Meeting veteran stage and screen actor Kevin McCarthy in a Hollywood restaurant was a thrilling experience. When I saw him entering his favorite restaurant Musso & Frank Grill, on Hollywood Boulevard, where he’d meet every Wednesday evening Karl Malden, Robert Wise, and a number of other screen veterans of his generation, it was impossible not to notice him. At 89, he still had his présence, his voice, and when he entered the restaurant, smiling, shaking hands, and saying hello to friends of his who were also there, he still impressed anyone who noticed him. He simply didn’t age.

So how wonderful can life be when you’re young at heart? Mr. McCarthy knew all about that: talking about the past, the present, and the future, he made it perfectly clear he had no plans whatsoever to retire. After a career as an actor, which spanned over six decades up until this interview in 2003, there were still some ambitions to be achieved for one of Hollywood’s most reliable character actors.

As he had always been one of Hollywood’s best, most recognizable, and probably one of the most enduring character players, appearing in a constant string of films from the early 1950s through the 1990s, he also appeared on Broadway in plays such as “Flight of the West” (1941) opposite Paul Henreid and Karl Malden, Maxwell Anderson’s “Joan of Lorraine” (1946) with Ingrid Bergman, “Advise and Consent” (1961) with Ed Begley, “Three Sisters” (1964) with Geraldine Page, “Happy Birthday Wanda June” (1971) with Marsha Mason, “Poor Murderer” (1976) with Maria Schell in her Broadway debut, “Alone Together” (1984) with screen actress Janis Paige. On the London stage, he played Biff, the son of the title character, in “Death of a Salesman” (1949-50), directed by Elia Kazan.

For the 1951 screen version of Arthur Miller’s highly acclaimed play, he was bestowed with an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor, but unfortunately, he and nearly all other actors that year were not up to “A Streetcar Named Desire,” which got three out of four acting awards—ironically Brando was the only one actor from that film nominated for an Oscar who didn’t win (Humphrey Bogart was awarded for his leading role in John Huston’s “The African Queen”). However, as Mr. McCarthy remembers fondly, ‘at the post-Oscar party, Hedy Lamarr took my hand, leaned over, and kissed me on the cheeck, saying, ‘Kevin, you had my inside award tonight!’ I knew it, life can be beautiful!

Although often associated—rightfully—with Stanley Kramer’s filmization of “Death of a Salesman” (1951), any reference book will refer to Mr. McCarthy as doctor Miles J. Bennell, the hero and the haunting fugitive from “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (1956) who, pursued by pods from outer space, dashed onto a highway and screamed, ‘They’re here! They’re here!’ “Invasion” was, is, and will always be his landmark film, though it would do him injustice not to mention or focus on his many other stage and screen highlights, as his career extends far beyond the 1956 sci-fi classic. Let’s take a moment and look back on his life and career.

After a harsh childhood—at age four, the 1918 the worldwide Spanish influenza virus proved to be fatal to both his parents Roy (38) and Tess (28), who passed away one day apart on November 6 and November 7, only a few days before the Great War came to an end on November 11. His survival instincts got him through education, as well as through the Great Depression in the 1930s. As a young and aspiring actor, Mr. McCarthy made his Broadway stage debut in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play ‘Abe Lincoln in Illinois’ (1938) opposite Raymond Massey. Living in New York for many years, he got his training at the Actors Studio, a drama school and rehearsal group for actors (founded in 1947 by Robert Lewis, Cheryl Crawford, and stage and screen director Elia Kazan) where they worked together, commented on each other’s work and tried to bring a more realistic way of acting.

Mr. McCarthy, how do you look back to those days at the Actors Studio?

The studio was composed of two different sections: one for the accomplished, established and more experienced members, handled by Robert Lewis, the other one for the young and undiscovered talent, the newcomers that were just getting into the business, with Kazan as their mentor—I had worked with both of them. Actors sort of had to audition to be granted membership therein. We had biweekly meetings on Thursday and Friday morning from 11:00 AM until 1:00 PM. Elia Kazan was a marvelous director; he created a great, dynamic atmosphere on the stage. It was extraordinary and stimulating to talk to him about your character, and he had the talent for using the stage. In other words, he knew how to move people about and take them to different levels of intensity. He had the ability to make the stage vibrate. What made him such a great director? It’s hard to tell; it’s obvious he had something that somebody else didn’t have—some of it is personality, some of it is inside, some of it is learned maybe. He had this quality in him that brought all kinds of things to pass on in films and on the stage. People often ask me what the difference is between acting on the stage and in front of a camera. On the stage, almost anything goes; you have much more freedom to act or move around, your voice and your body language can be very subtle and revealing features. As I am primarily a stage actor, it was a wise decision to study voice, and I had the good luck to have a terrific vocal teacher. However, in films, especially when you work in close-ups, most of this gets lost. The theater is broader and deeper for an actor. As far as acting is concerned, Mickey Rooney is a perfect example to refer to. We appeared together in “Drive a Crooked Road” [1954]. There was a very critical scene in that film where three hotshots are robbing a bank while he is at the wheel of the getaway car. Each one of us is waiting for the moment to escape, and we’re all doing different versions of tension; grim glances back and forth, things like that. Mickey was just sitting there. He even seemed uninvolved. But when I saw the film, he sat there like a Sphinx, just looking at the entrance of the bank, but during these moments of tension, one single finger of his tapped on the steering wheel, which illuminated the whole critical situation. And that really did it. It vibrated the suspense. Being and working with that man was a very interesting learning experience.

Ultimately, Stanley Kramer [1913-2001] brought you to California in 1950, and launched your career as a screen actor with “Death of a Salesman”?

That’s right. Cheryl Crawford, who was one of the directors of the Actors Studio, had seen me in a scene from a Tennessee Williams play called ‘You Touched Me’ with Maggie Phillips, a Canadian actress, and she said, ‘Listen, Kevin, I watched your scene this morning, I want you to go downtown to the Ethel Barrymore Theatre and see Kazan who’s down there, casting a new play [‘Death of a Salesman’ by Arthur Miller]. I think you’d be perfect to play the son.’ So I went over there, Kazan gave me a script, and he said, ‘Okay kid, you take the script, go home, study, and come back Monday to read for me.’ So I went back on Monday morning and read for him. It was a great experience, a dark theater, the Ethel Barrymore, nobody there, only one light, the work light, that’s all. I did what I had to do, and Kazan came up to the stage and said, ‘Terrific, kid! Terrific! You’re gonna make a hell of a Biff [the elder son]!’ But Arthur Miller really wanted Arthur Kennedy, who was under contract at Warner; they had worked together before on two plays. So they called Jack L. Warner for Artie [Miller] and Warner gave Kennedy his release so I didn’t get to play the part on the New York stage—which would have made an enormous difference in my career. I got a lot of that kind of sweet and sour stuff going on. I regret it, but I take pride in the fact that I don’t do drugs and don’t drink because I might supposed to be unhappy. Anyway, I did play the part of Biff on the London stage for six months, and subsequently in Stanley Kramer’s film version, probably because Arthur Kennedy already had a screen career going and was a lot more expensive than I was. I had no established fee whatsoever.

At that time, you knew most of those young and upcoming talents from the Actors Studio pretty well?

When we all still lived in New York, we used to run into each other frequently. Like Marlon Brando; I used to see him occasionally, I knew him well. Now we’ve all been here in Los Angeles for so many years, and although living only a short distance from one another, the last time I met him was more than ten years ago in a little café here on Ventura Boulevard. I was facing the entry and saw him come in. He came over to our table and said, ‘You never change, Kevin.’ You can take that any way you wish [laughs], but I always liked him and respected him, which in fact is not difficult to do: the man simply has no peer.

What about Montgomery Clift, one of the best actors of his generation?

He was a terrific actor, a most charming and intelligent person, brilliant in every way. We did a play together once. It was Anton Checkhov’s “The Seal.” We played the two leading male characters. It was so unfortunate that his life deteriorated. Sometime early in his career, he toured as the juvenile with “There Shall Be No Night,” a play by Robert Sherwood. As I got it, they went over to Mexico when they were playing here in Los Angeles, and they must have eaten some unclean food—or at least he did—and he developed this terrible indigestion, intestinal condition. He described it as chronic amoebic dysentery, there was no cure for it evidently, and he was in pain for many years. We were close friends. I knew him from about 1942 and remained very close to him for about eight good years. This great friendship we had… I got pictures of him playing with my children that Stanley Kubrick took back in 1948—Kubrick was working for Look Magazine as a photographer, and he showed up in my apartment on a pair of roller skates for an interview with him. When doing an interview, Monty never wanted it to be done on a one-on-one basis. He always said, ‘Why do I have to talk about myself?’ He always tried to arrange for someone to be with him, so the stress was taken away because of the direct focus on him. Because he was in pain very frequently, Monty would go in the drugstore, go behind the counter where the pills were, and he would charm his way with the clerks so he’d get his pills to kill the pain. All his life, it was misery. In a way, he was a fitness freak, a student of all the crafts, always trying to be the best—physically, mentally, cinematically. He was in that range of perfection. Inside that case of skin, he tried to create the best being that could be. If you ever did anything he thought was valuable, he wanted to know all about it. He tried to get near people with talent and absorbed as much as he could. He cared about all different subjects like literature, photography,… We even ended up writing a screenplay together, but at some point, all of that changed. Even at that time—this was before his accident in 1956—something was going wrong. By 1953 or 1954, he was trying not to see too much of me because he felt uncomfortable. He was pursued by all celebrities, magazines, authors. He had a huge following; and, at times; he’d be drinking a little too much and fell down a little too often. He always talked about himself and never asked you what you were doing. All the conversations he was involved in had something to do with his perceptions, about what he thought, what he was doing. That kind of personality was emerging, so I felt uncomfortable too.

Do you still remember the impact of the tragic car accident in 1956 that he was involved in?

I was here in Los Angeles but had to leave town the next day, and Monty told me Elizabeth Taylor was giving a dinner party; he would get me invited, he wanted me to come over, and I loved to. I had met her in New York with him, so she wasn’t an immediate stranger, but it would be my first time in her house—she was married to Michael Wilding at that time. So that night, we went to dinner. Rock Hudson and about eight others were there too. He didn’t touch the wine; he didn’t have a drink at all. By ten o’clock, I wanted to leave and he said, ‘Oh, I am going too.’ Se we left together, and talked for about ten minutes out on the parking area. Leaving there, we both went the same direction, down to Benedict Canyon, and he followed me for a while so I could point out a turnoff for his house from Benedict Canyon Drive he wasn’t aware of. The road took several turns, some severe turns too, and I saw his car coming up behind me, much too fast—Monty was a daredevil at times. All of a sudden, I couldn’t see his lights anymore. I thought, ‘Where is he?’ A terrifying moment, terrifying. I stopped my car, and I could hear his motor running. It was the sound of a racing motor, but I couldn’t see it. I ran back up to where I could see his car—the lights were blazing, the motor racing. I couldn’t see that much; there was only one newly built house nearby, that’s all. Luckily we were driving the same Chevrolet. I knew where the ignition was, and I grabbed the ignition key to stop the motor so it didn’t catch fire. I couldn’t open the door, but I reached through the window to open it. I was calling and yelling his name—a hell of a dramatic scene—‘Monty!! Monty!!’ But it was so dark, I couldn’t see anything, I ran back down to get my car, turned it around to shine the lights so I could at least well illuminate this scene, but I didn’t find him. He was under the dashboard; he was crushed, crumpled—it was just awful. And there we were. Millions of people adored that wonderful man, and I was there alone and helpless, I couldn’t even open the doors. I went back uphill to the Wildings, jumped out of my car, and banged violently on their front door. We called an ambulance, went immediately back to the wrecked car, and were able to open the rear door. Both Liz Taylor and I managed to climb over and get to the front seat. His face and his scalp were drenched with blood, his head was beginning to swell. In a strange voice, he told her that his front teeth had been knocked out and they were stuck in his throat, choking him, and he asked her to get them out of his mouth. Very gently and in a most natural way, she put her fingers down into his throat and pulled them out. Then the doctor and the ambulance arrived.

The accident scarred his face and partly ruined his good looks, didn’t it?

Yes, but he recovered to what he almost had been. The unfortunate thing was that, from that point, he went like a hundred and eighty degrees around to booze, pills—who knows what. Very slowly, he was really going downhill. It was like the disintegration of a great structure. Looking back, I must say that losing that friend and that friendship was a landmark in my life. We worked together once more in John Huston’s “The Misfits” [1961]—to me, a wonderful mood piece of the dying old West. I played the estranged business husband of a disillusioned divorcee, played by Marilyn Monroe, who was befriended by Clark Gable, Montgomery Clift, and Eli Wallach as three cowboys without saddle. But I did lose a very good friend.

Another landmark in your career is undoubtedly the low-budget sci-fi film “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” [1956]. What a superbly crafted and innovative film about aliens who literally take over the bodies of men—typical of the paranoia of the 1950s, as reports and reviews referred to the Red Scare and nuclear warfare.

I was in New York, and like many of us from the theater, I was doing radio, TV, or commercials in between, all in need of a decent income. Then Don Siegel called from Los Angeles—long distance! [Laughs.] He wanted me to play the leading role, and I agreed. It was that simple. No screen test. Some of the scenes were very demanding—physically—and he was looking for someone who was up to it. He had seen I was able to cope with tough and demanding scenes in “The Annapolis Story” [1956]. Shot in 1955, “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” wasn’t finished until 1956 because after it was made, the studio boss Steve Broidy of Allied Artists thought it was too downbeat. So Don Siegel, a terrific guy and a marvelous filmmaker, said he’d better consider re-editing the film before anybody else would do it and makes a mess of it. But he was heartsick about the fact that he had to put a happy ending on the picture, so to speak. Then Don Siegel and producer Walter Wagner decided to test a rough cut of the film on a Saturday night in Long Beach. They even recorded the crowd’s reactions on tape, and the next Monday morning, they brought the tape into Steve Broidy’s office to let him hear the wildly enthusiastic reactions of the audience—shrieks, screams, and laughter. But Broidy didn’t approve what they had done, saying things like, ‘How dare you to take the film down there and run it?! We don’t do sneak previews!’ Several months later, the editing still wasn’t finished. In August of 1956, I was in Johannesburg, South Africa, and Siegel called me from Hollywood at the hotel where I was staying down there. He said he needed me to come back for one more day—that was six months after they finished shooting—to do one day’s work, some narration and two scenes, including the one when I say, ‘Give me the FBI.’ I didn’t understand why they had to bring me all the way back, as I would be at home in New York in about ten days, so I could come out to California after I got to New York, which is what I did anyway.

What about the title of the film? Wasn’t Don Siegel concerned that the film might be confused with Robert Wise’s “The Body Snatcher” [1945] starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi?

Don was busy shooting the film and didn’t have the time to come up with a proper title, so he always urged me to find something, saying hilarious remarks such as ‘C’mon kiddo, train your goddamn brains while you’re sitting in your chair waiting for your next shot!’ Anyway, Don hated the title “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” he thought it sounded like a cheap horror movie. Nevertheless, the film became a cult classic, not only one of the best ever made in its genre but also one of the best films of the decade. We were all able to capitalize from the impact of the pods, which gave us screen immortality, also Dana Wynter, who was an adorable lady—humorous, bright, delightful, and luscious.

But the most important role in your career, I presume, was playing U.S. President Harry S. Truman on the stage in a one-man show titled “Give ‘Em Hell, Harry”?

No doubt about that. The title role was originated by James Whitmore, who was hugely successful with it, and the film version of the stage reproduction earned him an Academy Award nomination as Best Actor, but he gave it up after six months on the road. Even though there was no physical resemblance with the President, I was asked to take over, which I did for hundreds of performances all over the country and which turned out to be a very rewarding and enriching experience. I was so attracted to his personality; it’s an affair of the heart. He was a proper, decent, funny, strong, humble, and delightful first-class American citizen. In 1982, Margaret Truman, the President’s daughter, came over to see the play in Kansas during a benefit performance on the occasion of the late President’s ninety-eighth birthday. When the lights in the theater were dimmed, the audience was waiting anxiously for me to appear on the stage, and when I got in the spotlight, I sat down at the president’s desk in the Oval Office, wrote a letter to ‘my’ daughter [Margaret Truman], saying, ‘And so, my dear Margaret, to be a good president, I fear, a man cannot be…’ And there, on the front row, Margaret Truman was watching her fictional dad. About a week later, I got a letter from her: ‘Dear Kevin, Sam [Gallu, producer of the play] said you could probably use something for your promotion of the play, and so here is a quote from me if you want it, ‘Kevin McCarthy is superb as my father in “Give ‘Em Hell, Harry!” Margaret Truman.’’

What about the future? What do you expect career-wise?

I’m sure I will be busy for the next ten years, so I hope you’ll hang around [laughs]. I’m finding out that I got a lot of stuff in me that I haven’t used. I am intrigued by the things that I am discovering about myself, about the inner part of myself—material, insights, knowledge, anecdotes… Maybe I will turn them into another one-man show. I can recite Shakespeare till you can’t stand it any longer [laughs]… Do not think so, you shall not find it so, and God forgive them that so… So I may be heard from yet—or I could say I will be heard from again, just like people are still quoting my sister [noted author Mary McCarthy, 1912-1989]. Although she passed away fourteen years ago, to this day, she still is an icon. She had such a talent, style, and purity. It is exciting to sit down and read the way she worked through the language and described things. When reading her work, I can also hear her voice. People who are familiar with her work are inclined to think she was too bitter. And yet, I know that whenever she spoke, people were laughing because she had this kind of corrosive sense of humor. That sense of humor was there, and it is in the text somewhere. When you read her writing, you’ll be laughing. It still grips me and affects me; it is engrossing. Her career has been extremely important to me because she had such a remarkable and successful career. Even now, I don’t think a week goes by at least, when I see her name connected with something Mary McCarthy would say. She’s quoted constantly. I have such a high opinion of her intelligence and her talent. You have no idea.

Hollywood, California
March 2003

+ Mr. McCarthy passed away September 11, 2010, in Hyannis, Massachusetts, of pneumonia, at age 96.

“Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (1956, trailer)

FILMS

DEATH OF A SALESMAN (Columbia, 1951) DIR Laslo Benedek PROD Stanley Kramer SCR Stanley Roberts (play by Arthur Hiller) CAST Fredric March, Mildred Dunnock, Kevin McCarthy (Biff), Cameron Mitchell, Howard Smith, Royal Beal

DRIVE A CROOKED ROAD (Columbia, 1954) DIR Richard Quine PROD Jonie Taps SCR Blake Edwards (adaptation by Richard Quine, story by James Benson Nablo) CAST Mickey Rooney, Dianne Foster, Kevin McCarthy (Steve Norris), Jack Kelly, Harry Landers, Jerry Paris

THE GAMBLER FROM NATCHEZ (20th Century Fox, 1954) DIR Henry Levin PROD Leonard Goldstein SCR Gerald Drayson Adams, Irving Wallace (story by Gerald Drayson Adams) CAST Dale Robertson, Debra Paget, Thomas Gomez, Lisa Daniels, Kevin McCarthy (André Rivage), Douglas Dick

STRANGER ON A HORSEBACK (United Artists, 1955) DIR Jacques Tourneur PROD Robert Goldstein SCR Herb Meadow, Don Martin (story by Louis L’Amour) CAST Joel McCrea, Miroslava [Stern], Kevin McCarthy (Tom Bannerman), John McIntire, Nancy Gates, John Carradine

AN ANNAPOLIS STORY (Allied Artists, 1956) DIR Don Siegel PROD Walter Mirisch SCR Dan Ullman, Geoffrey Homes [Daniel Wainwaring] (story by Dan Ullman) CAST John Derek, Diana Lynn, Kevin McCarthy (Jim R. Scott), Alvy Moore, Pat Conway

INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (Allied Artists, 1956) DIR Don Siegel PROD Walter Wanger SCR Daniel Wainwaring (novel by Jack Finney) CAST Kevin McCarthy (Dr. Miles J. Bennell), Dana Wynter, Larry Gates, King Donovan, Carolyn Jones, Jean Willes

NIGHTMARE (United Artists, 1956) DIR Maxwell Shane PROD William Thomas, William Howard Pine SCR Maxwell Shane (novel by Cornell Woolrich) CAST Edward G. Robinson, Kevin McCarthy (Stan Grayson), Connie Russell, Virginia Christine, Rhys Williams, Gage Clarke

DIAMOND SAFARI (20th Century Fox, 1958) DIR – PROD Gerald Mayer SCR Larry Marcus CAST Kevin McCarthy (Harry Jordan), Joel Herholdt, Gert van den Bergh, Geoffrey Tsobe, Harry Mekels

THE MISFITS (United Artists, 1961) DIR John Huston PROD Frank E. Taylor SCR Arthur Miller CAST Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, Montgomery Clift, Eli Wallach, Thelma Ritter, Kevin McCarthy (Raymond Taber)

40 POUNDS OF TROUBLE (Universal, 1963) DIR Norman Jewison PROD Stan Margulies SCR Marion Hargrove CAST Tony Curtis, Suzanne Pleshette, Phil Silvers, Claire Wilcox, Mary Murphy, Kevin McCarthy (Blanchard)

AN AFFAIR OF THE SKIN (Zenith International, 1963) DIR – SCR Ben Maddow PROD Ben Maddow, Helen Levitt CAST Viveca Lindfors, Kevin McCarthy (Allen McCleod), Lee Grant, Diana Sands, Herbert Berghof, Nancy Malone

A GATHERING OF EAGLES (Universal, 1964) DIR Delbert Mann PROD Sy Bartlett SCR Robert Pirosh (story by Sy Bartlett) CAST Rock Hudson, Rod Taylor, Mary Peach, Barry Sullivan, Kevin McCarthy (General ‘Happy Jack’ Kirby), Henry Silva, Louise Fletcher

THE PRIZE (MGM, 1963) DIR Mark Robson PROD Pandro S. Berman SCR Ernest Lehman (novel by Irving Wallace) CAST Paul Newman, Elke Sommer, Edward G. Robinson, Diane Baker, Kevin McCarthy (John Garrett), Leo G. Carroll

THE BEST MAN (United Artists, 1964) DIR Franklin J. Schaffner PROD Lawrence Turman, Stuart Miller SCR Gore Vidal (also play) CAST Henry Fonda, Cliff Robertson, Edie Adams, Margaret Leighton, Ann Sothern, Kevin McCarthy (Dick Jensen), Richard Arlen, Penny Singleton, Gore Vidal

MIRAGE (Universal, 1965) DIR Edward Dmytryk. PROD Harry Keller SCR Peter Stone (novel by Walter Ericson) CAST Gregory Peck, Diane Baker, Walter Matthau, Kevin McCarthy (Josephson), Jack Weston, Leif Erickson, George Kennedy

A BIG HAND FOR A LITTLE LADY (Warner Bros., 1966) DIR – PROD Fielder Cook SCR Sidney Carroll CAST Henry Fonda, Joanne Woodward, Jason Robards, Paul Ford, Charles Bickford, Burgess Meredith, Kevin McCarthy (Otto Habershaw), Robert Middleton

THE THREE SISTERS (1966) DIR Paul Bogart PROD Ely A. Landau SCR Randall Jarrell (play by Anton Checkov) CAST Geraldine Page, Shelley Winters, Kim Stanley, Sandy Dennis, Kevin McCarthy (Vershinin), Robert Loggia

HOTEL (Warner Bros., 1967) DIR Richard Quine PROD Wendell Mayes SCR Wendell Mayes (novel by Arthur Hailey) CAST Rod Taylor, Catherine Spaak, Karl Malden, Melvyn Douglas, Merle Oberon, Richard Conte, Michael Rennie, Kevin McCarthy (O’Keefe)

THE HELL WITH HEROES (Universal, 1967) DIR Joseph Sargent PROD Stanley Chase SCR Halsted Welles, Harold Livingston (story by Harold Livingston) CAST Rod Taylor, Claudia Cardinale, Harry Guardino, Kevin McCarthy (Col. Wilson), Pete Duel, William Marshall

IF HE HOLLERS, LET HIM GO! (Cinerama Releasing Corp., 1968) DIR – PROD Charles Martin SCR Charles Martin (novel by Chester Himes) CAST Dana Wynter, Raymond St. Jacques, Kevin McCarthy (Leslie Whitlock), Barbara McNair, Arthur O’Connell

QUATTRO DELL’AVE MARIA, a.k.a. ACE HIGH (Paramount, 1968) DIR Giuseppe Collozzi PROD Giuseppe Collozzi, Bino Cicogna. SCR Giuseppe Collozzi (also story) CAST Eli Wallach, Terence Hill, Bud Spencer, Brock Peters, Kevin McCarthy (Drake), Tiffany Hoyveld

KANSAS CITY BOMBER (MGM, 1972) DIR Jerrold Freeman PROD Martin Elfand SCR Thomas Rickman, Calvin Clements, Sr. (story by Barry Sandler) CAST Raquel Welch, Kevin McCarthy (Burt Henry), Helena Kallianiotes, Norman Alden, Jean Cooper, Jodie Foster

RICHARD (Billings Associates, 1972) DIR – PROD Lorees Yerby, Harry Hurwitz SCR Lorees Yerby, Harry Hurwitz (idea by Bertrand Castelli) CAST Richard M. Dixon, Dan Resin, Mickey Rooney, Vivian Blaine, Kevin McCarthy (Doctor), John Carradine

ALIEN THUNDER (1974) DIR – Cam Claude Fournier PROD Marie-José Raymond SCR George Malko CAST Donald Sutherland, Chief Dan George, Jean Duceppe, Francine Racette, Kevin McCarthy (Malcolm Grant), Gordon Tootoosis

EL CLAN DE LOS INMORALES (1975) DIR José Gutiérrez Maesso SCR José Gutiérrez Maesso, Massimo De Rita, Santiago Mancoda, Eugenio Martín CAST Helmut Berger, Sydne Rome, Kevin McCarthy (Ed McLean), José María Caffarel, José Ferrer

BUFFALO BILL AND THE INDIANS, OR SITTING BULL’S HISTORY LESSON (United Artists, 1976) DIR – PROD Robert Altman SCR Robert Altman, Alan Rudolph (play ‘Indians’ by Arthur Koppit) CAST Paul Newman, Joel Grey, Kevin McCarthy (Maj. John Burke), Harvey Keitel, Burt Lancaster, Geraldine Chaplin, Shelley Duvall

PIRANHA (New World, 1978) DIR Joe Dante PROD Jon Davison SCR John Sayles (story by John Sayles, Richard Robinson) CAST Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies, Kevin McCarthy (Dr. Robart Hoak), Keenan Wynn, Dick Miller, Paul Bartel

INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (United Artists, 1978) DIR Philip Kaufman PROD Robert H. Solo SCR W. D. Richter (novel by Jack Finney) CAST Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Leonard Nimoy, Veronica Cartwright, Jeff Goldblum, Kevin McCarthy (Running Man)

HERO AT LARGE (United Artists / MGM, 1980) DIR Martin Davidson PROD Stephen Friedman SCR A. J. Carothers CAST John Ritter, Anne Archer, Bert Convy, Kevin McCarthy (Calvin Donnelly), Harry Bellaver

THOSE LIPS, THOSE EYES (United Artists, 1980) DIR Michael Pressman PROD Michael Pressman, Steven-Charles Jaffe SCR David Shaber CAST Frank Langella, Glynnis O’Connor, Tom Hulce, Jerry Stiller, Herbert Berghof, Kevin McCarthy (Mickey Bellinger)

THE HOWLING (Avco Embassy, 1981) DIR Joe Dante PROD Jack Conrad, Michael Finnell SCR John Sayles, Terence H. Winkless (novel by Gary Brandner) CAST Dee Wallace-Stone, Patrick Macnee, Dennis Dugan, Christopher Stone, Kevin McCarthy (Fred Francis), John Carradine, Roger Corman, John Sayles

MY TUTOR (Crown International, 1983) DIR George Bowers PROD Marilyn Jacobs Tenser SCR Joe Roberts CAST Caren Kaye, Matt Lattanzi, Kevin McCarthy (Chrystal), Clark Brandon, Bruce Bauer

TWILIGHT ZONE – THE MOVIE (Warner Bros., 1983) DIR John Landis (prologue, segment 1), Steven Spielberg (segment 2), Joe Dante (segment 3), George Miller (segment 4) PROD John Landis, Steven Spielberg SCR John Landis (segment 1), George Clayton Johnson, Richard Matheson, Josh Rogan [Melissa Mathison] (segment 2), Richard Matheson (story by Jerome Bixby) (segment 3), Richard Matheson (also story) (segment 4) (TV series ‘The Twight Zone’ created by Rod Serling) CAST (segment 1) Dan Aykroyd, Albert Brooks, Vic Morrow (segment 1), Scatman Crothers, Bill Quinn (segment 2), Kathleen Quinlan, Kevin McCarthy (Uncle Walt) (segment 3), John Lithgow, Abbe Lane (segment 4)

INNERSPACE (Warner Bros., 1987) DIR Joe Dante PROD Michael Finnell SCR Jeffrey Boam, Chip Proser (story by Chip Proser) CAST Dennis Quaid, Martin Short, Meg Ryan, Kevin McCarthy (Victor Scrimshaw), Fiona Lewis

HOSTAGE (Noble Entertainment, 1987) DIR Hanro Möhr PROD Paul Raleigh, Thys Heyns SCR Norman Winski, Michael W. Leighton CAST Wings Hauser, Karen Black, Kevin McCarthy (Col. Shaw), Nancy Locke, Robert Whitehead

DARK TOWER (1987) DIR Freddie Francis, Ken Wiederhorn PROD Sandy Howard, David Witz, John R. Bowey SCR Ken Wiederhorn, Robert J. Avrech CAST Jenny Agutter, Michael Moriarty, Theodore Bikel, Kevin McCarthy (Sergie), Carol Lynley

FAST FOOD (Fries Entertainment, 1989) DIR Michael A. Simpson PROD Michael A. Simpson, Stan Wakefield SCR Clark Brandon, Lanny Horn (story by Scott B. Sowers) CAST Clark Brandon, Randal Patrick, Tracy Griffith, Michael J. Pollard, Jim Varney, Traci Lords, Kevin McCarthy (Judge Reinholte)

UHF (Orion, 1989) DIR Jay Levey PROD Gene Kirkwood, John Hyde SCR Jay Levey, Al Yankovic CAST Al Yankovic, Victoria Jackson, Kevin McCarthy (R.J. Fletcher), Michael Richards, David Bowe, Fran Drescher

THE SLEEPING CAR (Triax Entertainment, 1990) DIR – PROD Douglas Curtis SCR Greg [Collins] O’Neill CAST David Naughton, Judie Aronson, Kevin McCarthy (Vincent Tuttle), Jeff Conaway, Dani Minnick

LOVE OR MONEY (Hemdale, 1990) DIR Todd Hallowell PROD Elyse England SCR Elyse England, Michael Zausner, Bart Davis CAST Timothy Daly, Michael Garin, Haviland Morris, Kevin McCarthy (William Reed), Shelley Fabares, David Doyle

EVE OF DESTRUCTION (Orion, 1991) DIR Duncan Gibbins PROD David Madden SCR Duncan Gibbins, Yale Udoff CAST Gregory Hines, Renée Soutendijk, Michael Greene, Kurt Fuller, Kevin McCarthy (Old Bill Simmons)

FINAL APPROACH (Trimark, 1991) DIR – PROD Eric Steven Stahl SCR Eric Steven Stahl, Gerald Laurence CAST James Sikking, Hector Elizondo, Madolyn Smith-Osborne, Kevin McCarthy (Gen. Geller), Cameo Kneuer

GHOULIES 3: GHOULIES GO TO COLLEGE (1991) DIR John Carl Buechner PROD Lawrence Kasanoff, Iain Patterson SCR Brent Olson (characters created by Jeferey Levy, Luca Bercovici) CAST Thom Adcox-Hernandez, Andrew Barach, Kathy Benson, Hope Marie Carlton, Jason Scott Lee, Kevin McCarthy (Professor Ragnar), Griffin O’Neal

THE DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN (Hollywood Pictures, 1992) DIR Jonathan Lynn PROD Leonard Goldberg, Michael Peyser SCR Marty Kaplan (story by Marty Kaplan, Jonathan Reynolds) CAST Eddie Murphy, Lane Smith, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Joe Don Baker, Kevin McCarthy (Terry Corrigan)

MATINEE (Universal, 1993) DIR Joe Dante PROD Michael Finnell SCR Charlie Haas (story by Charlie Haas, Jerico) CAST John Goodman, Cathy Moriarty, Simon Fenton, Omri Katz, Dick Miller, John Sayles, Kevin McCarthy (General)

GREEDY (Universal, 1994) DIR Jonathan Lynn PROD Brian Grazer SCR Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel CAST Michael J. Fox, Michael Douglas, Nancy Travis, Olivia d’Abo, Kevin McCarthy (Bartlett), Jonathan Lynn

JURIDICIAL CONSENT (1994) DIR – SCR William Bindley PROD Douglas Curtis, Mark W. Koch CAST Bonnie Bedelia, Billy Wirth, Will Patton, Lisa Blount, Dabney Coleman, Kevin McCarthy (Judge Pollan)

JUST CAUSE (Lee Rich Prods. / Fountainbridge Films, 1995) DIR Arne Glimcher PROD Arne Glimcher, Lee Rich, Steve Perry. SCR Jeb Stuart, Peter Stone (novel by John Katzenbach) CAST Sean Connery, Laurence Fishburne, Kate Capshaw, Blair Underwood, Ed Harris, Ned Beatty, Kevin McCarthy (Phil Prentiss), Hope Lange, Chris Sarandon

STEAL BIG, STEAL LITTLE (Savoy, 1995) DIR Andrew Davis PROD Andrew Davis, Fred C. Caruso SCR Andrew Davis, Lee Blessing, Jeanne Blake, Terry Kahn (story by Andrew Davis, Teresa Tucker-Davies, Frank Ray Perilli) CAST Andy Garcia, Alan Arkin, Rachel Ticotin, Joe Pantoliano, Kevin McCarthy (Reed Tyler)

MOMMY (1995) DIR – SCR Max Allan Collins PROD Max Allan Collins, James K. Hoffman. CAST Patricia McCormack, Rachel Lemieux, Jason Miller, Brinke Stevens, Kevin McCarthy (Fire Department Rescuer)

LOONEY TUNES: BACK IN ACTION (2003) DIR Joe Dante PROD Chris De Faria, Bernie Goldmann, Joel Simon, Paula Weinstein SCR Larry Doyle, John Requa, Glenn Ficarra, Roger S. H. Schulman CAST Brendan Fraser, Jenna Elfman, Timothy Dalton, Heather Locklear, Roger Corman, Joan Cusack, Dick Miller, Kevin McCarthy (Dr. Bennell)

LOVING ANNABELLE (2006) DIR Katherine Brooks PROD Katherine Brooks, Gregory Carroll, Jennifer Young SCR Katherine Brooks, Olivia Bohnhoff, Karen Klopfenstein CAST Erin Kelly, Diane Gaidry, Laura Breckenridge, Michelle Horn, Kevin McCarthy (Father Harris)

FALLEN ANGELS (2007) DIR – SCR Jeff Thomas PROD C.J. Goodman, Myron St. John, Robert Rowland, Judy Lewis CAST Michael Dorn, Bill Moseley, Adrianne Curry, Michael Kaliski, Kevin McCarthy (Pastor Waltz), Farah White

SLIPSTREAM (2007) DIR – SCR Anthony Hopkins PROD Robert Katz, Stella Arroyave CAST Anthony Hopkins, Christian Slater, John Torturro, Jeffrey Tambor, Kevin McCarthy

TRAIL OF THE SCREAMING FOREHEAD (2007) DIR – PROD – SCR Larry Blamire CAST Daniel Roebuck, Susan McDonnell, Fay Masterson, Andrew Parks, H.M. Wynat, Kevin McCarthy (Latecomer)

THE BONEYARD COLLECTION (2008) DIR Edward L. Plumb PROD – SCR Edward L. Plumb, L.J. Dopp CAST Danielle J ames, Dena Wilkinson, Forrest J. Ackerman, Andra Gasper, Brad Dourif, Candy Clark, Ray Harryhausen, Tippi Hedren, Barbara Steele, Kevin McCarthy, Robert Loggia, Rod McKuen, Susan Tyrrell

HER MORBID DESIRES (2008) DIR Edward L. Plumb PROD Kim Waltrip SCR Edward L. Plumb (story by Brad Linaweaver) CAST Erica P. Hanson, Ronn Moss, Molly Murphy, Tippi Hedren, Robert Loggia, Kevin McCarthy (The Monk), Ray Harryhausen, Rod McKuen, Edward L. Plumd, Barbara Steele

WESLEY (2009) DIR John Jackman PROD Geoff Thompson, Lovinder Gill SCR Carolyn Haywood, Norman Stone CAST Burgess Jenkins, R. Keith Harris, June Lockhart, Kevin McCarthy (Bishop Ryder), Devin McGee

THE GHASTLY LOVE OF JOHNNY X (2012) DIR – PROD Paul Bunnell SCR Paul Bunnell, Steve Bingen, George Wagner, Mark D. Murphy CAST Will Keenan, Creed Bratton, Paul Williams, Kevin McCarthy (The Great Inquisitor), Caroline Macey

TV MOVIES

UMC (1970) DIR Boris Sagal CAST Richard Bradford, Edward G. Robinson, James Daly, Kim Stanley, Kevin McCarthy (Clifford Coswell), Shelley Fabares

A GREAT AMERICAN TRAGEDY (1972) DIR J. Lee Thompson CAST George Kennedy, Vera Miles, William Windom, Kevin McCarthy (Mark Reynolds), James Woods

BETWEEN TIME AND TIMBUKTU (1972) DIR Fred Barzyk CAST Franklin Cover, John Devlin, Dortha Duckworth, William Hickey, Kevin McCarthy (Bokonon)

COLUMBO: REQUIEM FOR A FALLING STAR (1973). DIR Richard Quine CAST Peter Falk, Anne Baxter, Mel Ferrer, Kevin McCarthy (Frank Simmons), Edith Head, John Archer

JUNE MOON (1974) DIR Kirk Browning, Burt Shevelove CAST Jack Cassidy, Estelle Parsons, Kevin McCarthy, Susan Sarandon

IN FASHION (1974) DIR Neil Smith CAST Donna Curtis, Pamela Hall, Kevin McCarthy, Charlotte Rae

THE SEAGULL (1975) DIR John Desmond, Nikos Psacharopoulo. CAST David Clennon, Blythe Danner, Olympia Dukakis, Lee Grant, Frank Langella, Kevin McCarthy (Trigorin)

EXO-MAN (1977) DIR Richard Irving CAST David Ayckroyd, José Ferrer, Harry Morgan, Kevin McCarthy (Kamenski)

MARY JANE HARPER CRIED LAST NIGHT (1977) DIR Allen Reisner CAST Susan Dey, John Vernon, Kevin McCarthy (Tom Atherton), Tricia O’Neal, Priscilla Pointer, Rhea Perlman

FLAMINGO ROAD (1980). DIR Gus Trikonis CAST Morgan Fairchild, Mark Hamon, Cristina Raines, Stella Stevens, Kevin McCarthy (Claude Weldon), Barbara Rush

PORTRAIT OF AN ESCORT (1980) DIR Steven Hilliard Stern CAST Susan Anspach, Cyd Charisse, Kevin McCarthy (Dr. Paige), Tony Bill, Edie Adams

ROSIE: THE ROSEMARY CLOONEY STORY (1982). DIR Jackie Cooper CAST Sondra Locke, Tony Orlando, Penelope Milford, Joey Travolta, Kevin McCarthy (Dr. Jones)

MAKING OF A MALE MODEL (1983) DIR Irving J. Moore CAST Joan Collins, Jon-Erik Hexum, Kevin McCarthy (Ward Hawley), Jeff Conaway, Michael Anderson, Jr.

INVITATION TO HELL (1984) DIR Wes Craven CAST Robert Urich, Joanna Cassidy, Susan Lucci, Kevin McCarthy (Mr. Thompson), Patricia McCormack

THE RATINGS GAME (1984). DIR Danny DeVito CAST Danny DeVito, Rhea Perlman, Gerrit Graham, Bernadette Birkett, Kevin McCarthy (Wes Vandergelder)

DEADLY INTENTIONS (1985). DIR Noel Black CAST Michael Biehn, Madolyn Smith-Osborne, Cloris Leachman, Kevin McCarthy (Reichman), Cliff De Young, Jack Kruschen

THE MIDNIGHT HOUR (1985). DIR Jack Bender CAST Shari Belafonte, Dick Van Patten, Kevin McCarthy (Judge Crandall), Peter DeLuise

A MASTERPIEVE OF MURDER (1986). DIR Charles S. Dubin CAST Bob Hope, Don Ameche, Yvonne De Carlo, Kevin McCarthy (Jonathan Hire), Stella Stevens

LBJ: THE EARLY YEARS (1987) DIR Peter Werner CAST Randy Quaid, R. G. Armstrong, Anne Haney, Charles Frank, Robin Curtis, Kevin McCarthy (Joseph Kennedy)

POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL: THE BARBARA HUTTON STORY (1987). DIR Charles Jarrott CAST Farrah Fawcett, Burl Ives, Sascha Hehn, Stéphane Audran, Kevin McCarthy (Franklyn Hutton)

THE LONG JOURNEY HOME (1987) DIR Rod Holcomb. CAST Ray Baker, David Birney, Kevin McCarthy (Harland Everett), Michael Preston

ONCE UPON A TEXAS TRAIN (1987). DIR Burt Kennedy CAST Willie Nelson, Richard Widmark, Shaun Cassidy, Chuck Connors, Kevin McCarthy (The Governor), Angie Dickinson

PASSION AND PARADISE (1989) DIR Harvey Hart CAST Armand Assante, Catherine Mary Stewart, Mariette Hartley, Kevin McCarthy (Harold Christie), Michael Sarrazin, Rod Steiger

THE ROSE AND THE JACKAL (1990) DIR Jack Gold CAST Christopher Reeve, Kevin McCarthy (Senator Wilson), Jeff Corey, Madolyn Smith-Osborne

DEAD ON THE MONEY (1990) DIR Mark Cullingham. CAST Corbin Benson, Amanda Pays, Eleanor Parker, Kevin McCarthy (Waverly Blake), Sheree North

DUPLICATES (1992) DIR Sandor Stern. CAST Gregory Harrison, Kim Greist, Cicely Tyson, Kevin McCarthy (Dr. Congemi)

ROADRACERS (1994) DIR Robert Rodriguez. CAST David Arquette, John Hawkes, Salma Hayek, Jason Wiles, Kevin McCarthy (Miles)

THE SISTERS-IN-LAW (1995) DIR Noel Nosseck CAST Kate Vernon, Shanna Reed, Craig Wasson, Kent Williams, Kevin McCarthy (George Richards)

LIZ: THE ELIZABETH TAYLOR STORY (1995). DIR Kevin Connor. CAST Sherilyn Fenn, Nigel Havers, Katherine Helmond, Kevin McCarthy (Sol Siegel)

THE PANDORA DETECTIVE (1996). DIR Adrian Carr CAST Chris Jones, Barry Corbin, Kevin McCarthy (Gordon Fitzpatrick), Tanya Roberts, John Agar

THE SECOND CIVIL WAR (1997) DIR Joe Dante CAST Beau Bridges, Joanna Cassidy, Phil Hartman, James Earl Jones, James Coburn, Kevin McCarthy (Chief of Staff), Dick Miller

ELVIS MEETS NIXON (1997) DIR Allan Arkush CAST Rick Peters, Bob Gunton, Alyson Court, Denny Doherty, Kevin McCarthy (Deep Throat)

THE ADDAMS FAMILY REUNION (1998) DIR Dave Payne CAST Tim Curry, Darryl Hannah, Ed Begley, Jr., Ray Walston, Kevin McCarthy (Grandpa)