Kevin Kline

Kevin Delaney Kline (born October 24, 1947) is an Academy Award- and Tony Award-winning American stage and film actor.

Biography

Early life

Kline, second of four children, was born in St. Louis, Missouri to Robert Joseph Kline, who owned and operated The Record Bar, a toy and record store, and Peggy Delaney. Kline's father's family owned the Kline's department store chain. His father was Jewish and his Irish-American mother was a Roman Catholic. Kline was raised in his mother's faith and graduated from the Catholic Saint Louis Priory School in 1965. He attended Webster University in St. Louis before being kicked out of the University's Theater program. Afterward he attended Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, where he began as an aspiring classical pianist, but after joining the on-campus theater group "Vest Pocket Players" as an undergraduate, he fell in love with the theater and switched to acting.

Career

In 1970, Kline was awarded a scholarship to the newly formed Juilliard Drama School in New York. In 1972, he joined with fellow Juilliard graduates, including Patti Lupone and David Ogden Stiers, and formed the City Center Acting Company (now The Acting Company), under the aegis of famed British actor John Houseman. The Company traveled across the U.S. performing Shakespeare's plays and other classical works, founding a dedication and mission unparalleled in American repertory theatre.

In 1976, Kline left The Acting Company and settled in New York City, doing a brief stint as the character "Woody Reed" in the now-defunct soap opera Search for Tomorrow. He followed this with a return to the stage 1978 in the small role of "Bruce Granit", a matinée idol caricature, in Hal Prince's On The Twentieth Century, for which he won his first Tony Award.

In 1981, Kline paired up with rock diva Linda Ronstadt and singer Rex Smith in the New York Shakespeare Festival's Central Park production of The Pirates of Penzance, winning another Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical, for his comically dashing portrayal of the Pirate King. He later played the role in a film version of the musical, also with Ronstadt, which had a limited theatrical release.

In the ensuing years, Kline appeared many times in New York Shakespeare Festival productions of Shakespeare, including starring roles in Richard III, Much Ado About Nothing, Henry V, and two productions of Hamlet, one of which he also directed. Dubbed "the American Olivier" by New York Times theater critic Frank Rich for his stage acting, Kline finally ventured into film in 1982, winning the coveted role of the tormented and mercurial "Nathan" opposite Meryl Streep in Alan Pakula's Sophie's Choice. (Streep won an Academy Award for her performance in the film.)

During the 1980s and early 1990s, Kline made several films with director Lawrence Kasdan, including The Big Chill, Silverado, Grand Canyon, I Love You To Death, and French Kiss. In the mid-90s, he was supposed to star as Mandrake the Magician in the movie with the same name, but the film never got off the ground.

In 1989, Kline won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the British comedy A Fish Called Wanda, in which he played a caricature of a painfully stupid American ex-CIA thug opposite John Cleese's genteel British barrister. (In 2000, the American Film Institute ranked the film twenty-first on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs).

Though he has been offered many roles that could have boosted him to box-office stardom, Kline has kept a wary distance from the Hollywood star-making machine and developed a reputation for picking parts with discrimination (such as strong roles in Grand Canyon and Life as a House), leading to the industry moniker "Kevin Decline".

Other awards have included New York Drama Desk awards, Golden Globe awards, a Gotham Actor Award, a Hasty Pudding Theatricals Man of the Year Award, and a St. Louis International Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award. He also has a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.

Personal life

Prior to his marriage, Kline was romantically linked to Patti Lupone, Gilda Radner, and Linda Ronstadt. Kline married actress Phoebe Cates, sixteen years his junior, in 1989. The couple make their home in New York City and have three children: Owen (born 1991), who had a featured role in The Squid and the Whale; Greta (born 1994); and Autumn Belle (born December 2005).

Since his son's diagnosis with juvenile diabetes, Kline has been active with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and in November 2004 he was presented with the JDRF's Humanitarian of the Year award by Meryl Streep for his volunteer efforts on behalf of the organization.

The Kevin Kline Awards honor theater professionals in St. Louis in a wide array of categories, which include best actor and actress, set design, choreography, and original play. The first awards ceremony took place on March 20, 2006.

Selected filmography

Sophie's Choice (1982) as Nathan
The Pirates of Penzance (1983) as The Pirate King
The Big Chill (1983) as Harold
Silverado (1985) as Paden
Cry Freedom (1987) as Donald Woods
A Fish Called Wanda (1988) as Otto West
The January Man (1989) as Nick Starkey
I Love You to Death (1990) as Joey Boca
Soapdish (1991) as Jeffery Anderson/Dr. Rod Randall
Grand Canyon (1991) as Mack
Consenting Adults (1992) as Richard Parker
Chaplin (1992) as Douglas Fairbanks
Dave (1993) as Dave Kovic/President William Harrison 'Bill' Mitchell
The Nutcracker (1993) as Narrator
Princess Caraboo (1994) as Frixos
French Kiss (1995) as Luc Teyssier
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) as Captain Phoebus
The Ice Storm (1997) as Ben Hood
Fierce Creatures (1997) as Vince McCain/Rod McCain
In & Out (1997) as Howard Brackett
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999) as Nick Bottom
Wild Wild West (1999) as U.S. Marshal Artemus 'Artie' Gordon
The Road to El Dorado (2000) as Tulio
The Anniversary Party (2001) as Cal Gold
Life as a House (2001) as George Monroe
The Emperor's Club (2002) as William Hundert
De-Lovely (2005) as Cole Porter
The Pink Panther (2006) as Chief Inspector Dreyfus
A Prairie Home Companion (2006) as Guy Noir
As You Like It (2006)
Welcome to America (2006)