Dern was born in Chicago on June 4, 1936, the son of Jean (née MacLeish; 1908–1972) and John Dern (1903–1958), a utility chief and attorney.[3][4][5][6] He grew up in Kenilworth, Illinois.[7] His paternal grandfather, George Dern, was a Utah governor and Secretary of War (he was serving in the latter position at the time of Bruce's birth). Dern's maternal grandfather was a Vice President of the Carson, Pirie and Scott stores,[8][9] which were established by his own father, Scottish-born businessman Andrew MacLeish. Dern's maternal granduncles were poet Archibald MacLeish and Naval aviator Kenneth MacLeish. His godfather was governor and two-time presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson II.[10] Dern graduated from New Trier High School, where he was a track star and sought to qualify for the Olympic Trials in 1956. Dern attended the University of Pennsylvania, but dropped out after two years.[9]
In the course of his long and prolific career, Dern collaborated with film directors, including Walter Hill (The Driver, Wild Bill and Last Man Standing), Joe Dante (The 'Burbs, Small Soldiers and The Hole), and Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained, The Hateful Eight and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood). In an interview for The A.V. Club, Dern said: "I always say that I feel like I've worked for six geniuses in my career... And the six directors, not in any order, would be Mr. Kazan, Mr. Hitchcock, Douglas Trumbull, Alexander Payne, Quentin Tarantino, and Francis Coppola."[14] In an interview with Josh Olson and Joe Dante for the podcast series The Movies That Made Me, and while discussing his career, Dern cited the films of David Lean (specifically, Lawrence of Arabia, Great Expectations and The Bridge on the River Kwai), as among the films that inspired him.[15] When asked if he has ever contemplated retirement, Dern said: "If you think I'm gonna retire so Jimmy fucking Caan can get another part from me, you're dead wrong. Because I'm gonna go till I'm 100. My goal is to do stuff with older characters that people never got the chance to do, because they never lived long enough... And because I don't have anything else I can do."[16][unreliable source]
Personal life
Dern was married to Marie Dawn Pierce from 1957 to 1959.[17] He married Diane Ladd in 1960. Their first daughter died from head injuries after falling into a swimming pool in 1962.[18] The couple's second daughter is actress Laura Dern. After his divorce from Ladd, Dern married Andrea Beckett in 1969.[19]
Dern has been an avid runner his whole life. In high school he recorded a half-mile best time of 1:55.8, and he later was on the track team at the University of Pennsylvania.[20] He said that between the ages of 28 and 70 he ran between 2,500 and 4,000 miles per year. In the 1986 film On the Edge he played a runner seeking redemption in a contest based on the Dipsea Race, and the 1978 film Coming Home both begins and ends with scenes of Dern running. In a 2014 interview at age 77, he said he still ran nearly every day, albeit more slowly.
↑ Dern, Bruce; Fryer, Christopher; Crane, Robert (November 18, 2014). Bruce Dern: A Memoir. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN978-0813147130.
He died the week I was born in 1936.
and
And I say, "Yeah, I like it. I'll do it. What else do I need to know?""Nothing," Krofft says. "You show up June sixth.""That's two days after my birthday."
↑ Current Biography Yearbook. H. W. Wilson Company. 1979. p.102.
↑ "Diane Ladd". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 10, 2020. Diane died at just 18 months after she sustained a head injury from falling into a swimming pool.
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