 |
Tom Ligon | |
|---|---|
 Ligon in 1993 | |
| Born | September 10, 1940 New Orleans, Louisiana, United States |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1960 – present |
| Spouse | Katharine Dunfee Clarke (K.C. Ligon) (1976–2009, her death) |
Thomas Ligon (born September 10, 1940) is an actor of Cajun ancestry. He appeared in the films Paint Your Wagon , Jump , and Bang the Drum Slowly (in which he also sang the title song) as well as the television series The Young and the Restless , and Oz .
Mentored by folksinger and actor Gordon Heath in Paris, beginning in the mid 1950s, Ligon then attended St. Albans School (Washington, D.C.), where he suffered a broken leg while playing football, and, sans sports, his interests turned solidly toward theater. At Yale, where he was a member of Skull and Bones and graduated as an English major (1962), he was discovered by Tennessee Williams, who saw his performance as Kilroy in Williams' play, Camino Real at the Yale Dramatic Association. Ligon became one of the most sought after young actors in New York in the 1960s.
Ligon has appeared on many prominent regional stages in the U.S., notably the Arena Stage where he played the title role in Billy Budd and in Hard Travelin' by Millard Lampell in 1964, and Actors Theatre of Louisville, where he played Hank Czerniak, the polka king, in Evelyn and the Polka King.
Tom Ligon and Katharine Dunfee Clarke (K.C. Ligon - 1948-2009) were married on New Year's Eve in 1976.
Tom Ligon created the role of Orson in the prize-winning Off-Broadway musical Your Own Thing (1968), and starred on Broadway opposite Geraldine Page in Angela, by Sumner Arthur Long, and with Sandy Duncan in John Patrick's Love is a Time of Day. This work on stage led to appearing in two films, Paint Your Wagon and Bang the Drum Slowly . Concerning Ligon's third film, Jump (1971): Quentin Tarantino called it "this amazing film that no one’s ever seen – I’ve only seen it once and I’d love to see it again – this really good Seventies backtrack exploitation movie... It’s hilarious and very satirical. I remember really liking that."
Ligon played the Tiger in Rajiv Joseph's Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo in its original iteration, directed by Giovanna Sardelli at the Lark Play Development Center in New York City. Other noteworthy appearances on the New York stage include Geniuses, BAFO (Best and Final Offer), Den of Thieves, The Golf Ball, Tartuffe: Born Again, A Backer's Audition, Another Paradise, and Have I Got A Girl for You.
At the age of 60, Ligon appeared in a critically acclaimed New York production of Our Town , directed by Jack Cummings III, where he played George Gibbs, with an actress of the same age playing Emily Webb. Also, for Transport Group, he subsequently played in Requiem For William, All the Way Home, and The Audience, all directed by Jack Cummings III.
In August 2013, when Ligon was age 72, The New York Times [1] reported that he sent an intruder tumbling to the pavement below with a fist to the forehead and a ninja shout after the man had entered his Greenwich Village apartment through a window. Responding to later news that it was a "career burglar" he had chased away, and who was now in jail, Ligon told The Times: "Well, I guess he's not having much of a 'career' right now. It's like acting – you’ve got your ups and downs."
Ligon served many years as SAG-AFTRA's Chair, National Seniors Committee. He has also served as a member of the Board of Directors, New York Screen Actors Guild (2005–07).
James Whitmore was an American actor. He received numerous accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Theatre World Award, and a Tony Award, plus two Academy Award nominations.
Edward Everett Horton Jr. was an American character actor. He had a long career in film, theater, radio, television, and voice work for animated cartoons.
Herman Raymond Walston was an American actor and comedian. Walston started his career on Broadway earning the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance as Mr. Applegate in Damn Yankees (1956).
Emanuel Hirsch Cohen, better known by the stage name John Randolph, was an American film, television and stage actor.
Eamon Joseph O'Brien was an American actor of stage, screen, and television, and film director. His career spanned almost 40 years, and he won one Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
James Mitchell was an American actor and dancer. Although he is best known to television audiences as Palmer Cortlandt on the soap opera All My Children (1979–2010), theatre and dance historians remember him as one of Agnes de Mille's leading dancers. Mitchell's skill at combining dance and acting was considered something of a novelty; in 1959, the critic Olga Maynard singled him out as "an important example of the new dancer-actor-singer in American ballet", pointing to his interpretive abilities and "masculine" technique.
Francis Xavier Aloysius James Jeremiah Keenan Wynn was an American character actor. His expressive face was his stock-in-trade; and though he rarely carried the lead role, he had prominent billing in most of his film and television roles.
Vincent Gardenia was an Italian-American stage, film and television actor. He was nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, first for Bang the Drum Slowly (1973) and again for Moonstruck (1987). He also portrayed Det. Frank Ochoa in Death Wish (1974) and its 1982 sequel, Death Wish II, and played Mr. Mushnik in the musical film adaptation Little Shop of Horrors (1986).
Sally Ann Howes was an English actress and singer. Her career on screen, stage and television spanned six decades. She is best known for the role of Truly Scrumptious in the 1968 musical film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. In 1963, she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Musical for her performance in Brigadoon.
Albert Salmi was an American actor of stage, film, and television. Best known for his work as a character actor, he appeared in over 150 film and television productions.
Keith Prentice was an American TV, film and stage actor, whose most famous role was the part of Larry in both the original stage and film versions of The Boys in the Band. He also appeared on the TV soap Dark Shadows during the series' final months in 1971. For a number of years, his picture was displayed on the Taster's Choice coffee label.
Simon Oakland was an American actor of stage, screen, and television.
Mead Howard "Robert" Horton Jr. was an American actor and singer. He is known for playing Flint McCullough in Wagon Train (1957–1962).
Stewart Moss was an American actor, writer, and director.
Leonard Joel Baker was an American actor of stage, film, and television, best known for his Golden-Globe-nominated performance in the 1976 Paul Mazursky film Next Stop, Greenwich Village and his 1977 Tony Award-winning performance in the stage play I Love My Wife.
Bang the Drum Slowly is a 1973 American sports drama film directed by John D. Hancock, about a baseball player of limited intellect who has a terminal illness, and his brainier, more skilled teammate. It is a film adaptation of the 1956 baseball novel of the same name by American author Mark Harris. It was previously dramatized in 1956 on the U.S. Steel Hour with Paul Newman, Albert Salmi and George Peppard.
Paint Your Wagon is a 1969 American Western musical film starring Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood, and Jean Seberg. The film was adapted by Paddy Chayefsky from the 1951 musical Paint Your Wagon by Lerner and Loewe. It is set in a mining camp in Gold Rush-era California. It was directed by Joshua Logan.
Marshall Efron was an American actor and humorist originally known for his work on the listener-sponsored Pacifica radio stations WBAI New York and KPFK Los Angeles, and later for the PBS television show The Great American Dream Machine.
Patrick McVey was an American actor who starred in three television series between 1950 and 1961: Big Town, Boots and Saddles, and Manhunt.
Walter Darwin Coy was an American stage, radio, film, and, principally, television actor, arguably most well known as the brother of John Wayne's character in The Searchers (1956).
