George Dzundza facts for kids

George Dzundza (/ˈzʊndzə/ ZUUND-zə; born July 19, 1945) is an American television and film actor. His notable work includes The Waltons (1975), Skokie (1981), Open All Night (1981), No Way Out (1987), The Beast (1988). He appeared in The Deer Hunter, Streamers, Impulse, White Hunter Black Heart, The Butcher's Wife, Basic Instinct, Crimson Tide, Dangerous Minds and City by the Sea, Law & Order, and Jesse.

Early life and education

Dzundza was born in Rosenheim, Germany, to a Ukrainian father, Roman Dzundza, originally from Kalush, Ukraine, and a Polish mother, Maria Humenecka, originally from Lviv, Ukraine. His parents were forced into factory labour by the Nazis. He spent the first few years of his life in displaced persons camps with his parents and one brother.

The family moved to Amsterdam in 1949, then moved to the US in 1956, settling in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. He attended Xavier High School in Manhattan. He attended St. Johns University and also studied under Stella Adler and Harold Clurman.

Career

Dzundza began acting in his freshman year of college at the insistence of another student. However, his professional stage debut was in a 1973 New York Shakespeare Festival production of King Lear.

Dzundza starred in a short-lived 1981 sitcom series Open All Night, about the owner of a "Store 364" convenience store in Inglewood, California. He portrayed American Nazi leader Frank Collin in the 1981 made-for-television movie Skokie.

In 1987, Dzundza played Sam Hesselman, a disabled man in a wheelchair, in No Way Out and Commander Daskal in The Beast in 1988. Other major film roles of his include The Deer Hunter, Streamers, Impulse, White Hunter Black Heart, The Butcher's Wife, Basic Instinct, Crimson Tide, Dangerous Minds and City by the Sea.

He was an original cast member of the NBC drama Law & Order, playing NYPD Sergeant Max Greevey in the first season only. Dzundza quit after the first season of the show.

His other acting work includes an appearance on The Waltons (1975), and playing the Archie Bunker-like father in the short-lived Christina Applegate sitcom Jesse. He voiced supervillain the Ventriloquist in Batman: The Animated Series, and Perry White in Superman: The Animated Series.

In 2005, he played Anubis (aka "Jim") in the Stargate SG-1 Season 8 episode "Threads". Dzundza portrayed George O'Malley's father Harold on Grey's Anatomy.

Personal life

Dzundza has been married since 1982 to Mary Jo Vermeulen. They have three daughters as well as two grandchildren.

He is a naturalized US citizen.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

See also

In Spanish: George Dzundza para niños In Spanish: George Dzundza para niños