Robert Ginty
Encyclopedia
Robert Ginty was an American
movie actor, producer, scenarist, and director of movies and TV series episodes.
, Janis Joplin
, Carlos Santana
and John Lee Hooker
. He studied at Yale
and trained at the Neighborhood Playhouse and the Actor's Studio. Ginty worked in the regional theater circuit, and New York theatre Broadway
. Harold Prince hired him as his assistant after seeing him perform in The New Hampshire Shakespeare Festival Summerstock Company under the direction of John Ogden 1973.
in the 1970s, where he found frequent work as a strong-armed player on TV action, appearing in different series in the mid-1970s. In 1976, he attained some popularity after finding a steady role starring with Robert Conrad
in Baa Baa Black Sheep
, a successful TV series about the experiences of United States Marine Corps
aviator Pappy Boyington
and his squadron of misfits during World War II
.
Ginty had small parts in Bound for Glory (1976) and Two-Minute Warning
(1976). He later made his biggest impression as Bruce Dern
's pal in Coming Home (1978). He went on to co-star in three television series: The Paper Chase
(1978) (where he met future wife Francine Tacker
), Falcon Crest
and Hawaiian Heat
. He also appeared in John Llewellyn Moxey
's The Courage and the Passion.
movies. He then starred with David Carradine
in the 1976 Bound for Glory biography of folk singer Woody Guthrie
. He also appeared with Bruce Dern
in Coming Home (1978) (a film which was nominated for eight Oscars).
Around the time he was appearing in the series The Paper Chase
(1978), he won his first film action lead in The Exterminator
(1980), which became a surprising box-office hit. Four years later, he would reprise the action lead in the sequel Exterminator 2
. After starring in Exterminator, Ginty's career took a downturn into B-movies, including:
Ginty's acting career faded in the 1990s, although he played some higher-quality roles, such as in Tom Ropelewski's comedy Madhouse
. Ginty also performed in another big production, with Mickey Rourke
and Don Johnson
, in Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man
.
(1983) which was filmed in Thailand
, Cop Target (1990), which was shot in France
. He did not slow down in the late 1990s, performing producing and directing chores on such shows as China Beach
(1988), Xena: Warrior Princess
(1995), Nash Bridges
(1996), Charmed
(1998) and Tracker
(2001).
, Dublin, Toronto
, and Vancouver
. He was married to actress and former co-star Francine Tacker
; they had a son, actor James Ginty. Ginty had also been married to actress Lorna Patterson
. He was married to his third wife, Michelle Craske, at the time of his death of cancer
in Los Angeles, California
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
movie actor, producer, scenarist, and director of movies and TV series episodes.
Early life
Ginty was born Christopher Robert Ginty in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Elsie M. (née O'Hara), a government worker, and Michael Joseph Ginty, a construction worker. Ginty was involved with music from an early age, playing with Jimi HendrixJimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
, Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin
Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band...
, Carlos Santana
Carlos Santana
Carlos Augusto Alves Santana is a Mexican rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, salsa and jazz fusion...
and John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist.Hooker began his life as the son of a sharecropper, William Hooker, and rose to prominence performing his own unique style of what was originally closest to Delta blues. He developed a 'talking blues' style that was his trademark...
. He studied at Yale
YALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
and trained at the Neighborhood Playhouse and the Actor's Studio. Ginty worked in the regional theater circuit, and New York theatre Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
. Harold Prince hired him as his assistant after seeing him perform in The New Hampshire Shakespeare Festival Summerstock Company under the direction of John Ogden 1973.
Television career
Ginty moved to CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
in the 1970s, where he found frequent work as a strong-armed player on TV action, appearing in different series in the mid-1970s. In 1976, he attained some popularity after finding a steady role starring with Robert Conrad
Robert Conrad
Robert Conrad is an American actor. He is best known for his role in the 1965 CBS television series The Wild Wild West, in which he played the sophisticated Secret Service agent James T. West, and his portrayal of World War II ace Pappy Boyington in the television series Baa Baa Black Sheep...
in Baa Baa Black Sheep
Baa Baa Black Sheep (TV series)
Baa Baa Black Sheep is a television series that aired on NBC from 1976 until 1978. Its premise was based on the experiences of United States Marine Corps aviator Pappy Boyington and his World War II "Black Sheep Squadron". The series was created and produced by Stephen J. Cannell...
, a successful TV series about the experiences of United States Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
aviator Pappy Boyington
Pappy Boyington
Gregory "Pappy" Boyington was a United States Marine Corps officer who was an American fighter ace during World War II. For his heroic actions, he was awarded both the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross. Boyington flew initially with the American Volunteer Group in the Republic of China Air Force...
and his squadron of misfits during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Ginty had small parts in Bound for Glory (1976) and Two-Minute Warning
Two-Minute Warning
Two-Minute Warning is a 1976 suspense and action film directed by Larry Peerce and starring Charlton Heston, John Cassavetes, Martin Balsam, Beau Bridges, Jack Klugman, Gena Rowlands, and David Janssen. It was based on the novel of the same name written by George La Fountaine, Sr...
(1976). He later made his biggest impression as Bruce Dern
Bruce Dern
Bruce MacLeish Dern is an American film actor. He also appeared as a guest star in numerous television shows. He frequently takes roles as a character actor, often playing unstable and villainous characters...
's pal in Coming Home (1978). He went on to co-star in three television series: The Paper Chase
The Paper Chase (TV series)
The Paper Chase is a television series based on a 1970 novel by John Jay Osborn, Jr., as well as a 1973 film based on the novel. It follows the lives of law student James T. Hart and his classmates at Harvard Law School.-Production:...
(1978) (where he met future wife Francine Tacker
Francine Tacker
Francine Tacker is an American actress known for her brief appearance in the television series Dallas as Jenna Wade. Tacker was the second actress to play the character, succeeding Morgan Fairchild and preceding Priscilla Presley...
), Falcon Crest
Falcon Crest
Falcon Crest is an American primetime television soap opera which aired on the CBS network for nine seasons, from December 4, 1981 to May 17, 1990. A total of 227 episodes were produced....
and Hawaiian Heat
Hawaiian Heat
Hawaiian Heat is an American drama television series that premiered on ABC on September 14, 1984. It starred Robert Ginty and Jeff McCracken as two Chicago cops who quit their jobs in the Windy City to become detectives in Hawaii. Their boss at the Honolulu Police Department was played by veteran...
. He also appeared in John Llewellyn Moxey
John Llewellyn Moxey
John Llewellyn Moxey is an Argentinian film and television director. He is best known for directing film The City of the Dead and directing episodes of The Saint, Magnum, P.I. and Murder, She Wrote.-Life and career:Moxey was born in Argentina in 1925...
's The Courage and the Passion.
Movie career
Ginty made his first appearance on film in the late 1970s in two Hal AshbyHal Ashby
Hal Ashby was an American film director and film editor.-Birth and early years:Born William Hal Ashby in Ogden, Utah, Ashby grew up in a Mormon household and had a tumultuous childhood as part of a dysfunctional family which included the divorce of his parents, his father's suicide and his...
movies. He then starred with David Carradine
David Carradine
David Carradine was an American actor and martial artist, best known for his role as a warrior monk, Kwai Chang Caine, in the 1970s television series, Kung Fu, which later had a 1990s sequel series, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues...
in the 1976 Bound for Glory biography of folk singer Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
. He also appeared with Bruce Dern
Bruce Dern
Bruce MacLeish Dern is an American film actor. He also appeared as a guest star in numerous television shows. He frequently takes roles as a character actor, often playing unstable and villainous characters...
in Coming Home (1978) (a film which was nominated for eight Oscars).
Around the time he was appearing in the series The Paper Chase
The Paper Chase (TV series)
The Paper Chase is a television series based on a 1970 novel by John Jay Osborn, Jr., as well as a 1973 film based on the novel. It follows the lives of law student James T. Hart and his classmates at Harvard Law School.-Production:...
(1978), he won his first film action lead in The Exterminator
The Exterminator
The Exterminator is a 1980 action film written, produced and directed by James Glickenhaus and starring Robert Ginty as Vietnam veteran vigilante John Eastland, also known as "The Exterminator", who takes out the street punks and those involved in organized crime when the law fails to do justice.-...
(1980), which became a surprising box-office hit. Four years later, he would reprise the action lead in the sequel Exterminator 2
Exterminator 2
Exterminator 2 is a 1984 action film written and directed by Mark Buntzman, starring Robert Ginty and Mario Van Peebles, with cameos by Arye Gross in his debut role, and John Turturro in his second role...
. After starring in Exterminator, Ginty's career took a downturn into B-movies, including:
- Warrior of the Lost WorldWarrior of the Lost WorldWarrior of the Lost World is a 1983 Italian post-apocalyptic science fiction film written and directed by David Worth starring Robert Ginty, Persis Khambatta, and Donald Pleasence...
(1983), shot in Italy, is a memorable example of a failed post-apocalyptic/Mad MaxMad MaxMad Max is a 1979 Australian dystopian action film directed by George Miller and revised by Miller and Byron Kennedy over the original script by James McCausland. The film stars Mel Gibson, who was unknown at the time. Its narrative based around the traditional western genre, Mad Max tells a story...
-like movie. - Gold Raiders (1983), a jungle movie shot in Thailand.
Ginty's acting career faded in the 1990s, although he played some higher-quality roles, such as in Tom Ropelewski's comedy Madhouse
Madhouse
Madhouse may refer to:* Madhouse is a colloquial term for a psychiatric hospital or other mental institution* Madhouse is the nickname given to Double One in darts- Films :* Madhouse , a 1974 film featuring Vincent Price...
. Ginty also performed in another big production, with Mickey Rourke
Mickey Rourke
Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke, Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter and retired boxer, who has appeared primarily as a leading man in action, drama, and thriller films....
and Don Johnson
Don Johnson
Donnie Wayne "Don" Johnson is an American actor known for his work in television and film. He played the lead role of James "Sonny" Crockett in the 1980s TV cop series, Miami Vice, which led him to huge success. He also played the lead role in the 1990s cop series, Nash Bridges...
, in Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man
Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man
Other songs in the film, but not included on the soundtrack are "Stop the World" by The Screaming Jets, "Wanted Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi, and "Work to Do" and "The Better Part of Me" by Vanessa Williams.-See also:* List of American films of 1991*...
.
Directing career
He became an independent producer/director, and formed his own production company, where he became the head of the company, Ginty Films, buying shares in the special effect studio Introvision that distributed his vehicles both here and abroad. Most were crudely made on very limited budgets, but he has nevertheless done quite well for himself as a writer/producer/director, especially overseas, with such assembly-line fare as Gold RaidersGold Raiders
Gold Raiders is a comedy Western film, directed by Edward Bernds with a script by B-movie writer William Lively and veteran comedy writer Elwood Ullman. The film was an attempt by independent producer Bernard Glasser to inaugurate a new western series starring George O'Brien, the lead in F. W....
(1983) which was filmed in Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, Cop Target (1990), which was shot in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. He did not slow down in the late 1990s, performing producing and directing chores on such shows as China Beach
China Beach
China Beach is an American dramatic television series set at an evacuation hospital during the Vietnam War. The title refers to My Khe beach in the city of Da Nang, Vietnam, which was nicknamed "China Beach" by unknown foreigners, most likely Americans...
(1988), Xena: Warrior Princess
Xena: Warrior Princess
Xena: Warrior Princess is an American–New Zealand supernatural fantasy adventure series that aired in syndication from September 4, 1995 until June 18, 2001....
(1995), Nash Bridges
Nash Bridges
Nash Bridges is an American television police drama created by Carlton Cuse. The show starred Don Johnson and Cheech Marin as two Inspectors with the San Francisco Police Department's Special Investigations Unit. The show ran for six seasons on CBS from March 29, 1996 to May 4, 2001 with a total of...
(1996), Charmed
Charmed
Charmed is an American television series that originally aired from October 7, 1998, until May 21, 2006, on the now defunct The WB Television Network. The series was created in 1998 by writer Constance M...
(1998) and Tracker
Tracker (TV series)
Tracker is a 2001 Canadian science fiction television series starring Adrian Paul and Amy Price-Francis. The series is based on a short story by Gil Grant and Jeannine Renshaw...
(2001).
Personal life and death
Ginty resided, variously, in Los AngelesLos Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, Dublin, Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, and Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
. He was married to actress and former co-star Francine Tacker
Francine Tacker
Francine Tacker is an American actress known for her brief appearance in the television series Dallas as Jenna Wade. Tacker was the second actress to play the character, succeeding Morgan Fairchild and preceding Priscilla Presley...
; they had a son, actor James Ginty. Ginty had also been married to actress Lorna Patterson
Lorna Patterson
Lorna Patterson is an American film, stage and television actress.Patterson was born in Whittier, California, where she attended Rio Hondo College for a single semester. She is a founding member of the Musical Theatre Guild and has appeared in many stage musicals...
. He was married to his third wife, Michelle Craske, at the time of his death of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
.