Kirkwood was born in
Melbourne, Australia. His father,
Joe Kirkwood Sr., was a golf pro acknowledged as having put Australian golf on the world map. In 1948, father and son both made the cut at the
U.S. Open, the first father and son duo to do so (a record they held until 2004). When the younger Kirkwood won the 1949
Philadelphia Inquirer Open, they became the third father and son winners in the history of the PGA Tour. Kirkwood Jr. also won the
Ozark Open in 1950 and defeated
Sam Snead to win the 1951
Blue Ribbon Open in
Milwaukee,
Wisconsin. Kirkwood served in both the
U.S. Army and the
Royal Canadian Air Force during
World War II but was medically discharged from both services for asthma and high blood pressure that he suffered from since childhood. In 1945, Kirkwood was invited by
Monogram Pictures to test for the role of boxer
Joe Palooka, a popular comic book character. He got the part and starred in
Joe Palooka, Champ (1946) as well as ten additional Joe Palooka films through 1951. Kirkwood returned to the role in the 1954
television series The Joe Palooka Story. In the late 1950s, Kirkwood, who has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1620 Vine Street, was one of the reporters on the
NBC Radio program
Monitor. He also hosted a show, "Let's Play Golf", on Los Angeles station
KHJ-TV. Kirkwood and his wife, Joyce Woltz, owned bowling centers in
Studio City, Los Angeles and
Porterville, California, and owned property in
Princeville, Hawaii. ==Filmography==