Ron Karabatsos

Ronald Christ Karabatsos was an American character actor, who prior to his acting career worked as a Union City police detective.

Early life

Karabatsos was born on April 22, 1933, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, USA, to Constantine and Antoinette Karabatsos, first-generation immigrants from Greece. He grew up in Union City, New Jersey, where young Ronald graduated from Emerson [High School (Union City, New Jersey)|Emerson High School].

Military and police service

Upon graduating from high school, Karabatsos was drafted in the U.S. Army spending most of his service time in the Korean War. After he was released from the military, he joined the police department of his home city, retiring after 28 years as a homicide detective.

Movie career

In 1982, while still on the police force, Karabatsos was approached to act a part in the Sidney Lumet movie Prince of the City. Most New York critics and Roger Ebert wrote positive reviews on the movie. James Wolcott dissented, concluding that the film " its liberal pieties like a crown of thorns," although he reserved praise for Karabatsos' work, writing that he "carries his hulk with impressive menace as a slime-souled bail bondsman." Critic David S. Machlowitz, though agreeing with Wolcott's take on the movie, wrote that Karabatsos "is superb as bloated, belligerent bail bondsman."
Karabatsos went on to act in some thirty movies and two hundred television shows, moving to live in California. He starred in the 1982 made-for-TV-movie Hear [No Evil (1982 film)|Hear No Evil] as Lt. Lew Healy.
He died on April 17, 2012, five days before his 79th birthday, in Beaumont, California, from a non-communicable disease, survived by wife Janell, daughter Dawnne Rigsby, and an extended family.