Paul Gleason

Gleason was born on May 4, 1939, in Jersey City, New Jersey, Gleason was raised in Miami Beach, Florida. At age 16, he ran away from home and hitchhiked across the east coast, sleeping on beaches and playing baseball. He attended North Miami High School and Florida State University, where he played football with Burt Reynolds. He signed a professional baseball contract with the Cleveland Indians, but played just briefly in two minor league seasons between 1959 and 1960. In 1960, a West Coast trip led to an introduction to sitcom icon Ozzie Nelson, which, in turn, led to an appearance on Ozzie and Harriet (per Nelson's habit of hiring athletes for guest spots on the show). Suddenly, acting was an option, and an increasingly attractive one, given Gleason's failing baseball career. He moved to New York City, eventually joining The Actors Studio, where he would study for four years before moving to Los Angeles. ==Career==

Gleason starred in many movies, often as an antagonistic figure, and became well-known initially as Dr. David Thornton on All My Children, playing the role from 1976 to 1978. He then portrayed Capt. Ernest "Tex" Lee in the 1979 television miniseries Ike. He guest-starred in "The Trouble with Harry" and "Fire", Columbo and two episodes of The A-Team. Additionally, Gleason played the villainous Clarence Beeks, the Duke brothers' security consultant and fixer, in the 1983 comedy Trading Places starring Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy. Gleason played the disciplinarian Vice Principal Richard Vernon, in the 1985 coming-of-age film The Breakfast Club opposite many members of the Brat Pack. The film has been noted as one of the most prominent and well-remembered of its genre, and many reviews praised Gleason's performance as the vice principal who was frequently at odds with members of the titular group, particularly Judd Nelson's John Bender. In an on-set interview, Gleason spoke at length about the skill of the teenage actors he worked with, adding that he believed he "could never have been as good at [their] age." He also described the finale of the film, during which Vernon reads an essay from the Club dismantling his assertions about them, as a satori for the character, stating that Vernon is "supposed to realize something about the fact that he has let these kids down, and that he really hasn't understood them." When Gleason died the same year, his NPR obituary referred to his turn as Vernon, referring to Gleason as "a 'principal' screen presence." and as a foil for Willis and Reginald VelJohnson. In 2002, Gleason appeared in episodes of ''Dawson's Creek as Larry Newman, the sex-and-violence obsessed chief of a B movie studio. He appeared as a nonsensical judge in an episode of Drake & Josh, as well as in an episode of George Lopez'' as the brother of George's boss, a crazy old drunk. In 2005, he appeared as the Sheriff in the horror film Abominable. Gleason made a guest appearance on Friends as Jack, Phoebe's boss at an investment company, in the season 6 episode "The One That Could Have Been," and also appeared in one episode of Seinfeld, as the man ultimately responsible for George Costanza (Jason Alexander) being hired by the New York Yankees. His final appearance before his death was in an independent film called The Book of Caleb. ==Personal life ==

Gleason, in addition to his acting career, participated in many celebrity charity golf events each year, and was known to mingle with fans and sign autographs during these golf tournaments. Shortly before his death, he also published a book of poetry. Actor Jimmy Hawkins, a friend of Gleason's stated after his death that "he always had great stories to tell." From 1971 to 1978, he was married to actress Candy Moore; they had one daughter, Shannon. From 1995 until his death, he was married to Susan Kehl; they had one daughter, Kaitlin. At the time of his death, he also had a granddaughter. ==Death==

Gleason died on May 27, 2006, at a Burbank, California, hospital from pleural mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lung connected with asbestos, which he is thought to have contracted from asbestos exposure on building sites while working for his father as a teenager. Gleason was 67 years old. He is buried near the southeast corner of the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood, Los Angeles. == Filmography ==