Anthony Zerbe
Encyclopedia
Anthony Jared Zerbe is an American
stage, film and Emmy-winning television actor
. Notable film roles include the post-apocalyptic cult leader Matthias in The Omega Man
, a 1971 film adaptation of Richard Matheson
's 1954 novel, I Am Legend; Milton Krest in the 1989 James Bond
film Licence to Kill
; and Rosie in The Turning Point
.
, the son of Catherine (née
Scurlock; Pomona College
'30) and Arthur Lee Van Zerbe (Pomona College
'29). Zerbe attended Pomona College
, Claremont, CA, graduating in 1958, and served in the United States Air Force
from 1959 to 1961. Zerbe studied at the Stella Adler
Studio in New York City
.
In television he has played numerous guest roles in TV series including Naked City
, The Virginian
, The Big Valley
, Route 66
, The Wild Wild West
, Twelve O'Clock High
, Bonanza
, Mission: Impossible
, Gunsmoke
, Hawaii Five-O
, Mannix
, It Takes a Thief, The Chisholms
, Ironside
, Cannon
, Columbo, The Rookies
, The Streets of San Francisco
, The Rockford Files
, The Equalizer
, Kung Fu
, Little House on the Prairie
, Dynasty
, Highway to Heaven
, Murder, She Wrote
and Frasier
. He held a starring role in The Young Riders
and co-starred on Harry O in that series' second and final season. Zerbe is also famous for having played in over a dozen roles in which his character exploded.
He is the former artistic director of Reflections, A New Plays Festival at the Geva Theatre in Rochester, New York
, which is currently touring the United States in Behind the Broken Words, a performance of contemporary poetry, comedy and dramatic works with fellow actor Roscoe Lee Browne
. Zerbe also continues to perform in a project, Prelude to Lime Creek, with poet and lyricist Joe Henry.
In 1976, Zerbe won an Emmy Award
for Outstanding Continuing Performance By a Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Lieutenant K.C. Trench in the private detective series Harry O.
In 1981 he played eldest brother Ben in a Broadway revival of The Little Foxes
, which starred Elizabeth Taylor
as Regina Giddens.
on October 7, 1962.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
stage, film and Emmy-winning television actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
. Notable film roles include the post-apocalyptic cult leader Matthias in The Omega Man
The Omega Man
The Omega Man is a 1971 American science fiction film directed by Boris Sagal and starring Charlton Heston. It is based on the novel I Am Legend by American writer Richard Matheson...
, a 1971 film adaptation of Richard Matheson
Richard Matheson
Richard Burton Matheson is an American author and screenwriter, primarily in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres. He is perhaps best known as the author of What Dreams May Come, Bid Time Return, A Stir of Echoes, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and I Am Legend, all of which have been...
's 1954 novel, I Am Legend; Milton Krest in the 1989 James Bond
James Bond (film series)
The James Bond film series is a British series of motion pictures based on the fictional character of MI6 agent James Bond , who originally appeared in a series of books by Ian Fleming. Earlier films were based on Fleming's novels and short stories, followed later by films with original storylines...
film Licence to Kill
Licence to Kill
Licence to Kill, released in 1989, is the sixteenth entry in the Eon Productions James Bond series and the first one not to use the title of an Ian Fleming novel. It marks Timothy Dalton's second and final performance in his brief tenure in the lead role of James Bond...
; and Rosie in The Turning Point
The Turning Point (1977 film)
The Turning Point is a 1977 film written by Arthur Laurents and directed by Herbert Ross. In starring roles were Shirley MacLaine, Anne Bancroft, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Leslie Browne, Tom Skerritt, Martha Scott, Anthony Zerbe, Marshall Thompson and James Mitchell.-Plot:This film tells the story of...
.
Life and career
Zerbe was born in Long Beach, CaliforniaLong Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
, the son of Catherine (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....
Scurlock; Pomona College
Pomona College
Pomona College is a private, residential, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. Founded in 1887 in Pomona, California by a group of Congregationalists, the college moved to Claremont in 1889 to the site of a hotel, retaining its name. The school enrolls 1,548 students.The founding member...
'30) and Arthur Lee Van Zerbe (Pomona College
Pomona College
Pomona College is a private, residential, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. Founded in 1887 in Pomona, California by a group of Congregationalists, the college moved to Claremont in 1889 to the site of a hotel, retaining its name. The school enrolls 1,548 students.The founding member...
'29). Zerbe attended Pomona College
Pomona College
Pomona College is a private, residential, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. Founded in 1887 in Pomona, California by a group of Congregationalists, the college moved to Claremont in 1889 to the site of a hotel, retaining its name. The school enrolls 1,548 students.The founding member...
, Claremont, CA, graduating in 1958, and served 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...
from 1959 to 1961. Zerbe studied at the Stella Adler
Stella Adler
Stella Adler was an American actress and an acclaimed acting teacher, who founded the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York City and the The Stella Adler Academy of Acting in Los Angeles with long-time protege Joanne Linville, who continues to teach and furthers Adler's legacy...
Studio in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
In television he has played numerous guest roles in TV series including Naked City
Naked City (TV series)
Naked City is a police drama series which aired from 1958 to 1963 on the ABC television network. It was inspired by the 1948 motion picture of the same name, and mimics its dramatic "semi-documentary" format....
, The Virginian
The Virginian (TV series)
The Virginian is an American Western television series starring James Drury and Doug McClure, which aired on NBC from 1962 to 1971 for a total of 249 episodes. Filmed in color, The Virginian became television's first 90-minute western series...
, The Big Valley
The Big Valley
The Big Valley is an American television Western which ran on ABC from September 15, 1965, to May 19, 1969, which starred Barbara Stanwyck, as a California widowed mother. It was created by A.I. Bezzerides and Louis F. Edelman...
, Route 66
Route 66 (TV series)
Route 66 is an American TV series in which two young men traveled across America. The show ran weekly on CBS from 1960 to 1964. It starred Martin Milner as Tod Stiles and, for two and a half seasons, George Maharis as Buz Murdock. Maharis was ill for much of the third season, during which time Tod...
, The Wild Wild West
The Wild Wild West
The Wild Wild West is an American television series that ran on CBS for four seasons from September 17, 1965 to April 4, 1969....
, Twelve O'Clock High
Twelve O'Clock High (TV series)
Twelve O'Clock High or 12 O'Clock High is an American drama series set in World War II. This TV series originally broadcasted on ABC-TV for two-and-one-half TV seasons from September 18, 1964, through January 13, 1967; was based on the motion picture Twelve O'Clock High...
, 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...
, Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...
, 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....
, 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,...
, Mannix
Mannix
Mannix is an American television detective series that ran from 1967 through 1975 on CBS. Created by Richard Levinson and William Link and developed by executive producer Bruce Geller, the title character, Joe Mannix, is a private investigator. He is played by Mike Connors...
, It Takes a Thief, The Chisholms
The Chisholms
The Chisholms is a CBS western miniseries starring Robert Preston, which aired thirteen episodes from March 29, 1979, to April 19, 1979, and from January 19, 1980, to March 15, 1980. The 1979 episodes showed the family moving from Virginia to Wyoming...
, Ironside
Ironside (TV series)
Ironside is a Universal television series which ran on NBC from September 14, 1967 to January 16, 1975. The show starred Raymond Burr as the wheelchair-using Chief of Detectives, Robert T. Ironside. The character's debut was in a TV-movie on March 28, 1967. The original title of the show in the...
, Cannon
Cannon (TV series)
Cannon is a CBS detective television series produced by Quinn Martin which aired from March 26, 1971 to March 3, 1976.The primary protagonist was the title character, Frank Cannon, played by William Conrad....
, Columbo, 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:...
, The Streets of San Francisco
The Streets of San Francisco
The Streets of San Francisco is a 1970s television police drama filmed on location in San Francisco, California, and produced by Quinn Martin Productions, with the first season produced in association with Warner Bros...
, 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...
, The Equalizer
The Equalizer
The Equalizer is an American television series that ran for four seasons, initially on CBS, between 1985 and 1989. It starred Edward Woodward as an aging New York vigilante with a mysterious past...
, 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...
, Little House on the Prairie
Little House on the Prairie (TV series)
Little House on the Prairie is an American Western drama television series, starring Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert, about a family living on a farm in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, in the 1870s and 1880s. The show was an adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder's best-selling series of Little House books...
, Dynasty
Dynasty (TV series)
Dynasty is an American prime time television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 12, 1981 to May 11, 1989. It was created by Richard & Esther Shapiro and produced by Aaron Spelling, and revolved around the Carringtons, a wealthy oil family living in Denver, Colorado...
, Highway to Heaven
Highway to Heaven
Highway to Heaven is an American television drama series which ran on NBC from 1984 to 1989.- Season 1 :- Season 2 :- Season 3 :- Season 4 :- Season 5 :...
, Murder, She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote is an American television mystery series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher. The series aired for 12 seasons from 1984 to 1996 on the CBS network, with 264 episodes transmitted. It was followed by four TV films and a spin-off series,...
and Frasier
Frasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
. He held a starring role in The Young Riders
The Young Riders
The Young Riders is an American Western television series created by Ed Spielman that presents a fictionalized account of a group of young Pony Express riders based at the Sweetwater Station in the Nebraska Territory during the years leading up to the American Civil War...
and co-starred on Harry O in that series' second and final season. Zerbe is also famous for having played in over a dozen roles in which his character exploded.
He is the former artistic director of Reflections, A New Plays Festival at the Geva Theatre in Rochester, New York
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
, which is currently touring the United States in Behind the Broken Words, a performance of contemporary poetry, comedy and dramatic works with fellow actor Roscoe Lee Browne
Roscoe Lee Browne
Roscoe Lee Browne was an American actor and director, known for his rich voice and dignified bearing.-Biography:Browne was the fourth son of a Baptist minister, Sylvanus S. Browne, and his wife Lovie...
. Zerbe also continues to perform in a project, Prelude to Lime Creek, with poet and lyricist Joe Henry.
In 1976, Zerbe won an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
for Outstanding Continuing Performance By a Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Lieutenant K.C. Trench in the private detective series Harry O.
In 1981 he played eldest brother Ben in a Broadway revival of The Little Foxes
The Little Foxes
The Little Foxes is a 1939 play by Lillian Hellman. Its title comes from Chapter 2, Verse 15 in the Song of Solomon in the King James version of the Bible, which reads, "Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes." Set in a small town in Alabama in...
, which starred Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...
as Regina Giddens.
Personal life
He married actress Arnette Jens, sister of actress Salome JensSalome Jens
Salome Jens is an American stage, film and television actress. She is perhaps best-known for portraying the Female Changeling on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.-Life and career:...
on October 7, 1962.
Filmography
- Will PennyWill PennyWill Penny is a 1968 western film directed by Tom Gries starring Charlton Heston and Donald Pleasence. It was based upon an episode of the 1960 Sam Peckinpah television series The Westerner called "Line Camp," which was also written and directed by Tom Gries...
(1967) - Cool Hand LukeCool Hand LukeCool Hand Luke is a 1967 American prison drama film directed by Stuart Rosenberg and starring Paul Newman. The screenplay was adapted by Donn Pearce and Frank Pierson from Pearce's 1965 novel of the same name. The film features George Kennedy, Strother Martin, J.D...
(1967) - Mission: ImpossibleMission: ImpossibleMission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...
: Live Bait (1969) - They Call Me Mister Tibbs!They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!They Call Me MISTER Tibbs! is a 1970 film; a sequel to In the Heat of the Night . Sidney Poitier reprised his role of police detective Virgil Tibbs, though in this sequel, Tibbs is working for the San Francisco Police rather than the Philadelphia Police or the Pasadena Police .-Plot:The plot...
(1970) - The Liberation of L.B. JonesThe Liberation of L.B. JonesThe Liberation of L.B. Jones is a 1970 American drama film directed by William Wyler, his final project in a career that spanned 45 years.The screenplay by Jesse Hill Ford and Stirling Silliphant is based on Ford's 1965 novel The Liberation of Lord Byron Jones. The novel, in turn, was based on...
(1970) - The Molly MaguiresThe Molly Maguires (film)The Molly Maguires is a 1970 American film based on a novel by Arthur H. Lewis that was directed by Martin Ritt. It stars Richard Harris and Sean Connery....
(1970) - The Omega ManThe Omega ManThe Omega Man is a 1971 American science fiction film directed by Boris Sagal and starring Charlton Heston. It is based on the novel I Am Legend by American writer Richard Matheson...
(1971) - The Priest Killer (1971)
- The Life and Times of Judge Roy BeanThe Life and Times of Judge Roy BeanThe Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean is a 1972 western film written by John Milius, directed by John Huston, and starring Paul Newman...
(1972) - Snatched (1972)
- The Strange Vengeance of Rosalie (1972)
- The Hound of the Baskervilles (1972)
- The Laughing PolicemanThe Laughing Policeman (film)The Laughing Policeman is an American police procedural film loosely based on the novel The Laughing Policeman by Sjöwall and Wahlöö. The setting of the story is transplanted from Stockholm to San Francisco...
(1973) - PapillonPapillon (film)Papillon is a 1973 film based on the best-selling novel by the French convict Henri Charrière.This motion picture was directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, starring Steve McQueen as Henri Charrière , and Dustin Hoffman as Louis Dega...
(1973) - She Lives (1973)
- Carola (1973)
- The Parallax ViewThe Parallax ViewThe Parallax View is a 1974 American thriller film directed by Alan J. Pakula and starring Warren Beatty, Paula Prentiss, Hume Cronyn and William Daniels. The film was adapted by David Giler, Lorenzo Semple Jr and an uncredited Robert Towne from the 1970 novel by Loren Singer...
(1974) - The Healers (1974)
- The Animal Within (1974)
- Rooster Cogburn (1975)
- Farewell, My LovelyFarewell, My Lovely (1975 film)Farewell, My Lovely is a neo-noir film directed by Dick Richards and featuring Robert Mitchum and Charlotte Rampling. The picture is based on the novel Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler.-Plot:...
(1975) - Secret of the Pond (1975)
- The Turning PointThe Turning Point (1977 film)The Turning Point is a 1977 film written by Arthur Laurents and directed by Herbert Ross. In starring roles were Shirley MacLaine, Anne Bancroft, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Leslie Browne, Tom Skerritt, Martha Scott, Anthony Zerbe, Marshall Thompson and James Mitchell.-Plot:This film tells the story of...
(1977) - In the Glitter Palace (1977)
- Child of Glass (1978)
- Who'll Stop the Rain? (1978)
- KISS Meets the Phantom of the ParkKISS Meets the Phantom of the ParkKiss Meets the Phantom of the Park is a 1978 television film, starring American hard rock band Kiss...
(1978) - CentennialCentennial (miniseries)Centennial is a 12-episode American television miniseriesthat aired on NBC from October 1978 to February 1979. It was based on the novel of the same name by James A. Michener. The miniseries was produced by John Wilder....
(1978) - How the West Was WonHow the West Was Won (TV series)How the West Was Won is an American western television series that featured an all star cast that included: James Arness, Eva Marie Saint, Fionnula Flanagan, Bruce Boxleitner, G. W. Bailey, Trisha Noble, William Shatner, Jack Elam, Woody Strode, Anthony Zerbe, Richard Kiley, Lloyd Bridges,...
(1978-1979) - Attica (1980)
- The First Deadly Sin (1980)
- The Seduction of Miss Leona (1980)
- A Question of Honor (1981)
- Rascals and Robbers: The Secret Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn (1982)
- Soggy Bottom USA (1983)
- The Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1983)
- The Dead ZoneThe Dead Zone (film)The Dead Zone is a 1983 horror-thriller film based on the Stephen King novel of the same name. Directed by David Cronenberg, the film stars Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, and Tom Skerritt...
(1983) - Off Beat (1986)
- Opposing Force (1986)
- One Police Plaza (1986)
- Dream West (1986)
- North and South, Book IINorth and South (TV miniseries)North and South is the title of three American television miniseries broadcast on the ABC network in 1985, 1986, and 1994. Set before, during, and immediately after the American Civil War, they are based on the 1980s trilogy of novels North and South by John Jakes. The 1985 first installment, North...
(1986) - Baja Oklahoma (1987)
- Steel DawnSteel DawnSteel Dawn is a 1987 American post-apocalyptic feature film, with elements of western science fiction.-Plot:An enigmatic swordsman named Nomad , wanders through the remains of a post-World War III world...
(1987) - The EqualizerThe EqualizerThe Equalizer is an American television series that ran for four seasons, initially on CBS, between 1985 and 1989. It starred Edward Woodward as an aging New York vigilante with a mysterious past...
: Memories of Manon (1987) - P.I. Private Investigations (1987)
- Independence (1987)
- Onassis (1988)
- Listen to Me (1989)
- See No Evil, Hear No EvilSee No Evil, Hear No EvilSee No Evil, Hear No Evil is a 1989 American comedy film directed by Arthur Hiller and produced by Marvin Worth for TriStar Pictures. It stars Richard Pryor as a blind man and Gene Wilder as a deaf man who work together to thwart a band of murderous thieves.-Plot summary:A blind man named Wally...
(1989) - ColumboColumboColumbo is an American crime fiction television film series, which starred Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo, a homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. It was created by William Link and Richard Levinson. The show popularized the inverted detective story format...
: Columbo Goes to the Guillotine (1989) - Licence to KillLicence to KillLicence to Kill, released in 1989, is the sixteenth entry in the Eon Productions James Bond series and the first one not to use the title of an Ian Fleming novel. It marks Timothy Dalton's second and final performance in his brief tenure in the lead role of James Bond...
(1989) - The Young RidersThe Young RidersThe Young Riders is an American Western television series created by Ed Spielman that presents a fictionalized account of a group of young Pony Express riders based at the Sweetwater Station in the Nebraska Territory during the years leading up to the American Civil War...
(1989–1992) - To Save a Child (1991)
- Murder, She WroteMurder, She WroteMurder, She Wrote is an American television mystery series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher. The series aired for 12 seasons from 1984 to 1996 on the CBS network, with 264 episodes transmitted. It was followed by four TV films and a spin-off series,...
: Murder of the Month Club (1994) - AsteroidAsteroid (film)Asteroid is a 1997 NBC TV movie about the United States government trying to stop an asteroid colliding with the Earth. It stars Michael Biehn. The movie won the 1997 Emmy Award in category Outstanding Special Visual Effects.-Plot:...
(1997) - Touch (1997)
- Star Trek: InsurrectionStar Trek: InsurrectionStar Trek: Insurrection is a 1998 American science fiction film directed by Jonathan Frakes, written by Michael Piller , and with music composed by Jerry Goldsmith. It is the ninth film in the Star Trek franchise, and the third to feature the cast from the television series Star Trek: The Next...
(1998) - True CrimeTrue Crime (1999 film)True Crime is a 1999 American mystery drama film directed by Clint Eastwood, and based on Andrew Klavan's 1997 novel of the same name. Eastwood also stars in the film as a journalist covering the execution of a death row inmate, only to discover that the convict may actually be innocent.-Plot:Steve...
(1999) - The Matrix ReloadedThe Matrix ReloadedThe Matrix Reloaded is a 2003 American science fiction film and the second installment in The Matrix trilogy, written and directed by the Wachowskis. It premiered on May 7, 2003, in Westwood, Los Angeles, California, and went on general release by Warner Bros. in North American theaters on May 15,...
(2003) - The Matrix RevolutionsThe Matrix RevolutionsThe Matrix Revolutions is a 2003 American science fiction film and the third installment of The Matrix trilogy. The film was released six months following The Matrix Reloaded. The film was written and directed by the Wachowski brothers and released simultaneously in sixty countries on November 5,...
(2003) - Veritas, Prince of Truth (2007)