Jeff Corey, a character actor who was perhaps best known as a Los Angeles-based acting teacher, died on Fri., Aug. 16. He was 88.
His list of acting students was a virtual who's who of stars, including Barbra Streisand, Jack Nicholson, James Dean, Anthony Perkins, Shirley Knight, Rita Moreno, Robin Williams, Richard Chamberlain, and Carol Burnett.
He was also known as an actor who had been embargoed from film acting in the late '40s and through the '50s because of his association with the Communist Party. He was called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee, refused to cooperate, and was blacklisted for 12 years.
After he returned to movies, he appeared in more than 100 feature films; his most notable role was as Wild Bill Hickock opposite Dustin Hoffman in "Little Big Man" (1970). Other credits include "The Killers" (he played the heavy, Blinky Franklin) and "Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid" (where he played the hapless sheriff who's friendly with the Paul Newman and Robert Redford title characters) in 1969. He also had roles in "In Cold Blood" and "True Grit."
The Brooklyn native launched his career during the Depression, working with the Federal Theater Project of the Works Progress Administration. Later, he appeared as a spear-carrier in Leslie Howard's production of "Hamlet" on Broadway, before moving on to the role of Rosencrantz.
He earned a degree in speech therapy from the University of California in Los Angeles and over the years—as recently as 1997—appeared in many TV programs as a guest artist.