Richard Jordan

For the senior RAF officer, see Richard Jordan (RAF officer).

Richard Jordan
File:Richard Jordan.jpg
Born	Robert Anson Jordan, Jr.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1961–1993
Spouse(s)	Kathleen Widdoes (1964-1972) one daughter, Nina
Partner(s)	Marcia Cross (1988-1993) Blair Brown (1976-1985) 1 son, Robert

Richard Jordan (July 19, 1937 – August 30, 1993) was an American stage, screen and film actor. A long-time member of the New York Shakespeare Festival, he performed in many Off Broadway and Broadway plays. His films include Logan's Run, Les Misérables, Raise the Titanic!, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, The Yakuza, The Bunker, Dune, The Secret of My Success, The Hunt for Red October and Gettysburg.

Early life

Jordan was born Robert Anson Jordan, Jr. in New York City, the son of Robert Anson Jordan (later of Boston) and Constance Hand Jordan of New York. His maternal grandfather was Learned Hand, the notable Justice of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and one of the most respected jurists in the United States. In 1942 when Jordan was five years old, his parents divorced. His mother married Newbold Morris, president of the New York City Council. The marriage was performed by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia at Gracie Mansion, the first marriage to be enacted there.

Career

Following his graduation from Harvard University in 1958, Jordan began his acting career in earnest. In 1961, he appeared on Broadway with Art Carney and Elizabeth Ashley in Take Her, She's Mine. He also began working in television productions, appearing in episodes of The Defenders, Naked City, Empire and Wide Country. He performed with Joseph Papp's Public Theatre in productions of Shakespeare's plays, such as The Tempest, The Merchant of Venice and As You Like It. In 1966 Jordan returned to Broadway, appearing in Generation with Henry Fonda.

Beginning in 1970, Jordan turned from television to feature film work. He co-starred in Valdez Is Coming (1971) with Burt Lancaster, and appeared opposite Robert Mitchum twice, in The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973), as the informant-Coyle's handler, a pragmatic U.S. Treasury agent; and in The Yakuza (1975) as the bodyguard of Mitchum's friend George Tanner. He played a host of villains and mixed good guy-villains in films such as Hawk in Rooster Cogburn (1975), Logan's Run (1976), and Interiors (1978). There was also the occasional "good guy", as in Old Boyfriends (1979), in which he played the father of his own daughter, Nina.

Jordan also continued on the stage, joining Ralph Waite in the L.A. Actor's Theatre. He also wrote, directed and performed in plays such as Venus of Menschen Falls (1978). In 1976 he starred as Joseph Armagh, an Irish immigrant who fights his way to power and wealth but loses his soul along the way, in the television miniseries Captains and the Kings. Jordan earned a Golden Globe award, and an Emmy nomination for the production.

In the 1980s, Jordan performed in films including Raise the Titanic (1980), Flash of Green (1984), The Mean Season (1985) and The Secret of My Success (1987). He also co-starred in an acclaimed television production of The Bunker (1981), playing Albert Speer to Anthony Hopkins's Hitler. In ten episodes of the popular television series The Equalizer (1987–1988), he helped fill in while the star, Edward Woodward, recovered from a heart attack. Meanwhile, Jordan continued on the stage as well, winning an Obie award for his appearance in New York in the Czech playwright Václav Havel's A Private View (1983) and an L.A. Drama Critic's Award for directing another Havel play, Largo Desolato (1987).

In 1990, Jordan directed a production of MacBeth in New York. He played national security advisor Jeffrey Pelt in The Hunt for Red October. He also starred in a television production of Three Hotels (1991) and the "Deadline" episode of Tales from the Crypt (1991) TV series.

His health began to fail and he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He was filming The Fugitive in April 1993 when his terminal illness forced him to withdraw. He died on August 30, 1993, cared for by his daughter Nina and his companion Marcia Cross.

Jordan's last film to be released was Gettysburg (1993), which was filmed during the summer of 1992. He portrayed Confederate Brig. Gen. Lewis "Lo" Armistead, who was one of the leaders in the doomed Pickett's Charge against his friend from before the war, Union Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock. Producer-Director Ronald Maxwell dedicated the film to Jordan and to author Michael Shaara, whose novel The Killer Angels was adapted for the film.

Personal life

Jordan had a daughter Nina (born 1964) from his marriage (1964–1972) to actress Kathleen Widdoes. His son Robert (born 1982) was born during his nine-year relationship with actress Blair Brown.

At the time of his death, Jordan had been in a relationship for five years with actress Marcia Cross. He died of a brain tumor in 1993. A memorial in Jordan's honor was held at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles on October 8, 1993, the day Gettysburg was released.

Filmography

• Lawman (1971)
• Valdez Is Coming (1971)
• The Trial of the Catonsville Nine (1972)
• Chato's Land (1972)
• Kamouraska (1973)
• The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973)
• The Yakuza (1974)
• Rooster Cogburn (1975)
• Logan's Run (1976)
• Captains and the Kings (1976) (TV miniseries)
• Alibis (1977)
• Interiors (1978)
• Les Misérables (1978)
• A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (1979)
• Old Boyfriends (1979)
• Raise the Titanic! (1980)
• The Bunker (1981)
• A Flash of Green (1984)
• Dune (1984)
• The Mean Season (1985)
• The Men's Club (1986)
• Solarbabies (1986)
• The Murder of Mary Phagan (1987)
• The Secret of My Success (1987)
• Romero (1989)
• The Hunt for Red October (1990)
• Delusion (1991)
• Timebomb (1991)
• Heaven Is a Playground (1991)
• Shout (1991)
• Primary Motive (1992)
• Posse (1993)
• Gettysburg (1993)

External links

• Richard Jordan at Find a Grave