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Chris Sarandon

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File:Humperdinck.jpg
Chris Sarandon as Prince Humperdinck in The Princess Bride

Chris Sarandon (born July 24, 1942) is an American actor.

Biography

Sarandon is the son of a Greek immigrant and restaurateur, he was born and raised in Beckley, West Virginia. In his teens, he played drums and sang back-up with a local band called The Teen Tones. After graduating from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1960, his band toured with such music legends as Bobby Darin and Gene Vincent.

In Washington, DC, where he received his master's degree in theater, Sarandon met first wife actress Susan Sarandon. He then toured with improv companies and appeared in regional theatre productions, he made his professional debut in The Rose Tattoo in 1965 and later joined the Long Wharf Theatre Company for a season. Moving to New York in 1968, Sarandon won the role of Dr. Tom Halverson on The Guiding Light,(1969-1973).

His first prime time role was in the TV movie The Satan Murders (1974) and Thursday's Game in the same year. His breakout role was his portrayal of an overwrought transsexual opposite Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon (1975). This role would win him two prestigious nominations, New Star of the Year - Male from the Golden Globes and an Academy Award (Best Supporting Actor).

Instead of continuing with film roles, he would act in several theater roles throughout the 1970s. Sarandon appeared in The Rothchilds and replaced Raul Julia in Two Gentlemen of Verona on Broadway while appearing elsewhere in various Shakespeare and Shaw festivals both in the United States and in Canada. He also appeared in a series of television roles, some of which (such as A Tale of Two Cities in 1980) mirrored his affinity for the classics. He also took roles in horror films, this time in co-leads, opposite the late Margaux Hemingway in the thriller Lipstick (1976) and as a demon in the shocker The Sentinel (1977). To avoid being type cast as creepy characters, Chris took on various roles in the years to come, portraying the title role in the made for television movie The Day Christ Died (1980). He received high marks also for his portrayal of Sydney Carton in a made for television version of A Tale of Two Cities (1980), co-starred with Dennis Hopper in The Osterman Weekend (1983), which was based on the Robert Ludlum novel of the same name and co-starred with Goldie Hawn in Protocol (1984). These were followed by another mainstream success as the hypnotic vampire-next-door in the teen horror classic Fright Night (1985).

He is perhaps best known outside of the world of television for his portrayal of Prince Humperdinck in Rob Reiner's The Princess Bride.

In 1988 he played Mike Norris, to whom the killer doll Chucky said, "Say good night, asshole."

Despite his success with The Princess Bride, Sarandon was not very well known, though critics were pleased with his performance as a Holocaust survivor in Forced March (1990).

In 1993, Sarandon used just his voice to give life to Jack Skellington, the bony star of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). To date, Sarandon is the only actor to provide the speaking voice of Jack Skellington in any official spin-off requiring the use of the character, including the latest use of the role in the Squaresoft/Disney video game Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II. Sarandon also reprised his role as Jack Skellington for the "Haunted Mansion Holiday"[1], a three-month overlay of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland, where Jack and his friends take over the Mansion in an attempt to run Christmas, much like his character in the film.

Sarandon would later find work on television again with a recurring role as Dr. Burke on NBC's long-running medical drama ER. In recent years Chris has been seen on stage, film and TV but with fewer roles and without leading roles.

He divorced from Susan Sarandon in 1979, after which he was married and divorced from model Lisa Ann Cooper during the 1980s. They had 3 children.

In 1991 he performed on Broadway in the short-lived musical Nick and Nora (based on the Thin Man film) with Joanna Gleason, the daughter of Monty Hall. Sarandon married Gleason in 1994. They have appeared together in a number of films, including American Perfekt (1997), Edie & Pen (1996) and Let the Devil Wear Black (1999).

In the 2000s he has done a bit of TV work by making guest appearances on quite a few series.

He is on the Advisory Board for the Greenbrier Valley Theatre in Lewisburg, West Virginia.

As of 2006, he was on Broadway playing "Signor Naccarelli" in the new 6-time Tony award-winning Broadway musical The Light in the Piazza at the Lincoln Center in Manhattan.

Quote

Being on stage is a seductive lifestyle. My advice to aspiring actors is think twice. People sometimes go into acting for the wrong reasons - as a shortcut to fame and fortune. If these goals are not attained, they feel a bitter disappointment. Acting should be an end in itself.

Selected work

Filmography

Television

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