David Huddleston
Encyclopedia
David William Huddleston (born September 17, 1930) is an American actor, best known for his roles in Blazing Saddles
, Santa Claus: The Movie
and The Big Lebowski
.
, the son of Ismay Hope (née
Dooley) and Lewis Melvin Huddleston. He was briefly an officer in the United States Air Force
before beginning his formal education in acting at the prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts
. Huddleston attended Fork Union Military Academy
for high school (Class of 1949) and is listed among the school's prominent alumni.
, which featured a top-billed Dudley Moore
as an elf.
Huddleston's first major role came in the 1968 drama A Lovely Way to Die. Shortly afterward the actor became a frequent guest star on several of the leading television series of the 1960s and 1970s, among them, Adam-12
, Then Came Bronson
, Gunsmoke
, Bewitched
, Bonanza
, Cannon
, McMillan & Wife, The Waltons
, The Rookies
, Medical Center
, Kung Fu
, Emergency!
, Spencer's Pilots
, The Mary Tyler Moore Show
, Police Woman
, Hawaii Five-O
, Walker, Texas Ranger
, Charlie's Angels
, Sanford and Son
and The Rockford Files
. Among Huddleston's notable feature film credits prior to Santa Claus: The Movie
are his co-starring roles in Bad Company
(1972), Blazing Saddles
(1974); Billy Two Hats (1974); McQ
(1974); Breakheart Pass
(1975); The Greatest (1977); The World's Greatest Lover (1977); Smokey and the Bandit II
(1980) and Go for It
(1983).
Huddleston resumed his television career with roles in various television movies, among them Heat Wave! (1974); The Oregon Trail (1976); Shark Kill (1976); Kate Bliss and the Ticker Tape Kid (1978); Family Reunion
(1981); Computercide (1982); and M.A.D.D.: Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (1983). For much of the 1980s, Huddleston also starred in a series of television commercials for the Citrus Hill brand of orange juice
. Huddleston's post-Santa Claus
career has found him making occasional co-starring roles, in Spot Marks the X (1986); Finnegan Begin Again
(1985); Frantic
(1988); Life with Mikey (1993); The Big Lebowski
(1998); and G-Men from Hell (2000). Later, he also had a recurring role as Albert "Gramps" Arnold, the paternal grandfather of the protagonist in The Wonder Years
(1988–1993). Huddleston even appeared on Star Trek: TNG as the train conductor in the episode 'Emergence'. He appeared twice on The West Wing
as Max Lobell, a Republican Senator who allies with Jed Bartlett on the issue of campaign finance reform
. His performance as Benjamin Franklin in a Boston stage production of 1776
is referenced in the book Assassination Vacation
by Sarah Vowell
, referring to him as "the actor who played The Big Lebowski in The Big Lebowski
." In 2009 he appeared in the thriller Locker 13
. Huddleston was also featured in the 2010 special It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
: It's a Very Sunny Christmas released directly to DVD, Blu-ray and Digital Download.
Huddleston's eldest son, Michael Huddleston, is also a longtime actor and performer. Huddleston is a long-time friend and former manager of musician/songwriter/businessman Roy Clark
of Hee Haw
fame.
Blazing Saddles
Blazing Saddles is a 1974 satirical Western comedy film directed by Mel Brooks. Starring Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder, the film was written by Brooks, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, Norman Steinberg, and Al Uger, and was based on Bergman's story and draft. The movie was nominated for three...
, Santa Claus: The Movie
Santa Claus: The Movie
Santa Claus: The Movie is a 1985 British/American Christmas film starring Dudley Moore and John Lithgow. It is the last major fantasy film produced by the Paris-based father-and-son production team of Alexander and Ilya Salkind...
and The Big Lebowski
The Big Lebowski
The Big Lebowski is a 1998 comedy film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Jeff Bridges stars as Jeff Lebowski, an unemployed Los Angeles slacker and avid bowler, who is referred to as "The Dude". After a case of mistaken identity, The Dude is introduced to a millionaire also named...
.
Early life
Huddleston was born in Vinton, VirginiaVinton, Virginia
Vinton is a town in Roanoke County, Virginia, United States. The population was 7,782 at the 2000 census. It hosted teams by three names in the ECHL in a custom built facility known as the LancerLot; after the roof collapsed during the Blizzard of 1993, the franchise moved to the Roanoke Civic...
, the son of Ismay Hope (née
Married and maiden names
A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....
Dooley) and Lewis Melvin Huddleston. He was briefly an officer in the United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
before beginning his formal education in acting at the prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts
American Academy of Dramatic Arts
The American Academy of Dramatic Arts is a fully accredited two-year conservatory with facilities located in Manhattan, New York City – at 120 Madison Avenue, in a landmark building designed by noted architect Stanford White as the original Colony Club – and in Hollywood, California...
. Huddleston attended Fork Union Military Academy
Fork Union Military Academy
Fork Union Military Academy is a private, military boarding school located in the town of Fork Union, Virginia. The school is more commonly known by its acronym FUMA ....
for high school (Class of 1949) and is listed among the school's prominent alumni.
Career
Known mainly as a character actor, Huddleston starred in the title role of 1985's big-budget film Santa Claus: The MovieSanta Claus: The Movie
Santa Claus: The Movie is a 1985 British/American Christmas film starring Dudley Moore and John Lithgow. It is the last major fantasy film produced by the Paris-based father-and-son production team of Alexander and Ilya Salkind...
, which featured a top-billed Dudley Moore
Dudley Moore
Dudley Stuart John Moore, CBE was an English actor, comedian, composer and musician.Moore first came to prominence as one of the four writer-performers in the ground-breaking comedy revue Beyond the Fringe in the early 1960s, and then became famous as half of the highly popular television...
as an elf.
Huddleston's first major role came in the 1968 drama A Lovely Way to Die. Shortly afterward the actor became a frequent guest star on several of the leading television series of the 1960s and 1970s, among them, Adam-12
Adam-12
Adam-12 was a television police drama which followed two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, Pete Malloy and Jim Reed, as they patrolled the streets of Los Angeles in their patrol unit, 1-Adam-12. Created by Jack Webb who is known for creating Dragnet, the series captured a...
, Then Came Bronson
Then Came Bronson
Then Came Bronson is a short-lived adventure/drama television series that aired on NBC from 1969 to 1970, and was produced by MGM Television. The series, created by Denne Bart Petitclerc, began with a movie pilot on Monday, March 24, 1969. The series was greenlit for one year and began its first...
, Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
, Bewitched
Bewitched
Bewitched is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for eight seasons on ABC from 1964 to 1972, starring Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York and Dick Sargent , Agnes Moorehead, and David White. The show is about a witch who marries a mortal and tries to lead the life of a typical suburban...
, Bonanza
Bonanza
Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...
, Cannon
Cannon
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...
, McMillan & Wife, The Waltons
The Waltons
The Waltons is an American television series created by Earl Hamner, Jr., based on his book Spencer's Mountain, and a 1963 film of the same name. The show centered on a family growing up in a rural Virginia community during the Great Depression and World War II. The series pilot was a television...
, The Rookies
The Rookies
The Rookies is an American crime drama series that aired on ABC from 1972 until 1976. It followed the exploits of three rookie police officers in an unidentified city for the fictitious Southern California Police Department .-History:...
, Medical Center
Medical Center (TV series)
Medical Center is a medical drama series which aired on CBS from 1969 to 1976.-Synopsis:The show starred James Daly as Dr. Paul Lochner and Chad Everett as Dr. Joe Gannon, surgeons working in an otherwise unnamed university hospital in Los Angeles. The show focused both on the lives of the doctors...
, Kung Fu
Kung Fu (TV series)
Kung Fu is an American television series that starred David Carradine. It was created by Ed Spielman, directed and produced by Jerry Thorpe, and developed by Herman Miller, who was also a writer for, and co-producer of, the series...
, Emergency!
Emergency!
Emergency! is an American television series that combines the medical drama and action-adventure genres. It was produced by Mark VII Limited and distributed by Universal Studios...
, Spencer's Pilots
Spencer's Pilots
Spencer's Pilots is an American adventure series that aired on CBS from September 17 to November 19, 1976. Created by Larry Rosen, the series stars Gene Evans.-Synopsis:Evans stars as Spencer Parish, the owner of Spencer Aviation...
, The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns that aired on CBS from 1970 to 1977...
, Police Woman
Police Woman (TV series)
Police Woman is an American television police drama starring Angie Dickinson that ran on NBC for four seasons, from September 13, 1974, to March 29, 1978.-Synopsis:...
, Hawaii Five-O
Hawaii Five-O
Hawaii Five-O is an American police procedural drama series produced by CBS Productions and Leonard Freeman. Set in Hawaii, the show originally aired for twelve seasons from 1968 to 1980, and continues in reruns. The show featured a fictional state police unit run by Detective Steve McGarrett,...
, Walker, Texas Ranger
Walker, Texas Ranger
Walker, Texas Ranger is an American television action crime drama series created by Leslie Greif and Paul Haggis, and starring Chuck Norris as a member of the Texas Ranger Division. The show aired on CBS in the spring of 1993, with the first season consisting of three pilot episodes. Eight full...
, Charlie's Angels
Charlie's Angels
Charlie's Angels is a television series about three women who work for a private investigation agency, and is one of the first shows to showcase women in roles traditionally reserved for men...
, Sanford and Son
Sanford and Son
Sanford and Son is an American sitcom, based on the BBC's Steptoe and Son, that ran on the NBC television network from January 14, 1972, to March 25, 1977....
and The Rockford Files
The Rockford Files
The Rockford Files is an American television drama series which aired on the NBC network between September 13, 1974 and January 10, 1980. It has remained in regular syndication to the present day. The show stars James Garner as Los Angeles-based private investigator Jim Rockford and features Noah...
. Among Huddleston's notable feature film credits prior to Santa Claus: The Movie
Santa Claus: The Movie
Santa Claus: The Movie is a 1985 British/American Christmas film starring Dudley Moore and John Lithgow. It is the last major fantasy film produced by the Paris-based father-and-son production team of Alexander and Ilya Salkind...
are his co-starring roles in Bad Company
Bad Company
Bad Company were an English rock supergroup founded in 1973, consisting of two former Free band members — singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke — as well as Mott the Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs and King Crimson bassist Boz Burrell. Peter Grant, who, in years prior, was a key component of...
(1972), Blazing Saddles
Blazing Saddles
Blazing Saddles is a 1974 satirical Western comedy film directed by Mel Brooks. Starring Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder, the film was written by Brooks, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, Norman Steinberg, and Al Uger, and was based on Bergman's story and draft. The movie was nominated for three...
(1974); Billy Two Hats (1974); McQ
McQ
McQ is a 1974 crime drama starring John Wayne, Eddie Albert, Diana Muldaur, and Colleen Dewhurst. The film made extensive use of actual Seattle locations. The beach scenes were filmed on the Pacific coast at Moclips.The film features a young Roger E...
(1974); Breakheart Pass
Breakheart Pass (1975 film)
Breakheart Pass is an American 1975 western adventure film that stars Charles Bronson, Ben Johnson, Richard Crenna, and Jill Ireland. The movie was based on the novel by Alistair MacLean of the same title, and was filmed in north central Idaho.-Plot:...
(1975); The Greatest (1977); The World's Greatest Lover (1977); Smokey and the Bandit II
Smokey and the Bandit II
Smokey and the Bandit II is a comedy film released on August 15, 1980 in the United States. It is the sequel to the 1977 film Smokey and the Bandit. The film stars Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jerry Reed, Jackie Gleason, and Dom DeLuise...
(1980) and Go for It
Go for It (film)
Go for It is a 1983 comedy film and spy movie parody starring Terence Hill and Bud Spencer.- Plot :The charming dodger Rosco Frazer and the recently released convict Doug O’Riordan meet each other during a rough brawl in a roadhouse. After this they drive off in a truck, each one thinking of the...
(1983).
Huddleston resumed his television career with roles in various television movies, among them Heat Wave! (1974); The Oregon Trail (1976); Shark Kill (1976); Kate Bliss and the Ticker Tape Kid (1978); Family Reunion
Family Reunion (film)
Family Reunion is a four-hour American television movie directed by Fielder Cook. The teleplay by Allan Sloane was based on the Good Housekeeping article How America Lives by Joe Sparton...
(1981); Computercide (1982); and M.A.D.D.: Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (1983). For much of the 1980s, Huddleston also starred in a series of television commercials for the Citrus Hill brand of orange juice
Orange juice
Orange juice is a popular beverage made from oranges. It is made by extraction from the fresh fruit, by desiccation and subsequent reconstitution of dried juice, or by concentration of the juice and the subsequent addition of water to the concentrate...
. Huddleston's post-Santa Claus
Santa Claus: The Movie
Santa Claus: The Movie is a 1985 British/American Christmas film starring Dudley Moore and John Lithgow. It is the last major fantasy film produced by the Paris-based father-and-son production team of Alexander and Ilya Salkind...
career has found him making occasional co-starring roles, in Spot Marks the X (1986); Finnegan Begin Again
Finnegan Begin Again
Finnegan Begin Again is a 1985 made-for-HBO original romantic comedy film starring Mary Tyler Moore and Robert Preston. The movie was filmed in Richmond, Virginia and premiered in February 1985 before being released on video.-Plot:...
(1985); Frantic
Frantic (film)
Frantic is a 1988 thriller film directed by Roman Polanski and starring Harrison Ford and Emmanuelle Seigner.- Synopsis :Harrison Ford plays Dr. Richard Walker, a surgeon visiting Paris with his wife Sondra for a medical conference. At their hotel, she is unable to unlock her suitcase, and Walker...
(1988); Life with Mikey (1993); The Big Lebowski
The Big Lebowski
The Big Lebowski is a 1998 comedy film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Jeff Bridges stars as Jeff Lebowski, an unemployed Los Angeles slacker and avid bowler, who is referred to as "The Dude". After a case of mistaken identity, The Dude is introduced to a millionaire also named...
(1998); and G-Men from Hell (2000). Later, he also had a recurring role as Albert "Gramps" Arnold, the paternal grandfather of the protagonist in The Wonder Years
The Wonder Years
The Wonder Years is an American television comedy-drama created by Carol Black and Neal Marlens. It ran for six seasons on ABC from 1988 through 1993. The pilot aired on January 31, 1988 after ABC's coverage of Super Bowl XXII....
(1988–1993). Huddleston even appeared on Star Trek: TNG as the train conductor in the episode 'Emergence'. He appeared twice on The West Wing
The West Wing (TV series)
The West Wing is an American television serial drama created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999 to May 14, 2006...
as Max Lobell, a Republican Senator who allies with Jed Bartlett on the issue of campaign finance reform
Campaign finance reform
Campaign finance reform is the common term for the political effort in the United States to change the involvement of money in politics, primarily in political campaigns....
. His performance as Benjamin Franklin in a Boston stage production of 1776
1776 (musical)
1776 is a musical with music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone. The story is based on the events surrounding the signing of the Declaration of Independence...
is referenced in the book Assassination Vacation
Assassination Vacation
Assassination Vacation is a book by Sarah Vowell, published in 2005, in which she travels around the United States researching the assassinations of U.S. Presidents Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley and James Garfield...
by Sarah Vowell
Sarah Vowell
Sarah Jane Vowell is an American author, journalist, essayist and social commentator. Often referred to as a "social observer," Vowell has written five nonfiction books on American history and culture, and was a contributing editor for the radio program This American Life on Public Radio...
, referring to him as "the actor who played The Big Lebowski in The Big Lebowski
The Big Lebowski
The Big Lebowski is a 1998 comedy film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Jeff Bridges stars as Jeff Lebowski, an unemployed Los Angeles slacker and avid bowler, who is referred to as "The Dude". After a case of mistaken identity, The Dude is introduced to a millionaire also named...
." In 2009 he appeared in the thriller Locker 13
Locker 13
Locker 13 is a 2009 thriller directed by Bruce Dellis, George Huang, Jason Marsden, Matthew Mebane, Adam Montierth, Donovan Montierth, and Rick Schroder....
. Huddleston was also featured in the 2010 special It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is an American television sitcom that premiered on FX on August 4, 2005. New episodes continue to air on FX, with reruns playing on Comedy Central, general broadcast syndication, and WGN America—the first-ever cable-to-cable syndication deal for a sitcom...
: It's a Very Sunny Christmas released directly to DVD, Blu-ray and Digital Download.
Huddleston's eldest son, Michael Huddleston, is also a longtime actor and performer. Huddleston is a long-time friend and former manager of musician/songwriter/businessman Roy Clark
Roy Clark
Roy Linwood Clark is an American country music musician and performer. He is best known for hosting Hee Haw, a nationally televised country variety show, from 1969–1992. Clark has been an important and influential figure in country music, both as a performer and helping to popularize the genre...
of Hee Haw
Hee Haw
Hee Haw is an American television variety show featuring country music and humor with fictional rural Kornfield Kounty as a backdrop. It aired on CBS-TV from 1969–1971 before a 20-year run in local syndication. The show was inspired by Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, the major difference being...
fame.