"Brian's Song" actor Jack Warden dies

Jack Warden, 85, the gravelly voiced character actor and two-time Oscar nominee who appeared in nearly 100 feature films, has died.

Mr. Warden, who won an Emmy for his portrayal of crusty football coach George Halas in the 1971 television movie "Brian's Song," died Wednesday at a New York City hospital, his business manager, Sidney Pazoff, said Friday.

Pazoff said he did not know the cause of death but said Mr. Warden had been in failing health for several months.

He first made his mark in the movies in 1957 as the sports-obsessed juror in "12 Angry Men" and received two Academy Award nominations for his work in two Warren Beatty vehicles, "Shampoo" (1975) and "Heaven Can Wait" (1978).

His small-screen résumé was just as deep with featured roles in 12 series and appearances in about 100 shows and made-for-TV movies that included "Mr. Peepers" (1952-55) on NBC, "N.Y.P.D." on ABC (1967-69) and "Crazy Like a Fox" (1984-86) on CBS.

From the moment Mr. Warden broke through on Broadway in 1955 in Arthur Miller's "A View From the Bridge," he said he never stopped working.

"I still panic sometimes when it comes down to 20 minutes between jobs," he told the Los Angeles Herald Examiner in 1984. "I love what I'm doing. "

Mr. Warden debuted on television in 1950 in "The Philco TV Playhouse" production of "Ann Rutledge" on NBC and began appearing regularly in drama anthologies that often aired live.

With a bit of bluster, he captured a Broadway role in 1955 that became the springboard for his career.

Weeks went by as playwright Miller, who had cast approval for "A View From a Bridge," kept calling back Mr. Warden and others for readings. Finally, Mr. Warden improvised a scene as Marco, the Italian immigrant.

"That's it! That's exactly what I want!" Miller exclaimed, according to a 1966 TV Guide story.

The actor also would play a handful of roles in other Broadway productions, beginning with Clifford Odets' "Golden Boy" in 1952 and including the Tony-nominated "The Man in the Glass Booth" in 1969.

He was the scruffy outlaw in "The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing" (1973), the cab-driving father in "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz" (1974), the hard-nosed city editor in "All the President's Men" (1976) and Paul Newman's friend and conscience in "The Verdict" (1982).

He played a rich husband in "Shampoo" opposite Beatty and Julie Christie, and in "Heaven Can Wait," he played a coach for the Los Angeles Rams. One of his final film credits was in another football movie, "The Replacements."

"Brian's Song," the television movie that earned him an Emmy, was the story of the bond that develops between Chicago Bears teammates Gale Sayers and Brian Piccolo, when Piccolo learns he is dying.

When he played the suicidal judge in " ... And Justice for All" (1979), Mr. Warden reportedly asked the makeup artist to sharpen the angle of his eyebrows so he would appear more deranged.

His versatility appealed to the creators of "The Wackiest Ship in the Army" (1965-66), and NBC cast him as the show's star.

Several friends from his heyday in TV have said he was a complex man who used his lightning-quick humor to entertain — and keep the world at a distance.

Mr. Warden kept a Greenwich Village apartment as a permanent residence, partly for friends to stay in, and the actor Rod Steiger once pronounced him "one of the few human beings I know who still understands what friendship and honor mean."

Jack Warden Lebzelter was born Sept. 18, 1920, to John Warden, an engineer and technician, and Laura Costello. His father left the family when Mr. Warden was 8 and, after a brief return, died while his son was in the Navy.

In 1958, Mr. Warden married a French actress, Vanda Dupre, 27.

"I'm teaching her how to water-ski and fish. She's teaching me French and cooking. It's a great basis for a marriage," Mr. Warden joked in 1959.

The couple had a son, Christopher.

By the mid-1970s, Mr. Warden and his wife had separated but, according to Pazoff, never divorced.

Mr. Warden is survived by his companion, Marucha Hinds, his son and two grandchildren.