfriend from Hell as Carl's DadVital Signs as Dean of StudentsRoad Lawyers and Other Briefs as Judge Bowelmore The Willies as Uncle Harry / Mr. JenkinsThe Closer as Ned RandallHeart of the Deal The Unborn as Dr. Richard MeyerlingStone Soup as PaulFuture Shock as KafkaRevenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds in Love as Mylan WhitfieldCongo as College President, Elliot's BossPiranha as GovernorNixon as Bill RogersUp Close & Personal as Tom OrrBehind Enemy Lines as TV ReporterAlways Say Goodbye as William TagerJoyride as The ClientA River Made to Drown In as RayFreedom Strike as President MitchellShadow of Doubt as Norman CallowayGirl as DadApt Pupil as Victor BowdenOne Last Flight as GrampsMy Last Love as Phil MortonAny Given Sunday as Christina's Advisor / EdThirteen Days as George BallMulholland Drive as Wally BrownA House on a Hill as SyUnscripted as Dante's FriendSuperman Returns as Ben Hubbard Outlaw Trail: The Treasure of Butch Cassidy as Leroy ParkerThe Pursuit of Happyness as Martin FrohmTrail of the Screaming Forehead as Reverend BeaksDark and Stormy Night as Seyton EthelquakeJack and the Beanstalk as Verri SaddiusSympathy for Delicious as Father RohnThe Butterfly Room as TaxidermistAmbush at Dark Canyon as Seymour RedfieldAmerica's Most Haunted as Ralph GeorgeRain from Stars as SpencerBender as Old Man BenderConfessions of a Teenage Jesus Jerk as Interviewee No. 1Cynthia as Frank Teague