Rick Lenz
Encyclopedia
Rick Lenz is an American actor best known for repeating his Broadway role as Igor Sullivan in the 1969 film Cactus Flower
.
. That show closed on opening night, but it was also Lenz’s big break; stage producer David Merrick
was in the audience and soon afterward cast him in the Broadway hit, Cactus Flower as understudy to the juvenile lead, Igor Sullivan. Lenz later took over the role and played it for a year. Film producer Mike Frankovich
and Walter Matthau
saw him in the part and cast him as Igor in the movie version of Cactus Flower
(1969), in which he co-starred opposite Goldie Hawn
as well as Matthau and Ingrid Bergman
.
In the 1970s, Rick Lenz appeared in several Hollywood movies, including the Disney film, Scandalous John
; Where Does It Hurt?
, opposite Peter Sellers
; Little Dragons, directed by Curtis Hanson
; John Wayne’s
last movie, The Shootist
; Jonathan Demme’s
Melvin and Howard
and How Do I Love Thee?, based on the novel by Peter DeVries and starring Jackie Gleason
and Maureen O’Hara.
; Hec Ramsey
(NBC Mystery Movie opposite Richard Boone
); Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law
; The Bionic Woman
and The Six Million Dollar Man
; Murder, She Wrote
; Simon & Simon
and Falcon Crest
. Made for television movies included Reunion, Spooner (Disney), Elvis and the Beauty Queen
, Malice In Wonderland
with Elizabeth Taylor
and Jane Alexander
, Dorothy Parker’s
Ladies Of The Corridor and the Hallmark Hall Of Fame remake of Hitchcock’s Shadow Of a Doubt.
) in New York City and was later directed for PBS by Michael Kahn
. In 1981 Lenz co-wrote the pilot of the ABC television series Aloha Paradise, as well writing several of the episodes.
Rick Lenz now resides in Los Angeles with his spouse, Linda. He has three children, Scott, Charles and Abigail.
Cactus Flower (film)
Cactus Flower is a 1969 comedic film directed by Gene Saks and starring Walter Matthau, Ingrid Bergman, and Goldie Hawn, who won an Oscar for her performance. The screenplay was adapted by I. A. L. Diamond from a Broadway stage play written by Abe Burrows, which in turn was based upon the French...
.
Career
Hal Erickson of AllMovie Guide says, “tall expressive leading man Rick Lenz has steadfastly avoided pigeonholing as a 'type,' playing gunslingers, victims, villains, patient husbands, insensitive fools, intellectuals, and even a wimpy murder-mystery fanatic in the Hallmark remake of Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt.”Early Career
Educated at the University of Michigan and New York University, Rick Lenz directed the Jackson, Michigan Civic Theater for two years before going to New York to seek work as an actor. In 1965, at the age of 25, he made his Broadway debut in Mating Dance, starring Van JohnsonVan Johnson
Van Johnson was an American film and television actor and dancer who was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios during and after World War II....
. That show closed on opening night, but it was also Lenz’s big break; stage producer David Merrick
David Merrick
David Merrick was a prolific Tony Award-winning American theatrical producer.-Life and career:Born David Lee Margulois to Jewish parents in St. Louis, Missouri, Merrick graduated from Washington University, then studied law at the Jesuit-run Saint Louis University School of Law...
was in the audience and soon afterward cast him in the Broadway hit, Cactus Flower as understudy to the juvenile lead, Igor Sullivan. Lenz later took over the role and played it for a year. Film producer Mike Frankovich
Mike Frankovich
Mitchell John “M.J.” Frankovich was an American film producerFrankovich was born in Bisbee, Arizona. He played football for UCLA and was inducted into UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame in 1986...
and Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau was an American actor best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and his frequent collaborations with Odd Couple star Jack Lemmon, as well as his role as Coach Buttermaker in the 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears...
saw him in the part and cast him as Igor in the movie version of Cactus Flower
Cactus Flower (film)
Cactus Flower is a 1969 comedic film directed by Gene Saks and starring Walter Matthau, Ingrid Bergman, and Goldie Hawn, who won an Oscar for her performance. The screenplay was adapted by I. A. L. Diamond from a Broadway stage play written by Abe Burrows, which in turn was based upon the French...
(1969), in which he co-starred opposite Goldie Hawn
Goldie Hawn
Goldie Jeanne Hawn is an American actress, film director, producer, and occasional singer. Hawn is known for her roles in Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Private Benjamin, Foul Play, Overboard, Bird on a Wire, Death Becomes Her, The First Wives Club, and Cactus Flower, for which she won the 1969...
as well as Matthau and Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films. She won three Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, and the Tony Award for Best Actress. She is ranked as the fourth greatest female star of American cinema of all time by the American Film Institute...
.
In the 1970s, Rick Lenz appeared in several Hollywood movies, including the Disney film, Scandalous John
Scandalous John
Scandalous John is a 1971 film directed by Robert Butler. It stars Brian Keith and Alfonso Arau.-Synopsis:John McCanless was once a gunslinger and has become a cranky old rancher. There is a plan to build a dam which would flood his property...
; Where Does It Hurt?
Where Does It Hurt?
Where Does it Hurt? is a 1972 American comedy film directed by Rodney Amateau, and starring Peter Sellers, Jo Ann Pflug, and Rick Lenz....
, opposite Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers
Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...
; Little Dragons, directed by Curtis Hanson
Curtis Hanson
Curtis Lee Hanson is an American film director, film producer and screenwriter. His directing work includes The Hand That Rocks the Cradle , L.A...
; John Wayne’s
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
last movie, The Shootist
The Shootist
The Shootist is a 1976 Western starring John Wayne in his final film role. It was based on the 1975 novel of the same name by Glendon Swarthout. Scott Hale and Miles Hood Swarthout wrote the screenplay...
; Jonathan Demme’s
Jonathan Demme
Robert Jonathan Demme is an American filmmaker, producer and screenwriter. Best known for directing The Silence of the Lambs, which won him the Academy Award for Best Director, he has also directed the acclaimed movies Philadelphia, Rachel Getting Married, the Talking Heads concert movie Stop...
Melvin and Howard
Melvin and Howard
Melvin and Howard is a 1980 American comedy-drama film directed by Jonathan Demme. The screenplay by Bo Goldman was inspired by real-life Utah service station owner Melvin Dummar, who was listed as the beneficiary of USD$156 million in a will allegedly handwritten by Howard Hughes that was...
and How Do I Love Thee?, based on the novel by Peter DeVries and starring Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason was an American comedian, actor and musician. He was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy style, especially by his character Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners, a situation-comedy television series. His most noted film roles were as Minnesota Fats in the drama film The...
and Maureen O’Hara.
Television
Lenz appeared in many popular television programs, including recurring or regular roles on Green AcresGreen Acres
Green Acres is an American television series starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a couple who move from New York City to a country farm...
; Hec Ramsey
Hec Ramsey
Hec Ramsey is a television Western, a production of Jack Webb's production company, Mark VII Limited, in association with Universal Studios, broadcast in the United States by NBC as part of the NBC Mystery Movie wheel show during the 1972-73 and 1973-74 seasons.-Overview:This series was...
(NBC Mystery Movie opposite Richard Boone
Richard Boone
Richard Allen Boone was an American actor who starred in over 50 films and was notable for his roles in Westerns and for starring in the TV series Have Gun – Will Travel.-Early life:...
); Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law
Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law
Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law is an American legal drama, jointly created by David Victor and former law professor Jerry McNeely, that starred actor Arthur Hill. The series was broadcast on ABC from 1971 to 1974...
; The Bionic Woman
The Bionic Woman
The Bionic Woman is an American television series starring Lindsay Wagner that aired for three seasons between 1976 and 1978 as a spin off from The Six Million Dollar Man. Wagner stars as tennis pro Jaime Sommers who is nearly killed in a skydiving accident. Sommers' life is saved by Oscar Goldman ...
and The Six Million Dollar Man
The Six Million Dollar Man
The Six Million Dollar Man is an American television series about a former astronaut with bionic implants working for the OSI...
; 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,...
; Simon & Simon
Simon & Simon
Simon & Simon is an American detective television series starring Gerald McRaney and Jameson Parker.-History:The original 1978 pilot called Pirate's Key was set in Florida...
and Falcon Crest
Falcon Crest
Falcon Crest is an American primetime television soap opera which aired on the CBS network for nine seasons, from December 4, 1981 to May 17, 1990. A total of 227 episodes were produced....
. Made for television movies included Reunion, Spooner (Disney), Elvis and the Beauty Queen
Elvis and the Beauty Queen
Elvis and the Beauty Queen is a 1981 made-for-TV film starring Don Johnson and Stephanie Zimbalist.The film focuses on the relationship between Elvis Presley and Linda Thompson, a young beauty pageant contestant who was his live-in girlfriend and traveling companion for the last four years of his...
, Malice In Wonderland
Malice In Wonderland
Malice n Wonderland was received with generally favorable reviews. The Smoking Section said "[Snoop's] one-of-a-kind flow and the knowledge of how to actually craft an enjoyable record will likely continue to serve as one of premiere blueprints in Hip-Hop." ...
with 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...
and Jane Alexander
Jane Alexander
Jane Alexander is an American actress, author, and former director of the National Endowment for the Arts. Although perhaps best known for playing the female lead in The Great White Hope on both stage and screen, Alexander has played a wide array of roles in both theater and film and has committed...
, Dorothy Parker’s
Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker was an American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist, best known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th century urban foibles....
Ladies Of The Corridor and the Hallmark Hall Of Fame remake of Hitchcock’s Shadow Of a Doubt.
Recent Years
Lenz has pursued his passion for writing and painting. His first play, The Epic of Buster Friend, was produced in 1973 at the Theatre De Lys (now the Lucille Lortel TheatreLucille Lortel Theatre
The Lucille Lortel Theatre is an off-Broadway playhouse located at 121 Christopher Street in New York City's Greenwich Village.The venue was built in 1926 as a 590-seat movie theater called the New Hudson, later known as Hudson Playhouse...
) in New York City and was later directed for PBS by Michael Kahn
Michael Kahn (theatre director)
Michael Kahn is the Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C., USA. He held the position of Richard Rodgers Director of the Drama Division of the Juilliard School from 1992 to 2006....
. In 1981 Lenz co-wrote the pilot of the ABC television series Aloha Paradise, as well writing several of the episodes.
Rick Lenz now resides in Los Angeles with his spouse, Linda. He has three children, Scott, Charles and Abigail.