NOAH BEERY, JR. Biography - Actors and Actresses

 
 

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NOAH BEERY, JR.

Name: Noah Lindsey Beery                                                                     
Born: 10 August 1913                                                                         
Died: 1 November 1994                                                                       
                                                                                             
Noah Lindsey Beery (August 10, 1913 - November 1, 1994), known professionally as             
Noah Beery, Jr. or just Noah Beery, was an American actor specializing in warm,             
friendly character parts similar to the ones played by his legendary uncle                   
Wallace Beery, although Noah Beery, Jr., unlike his uncle, seldom broke away                 
from playing supporting roles. His father, Noah Nicholas Beery (known                       
professionally as Noah Beery or Noah Beery, Sr.), enjoyed a similarly lengthy               
film career as a supporting actor.                                                           
                                                                                             
Beery was best known as James Garner's uptight and concerned father, Joseph "Rocky"         
Rockford on the 1970s television series The Rockford Files.                                 
                                                                                             
Beery was born in New York City, New York where his father was working as a                 
stage actor. The family moved to California in 1915 when his father began acting             
in motion pictures. After attending school in Los Angeles, they moved to a ranch             
in the San Fernando Valley, a style of living he would maintain for the rest of             
his life.                                                                                   
                                                                                             
At the age of seven, he appeared with his father in The Mark of Zorro and like               
his father, who immediately began billing himself as "Noah Beery, Sr.," he went             
on to become a respected character actor. His uncle, Oscar-winning screen                   
phenomenon Wallace Beery, became the world's highest-paid actor by 1932, and                 
while neither Noah nor his father ever approached that level, both had extremely             
long and memorable film careers. All three acting Beerys physically resembled               
each other rather closely, but Noah, Jr. lacked a thrillingly powerful voice                 
like his father's and uncle's (which is ironic, since both older Beerys made                 
major careers as supporting actors in silent movies).                                       
                                                                                             
Noah Beery, Jr. appeared in dozens of films, including a large early role as                 
John Wayne's action partner in 1934's The Trail Beyond (Wayne was 27 years old               
and Beery was 21), 20 Mule Team with his uncle, and Red River with Wayne, but is             
best known for his role as Joseph "Rocky" Rockford, the father of Jim Rockford,             
James Garner's character on the popular television series The Rockford Files (1974-1980).   
Beery's television work also included a weekly stint as a clown in Circus Boy               
with Mickey Dolenz in the mid-1950s.                                                         
                                                                                             
Noah Beery, Jr. died in 1994 in Tehachapi, California of a cerebral thrombosis               
and was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale,                     
California with his father and uncle.