George Dzundza
Encyclopedia
George Dzundza is an American
television and film actor
.
, Germany
, to a Ukrainian
father and Polish
mother who 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. Before emigrating to the United States
in 1956, the family lived in Amsterdam
for some years. Dzundza attended St. John's University, studying speech and theatre arts. He is a naturalized U.S. citizen.
. His other major film roles include The Deer Hunter
, White Hunter Black Heart
, Basic Instinct
, Crimson Tide
, and Dangerous Minds
. He played the part of Max Greevey on Law & Order
for one season before leaving the show.
His other, lesser known acting roles include an appearance on The Waltons
(1975), the Archie Bunker
-like father in the short-lived Christina Applegate
sitcom Jesse
, and the voice of supervillain
Ventriloquist
in Batman: The Animated Series
and Perry White
in Superman: The Animated Series
, as well as numerous minor roles within both shows. His Broadway theatre
credits include Terrence McNally
's The Ritz
.
Ironically in light of his family's real-life experience as refugees from Nazi Germany
, he portrayed American Nazi
leader Frank Collin
in the 1981 made-for-television movie Skokie
.
In 2005, he played Anubis (aka "Jim") in the Stargate: SG-1 Season 8 episode "Threads
".
More recently, Dzundza portrayed George O'Malley's father on Grey's Anatomy
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television and film 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...
.
Personal life
Dzundza was born in RosenheimRosenheim
Rosenheim is a town in Bavaria at the confluence of the rivers Inn and Mangfall. It is seat of administration of the district of Rosenheim, but is not a part of it.-Geography:...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, to a Ukrainian
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
father and Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
mother who 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. Before emigrating to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1956, the family lived in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
for some years. Dzundza attended St. John's University, studying speech and theatre arts. He is a naturalized U.S. citizen.
Career
Dzundza played Commander Daskal in The BeastThe Beast of War
The Beast is a 1988 American war film directed by Kevin Reynolds and based on a William Mastrosimone play Nanawatai. The plot concerns a Soviet T-55 tank lost during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan...
. His other major film roles include The Deer Hunter
The Deer Hunter
The Deer Hunter is a 1978 drama film co-written and directed by Michael Cimino about a trio of Russian American steel worker friends and their infantry service in the Vietnam War. The film stars Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, Meryl Streep, John Savage, John Cazale, and George Dzundza...
, White Hunter Black Heart
White Hunter Black Heart
White Hunter Black Heart is a 1990 American film, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood as John Wilson, based on the book by Peter Viertel. Viertel also co-wrote the script with James Bridges and Burt Kennedy. The film was based on several Golden Age of Hollywood movie producers...
, Basic Instinct
Basic Instinct
Basic Instinct is a 1992 erotic thriller directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Joe Eszterhas, and starring Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone....
, Crimson Tide
Crimson Tide (film)
The film has uncredited additional writing by Quentin Tarantino, much of it being the pop-culture reference-laden dialogue.The U.S. Navy objected to many of the elements in the script — particularly the aspect of mutiny on board a U.S. naval vessel — and as such, the film was produced...
, and Dangerous Minds
Dangerous Minds
Dangerous Minds is an American drama film based on the autobiography My Posse Don't Do Homework by former U.S. Marine LouAnne Johnson, who took up a teaching position at Carlmont High School in Belmont, California, where most of her students were African-American and Hispanic teenagers from East...
. He played the part of Max Greevey on Law & Order
Law & Order
Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...
for one season before leaving the show.
His other, lesser known acting roles include an appearance on The Waltons
The Waltons
The Waltons is an American television series created by Earl Hamner, Jr., based on his book Spencer's Mountain, and a 1963 film of the same name. The show centered on a family growing up in a rural Virginia community during the Great Depression and World War II. The series pilot was a television...
(1975), the Archie Bunker
Archie Bunker
Archibald "Archie" Bunker is a fictional New Yorker in the 1970s top-rated American television sitcom All in the Family and its spin-off Archie Bunker's Place, played to acclaim by Carroll O'Connor. Bunker is a veteran of World War II, reactionary, bigoted, conservative, blue-collar worker, and...
-like father in the short-lived Christina Applegate
Christina Applegate
Christina Applegate is an American actress. She is best known for playing Kelly Bundy on the Fox sitcom Married... with Children. Since then, she has established a film and television career, winning a Primetime Emmy and earning Tony and Golden Globe nominations...
sitcom Jesse
Jesse (TV series)
Jesse is an American sitcom which ran on NBC from September 1998 to May 2000. The show was created by Ira Ungerleider. It aired on Trouble in the UK.-Synopsis:...
, and the voice of supervillain
Supervillain
A supervillain or supervillainess is a variant of the villain character type, commonly found in comic books, action movies and science fiction in various media.They are sometimes used as foils to superheroes and other fictional heroes...
Ventriloquist
Ventriloquist (comics)
The Ventriloquist is a fictional character, a supervillain and enemy of Batman in the . The Ventriloquist first appeared in Detective Comics #583 and was created by Alan Grant, John Wagner and Norm Breyfogle...
in Batman: The Animated Series
Batman: The Animated Series
Batman: The Animated Series is an American animated series based on the DC Comics character Batman. The series featured an ensemble cast of many voice-actors including Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Arleen Sorkin, and Loren Lester. The series won four Emmy Awards and was nominated...
and Perry White
Perry White
Perry White is a fictional character who appears in the Superman comics. White is the Editor-in-Chief of the Metropolis newspaper the Daily Planet.White maintains very high ethical and journalistic standards...
in Superman: The Animated Series
Superman: The Animated Series
Superman: The Animated Series is an American animated television series starring DC Comics' flagship character, Superman. The series was produced by Warner Bros. Animation and aired on The WB from September 6, 1996 to February 12, 2000. Warner Bros...
, as well as numerous minor roles within both shows. His Broadway theatre
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...
credits include Terrence McNally
Terrence McNally
Terrence McNally is an American playwright who has received four Tony Awards, an Emmy, two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Rockefeller Grant, the Lucille Lortel Award, the Hull-Warriner Award, and a citation from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has been a member of the Council of the...
's The Ritz
The Ritz (play)
The Ritz is a play by Terrence McNally. Actress Rita Moreno won a Tony Award for her performance as Googie Gomez in the 1975 Broadway production, which she and many others of the original cast reprised in a 1976 film version directed by Richard Lester....
.
Ironically in light of his family's real-life experience as refugees from Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, he portrayed American Nazi
American Nazi Party
The American Nazi Party was an American political party founded by discharged U.S. Navy Commander George Lincoln Rockwell. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, Rockwell initially called it the World Union of Free Enterprise National Socialists , but later renamed it the American Nazi Party in...
leader Frank Collin
Frank Collin
Francis Joseph "Frank" Collin formerly served as the leader of the National Socialist Party of America, whose plan to march in the predominantly Jewish suburb of Skokie, Illinois was the centerpiece of a major First Amendment decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, National Socialist Party of America...
in the 1981 made-for-television movie Skokie
Skokie (film)
Skokie is a 1981 television movie directed by Herbert Wise, based on the real life NSPA Controversy of Skokie, Illinois, which involved the National Socialist Party of America.The film premiered in the U.S. on November 17, 1981...
.
In 2005, he played Anubis (aka "Jim") in the Stargate: SG-1 Season 8 episode "Threads
Threads (Stargate SG-1)
"Threads" is an episode from Season 8 of the science fiction television series Stargate SG-1. Amanda Tapping won a Leo Award in the category "Dramatic Series: Best Lead Performance - Female" and Michael Shanks was nominated for a Leo Award in the category "Dramatic Series: Best Lead Performance -...
".
More recently, Dzundza portrayed George O'Malley's father on Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...
.
Filmography
- The WaltonsThe WaltonsThe Waltons is an American television series created by Earl Hamner, Jr., based on his book Spencer's Mountain, and a 1963 film of the same name. The show centered on a family growing up in a rural Virginia community during the Great Depression and World War II. The series pilot was a television...
, season 4, The Abdication, A.J. Covington (1975) - The Deer HunterThe Deer HunterThe Deer Hunter is a 1978 drama film co-written and directed by Michael Cimino about a trio of Russian American steel worker friends and their infantry service in the Vietnam War. The film stars Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, Meryl Streep, John Savage, John Cazale, and George Dzundza...
(1978) - Salem's Lot (1979)
- A Long Way HomeA Long Way HomeA Long Way Home is the tenth album of new recordings by Dwight Yoakam. It reached No. 11 on the Billboard Country Album, with two of its tracks charting on the Hot Country Singles chart. "Things Change" reached No. 17, while "These Arms" peaked at No. 57...
(1981) - Honky Tonk FreewayHonky Tonk FreewayHonky Tonk Freeway is a UK comedy film directed by John Schlesinger. It was released in August 1981 by Universal Studios. The film, conceived and co-produced by Don Boyd, was one of the most expensive box office flops in history, losing its British backers Thorn-EMI an estimated $11,000,000 and...
(1981) - SkokieSkokie (film)Skokie is a 1981 television movie directed by Herbert Wise, based on the real life NSPA Controversy of Skokie, Illinois, which involved the National Socialist Party of America.The film premiered in the U.S. on November 17, 1981...
(1981) - StreamersStreamers (film)Streamers is a 1983 film adapted by David Rabe from his play of the same title. The film was directed by Robert Altman and produced by Robert Michael Geisler and John Roberdeau...
(1983) - The Lost Honor of Kathryn Beck (1984)
- Best DefenseBest DefenseBest Defense is a comedy film starring Dudley Moore and Eddie Murphy. It was released in 1984 by Paramount Pictures.-Plot:The movie takes place as two parallel plots separated by several years: Moore is an engineer developing a targeting system on a tank for the United States Army and Murphy is an...
(1984) - The Execution of Raymond Graham (1985)
- Brotherly Love (1985)
- No MercyNo Mercy (film)No Mercy is a 1986 film starring Richard Gere and Kim Basinger about a cop who accepts an offer to kill a Cajun gangster.-Plot:Eddie Jilette is a Chicago cop on the vengeance trail as he follows his partner's killers to New Orleans to settle his own personal score...
(1986) - No Way OutNo Way Out (1987 film)No Way Out is a 1987 thriller film about a U.S. Naval officer investigating a Washington, D.C. murder. It stars Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman and Sean Young...
(1987) - Something Is Out ThereSomething is Out ThereSomething Is Out There is the title of a 1988 American science fiction television miniseries that aired on NBC, and a short-lived weekly series that followed in the fall of 1988....
(1988) - The BeastThe Beast of WarThe Beast is a 1988 American war film directed by Kevin Reynolds and based on a William Mastrosimone play Nanawatai. The plot concerns a Soviet T-55 tank lost during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan...
(1988) - Cross of FireCross of FireCross of Fire was an American 1989 television miniseries based on the horrific rape and murder of Madge Oberholtzer by D. C. Stephenson, a highly successful leader of the Indiana branch of Ku Klux Klan. It starred John Heard as Stephenson and Mel Harris as Oberholtzer. Lloyd Bridges was also in...
(1989) - White Hunter Black HeartWhite Hunter Black HeartWhite Hunter Black Heart is a 1990 American film, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood as John Wilson, based on the book by Peter Viertel. Viertel also co-wrote the script with James Bridges and Burt Kennedy. The film was based on several Golden Age of Hollywood movie producers...
(1990) - Law & OrderLaw & OrderLaw & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...
(1990) TV Series - ImpulseImpulse (1990 film)Impulse is a 1990 thriller film about a female police officer who works undercover as a prostitute on the streets of Los Angeles. The film was directed by Sondra Locke, and stars Theresa Russell, Jeff Fahey, and George Dzundza....
(1990) - The Butcher's WifeThe Butcher's WifeThe Butcher's Wife is a 1991 romantic comedy film, in which a clairvoyant woman thinks that she's met her future husband , who she has seen in her dreams and is a butcher in New York. They marry and move to the city, where her powers tend to influence everyone she meets while working in the shop...
(1991) - Basic InstinctBasic InstinctBasic Instinct is a 1992 erotic thriller directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Joe Eszterhas, and starring Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone....
(1992) - Batman: The Animated SeriesBatman: The Animated SeriesBatman: The Animated Series is an American animated series based on the DC Comics character Batman. The series featured an ensemble cast of many voice-actors including Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Arleen Sorkin, and Loren Lester. The series won four Emmy Awards and was nominated...
(1992) - Dangerous MindsDangerous MindsDangerous Minds is an American drama film based on the autobiography My Posse Don't Do Homework by former U.S. Marine LouAnne Johnson, who took up a teaching position at Carlmont High School in Belmont, California, where most of her students were African-American and Hispanic teenagers from East...
(1995) - Crimson TideCrimson Tide (film)The film has uncredited additional writing by Quentin Tarantino, much of it being the pop-culture reference-laden dialogue.The U.S. Navy objected to many of the elements in the script — particularly the aspect of mutiny on board a U.S. naval vessel — and as such, the film was produced...
(1995) - Superman: The Animated SeriesSuperman: The Animated SeriesSuperman: The Animated Series is an American animated television series starring DC Comics' flagship character, Superman. The series was produced by Warner Bros. Animation and aired on The WB from September 6, 1996 to February 12, 2000. Warner Bros...
(1996) - The New Batman AdventuresThe New Batman AdventuresThe New Batman Adventures is the successor to Batman: The Animated Series produced by Warner Bros. Animation. Although bearing different character designs and animation styles, both shows take place in the same continuity, with TNBA set two years after BTAS. The series aired on The WB from...
(1997) - Trading Favors (1997)
- That Darn Cat (1997)
- The Limbic Region (1997)
- Species IISpecies IISpecies II is a 1998 sequel to the 1995 film Species. It stars Natasha Henstridge, Michael Madsen and Marg Helgenberger, all of whom reprise their roles from the first film. It also features actor James Cromwell as "Senator Judson Ross"...
(1998) - Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZeroBatman & Mr. Freeze: SubZeroBatman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero is a 1998 direct-to-video animated feature film based on Batman: The Animated Series and is a sequel to the episode Deep Freeze. It won the Annie Award for Best Home Video Animation. It was produced by Warner Bros...
- JesseJesse (TV series)Jesse is an American sitcom which ran on NBC from September 1998 to May 2000. The show was created by Ira Ungerleider. It aired on Trouble in the UK.-Synopsis:...
(1998) TV Series - InstinctInstinct (film)Instinct is a 1999 film starring Anthony Hopkins, Cuba Gooding, Jr., George Dzundza, Donald Sutherland, Kim Cattrall and Maura Tierney. It was very loosely inspired by Ishmael, a novel by Daniel Quinn. In the United States, the film had the working title Ishmael...
(1999) - Above SuspicionAbove SuspicionAbove Suspicion is a 1995 suspense thriller written by William H. Macy, who also has a small role in the film. The film stars Christopher Reeve as a paralyzed police officer who plots to murder his unfaithful wife and her lover...
(2000) - City by the SeaCity by the SeaCity by the Sea is a 2002 film starring Robert De Niro, James Franco, Eliza Dushku, Frances McDormand and William Forsythe. It deals with a family problems of wayward youth and set against a man trying to break free of his past. It was directed by Michael Caton-Jones...
(2002) - Hack (2002) TV Series
- National Lampoon's Adam & EveNational Lampoon's Adam & EveNational Lampoon's Adam & Eve is a 2005 comedy motion picture, released as part of the ongoing series of National Lampoon films. The film is directed by Jeff Kanew and stars Cameron Douglas, Emmanuelle Chriqui, George Dzundza and others. The film is also known as simply Adam and Eve.- Plot :Adam is...
(2005) - Superman: Brainiac AttacksSuperman: Brainiac AttacksSuperman: Brainiac Attacks is a 2006 direct-to-video animated film with production designs based on Superman: The Animated Series from Warner Bros. Animation, released on June 20, 2006. It also aired on Toon Disney on June 16, 2008, being the first Superman film to air on Toon Disney. The film...
(2006) - Grey's AnatomyGrey's AnatomyGrey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...
(2006)