Bruce Dern

Bruce MacLeish Dern (born June 4, 1936) is an American actor. He has received several accolades, including the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor for Nebraska, which also earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor, and won the Silver Bear for Best Actor for That Championship Season (1982). He was also Oscar nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Coming Home (1978). He is also a BAFTA Award, two-time Genie Award, and three-time Golden Globe Award nominee.

A member of the Actors Studio, after portraying small roles in films like Marnie (1964) and Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), he rose to prominence during the New Hollywood era. His notable film credits The Trip (1967), They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969), The Cowboys (1972), Silent Running (1972), The Great Gatsby (1974), Family Plot (1976), Black Sunday (1977), The Driver (1978), Tattoo (1981), The 'Burbs (1989), Monster (2003), The Hateful Eight (2015), and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019). He also starred in the HBO series Big Love (2006–2011).

He is the father of actress Laura Dern.

Early life Dern was born in Chicago on June 4, 1936, the son of Jean (née MacLeish; 1908–1972) and John Dern (1903–1958), a utility chief and attorney. He grew up in Kenilworth, Illinois. His paternal grandfather, George Dern, was a Utah governor and Secretary of War (he was serving in the latter position at the time of Bruce's birth). Dern's maternal grandfather was a Vice President of the Carson, Pirie and Scott stores, Dern graduated from New Trier High School, where he was a track star and sought to qualify for the Olympic Trials in 1956. Dern attended the University of Pennsylvania, but dropped out after two years. Dern studied alongside Elia Kazan and Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio, New York City. and a murdered lover in Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte.

Over the next few decades, Dern played a Vietnam veteran and neighborhood survivalist in Joe Dante's suburban satire The 'Burbs,

In Alexander Payne's film Nebraska, Dern played a resident believing he has won a million dollars, and undertakes a road trip from Billings, Montana to Lincoln, Nebraska to get the prize. He won the Best Actor Award at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Directors and craft In the course of his long and prolific career, Dern collaborated with film directors, including Walter Hill (The Driver, In an interview with Josh Olson and Joe Dante for the podcast series The Movies That Made Me, and while discussing his career, Dern cited the films of David Lean (specifically, Lawrence of Arabia, Great Expectations and The Bridge on the River Kwai), as among the films that inspired him. When asked if he has ever contemplated retirement, Dern said: "If you think I'm gonna retire so Jimmy fucking Caan can get another part from me, you're dead wrong. Because I'm gonna go till I'm 100. My goal is to do stuff with older characters that people never got the chance to do, because they never lived long enough... And because I don't have anything else I can do."

Personal life Dern was married to Marie Dawn Pierce from 1957 to 1959. He married Diane Ladd in 1960. Their first daughter died from head injuries after falling into a swimming pool in 1962 at 18 months old. The couple's second daughter is actress Laura Dern, born in 1967. After his divorce from Ladd, Dern married Andrea Beckett in 1969.

Dern has been an avid runner his whole life. In high school, he recorded a half-mile best time of 1:55.8, and he later was on the track team at the University of Pennsylvania. He said that between the ages of 28 and 70 he ran between 2,500 and 4,000 miles per year. In the 1986 film On the Edge, he played a runner seeking redemption in a contest based on the Dipsea Race, and the 1978 film Coming Home both begins and ends with scenes of Dern running. In a 2014 interview at age 77, he said he still ran nearly every day, albeit more slowly.

Filmography The Artist's Wife Richard Smythson Badland Reginald Cooke

Emperor Levi Coffin Death in Texas Reynolds

Last Call Coach Finnegan Buck Alamo Death Overrun Arkadi Dubkova The Gateway Marcus Hands That Bind Hank Christmas vs. the Walters Cliff Walters Last Shoot Out Blair Callahan

The Hater Frank Hellblazers Bill Unger Mid-Century Emil Larson The Most Dangerous Game Whitney Tyler

The Weapon Doris Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch Mike Cassidy Accidental Texan Scheermeyer Butch vs. Sundance Mike Cassidy Hunting Games Henry Old Dads Richie Jacobs

Bloodline Killer Dr. Lucien The Devil's Trap Mr. Cohen

The World's Happiest Man Tom Bad Men Must Bleed George Wells Fractured Papa Joe 2026 Dernsie: The Amazing Life of Bruce Dern Himself Documentary TBA

Arthur Post-production

Television Year Title Role Notes 1960 Route 66 Albert Episode: "The Man on the Monkey Board" 1961 Naked City Nicky Episode: "Bullets Cost Too Much" Hollis Episode: "The Fault in Our Stars" (uncredited) Sea Hunt FBI Agent John Furillo Episode: "Crime at Sea" Surfside 6 Johnny Page Episode: "Daphne, Girl Detective" Thriller Johnny Norton Episode: "The Remarkable Mrs. Hawk" Ben Casey Billy Harris Episode: "A Dark Night for Billy Harris" The Detectives Jud Treadwell Episode: "Act of God" Cain's Hundred Joe Krajac Episode: "Crime and Commitment: Part 1" 1962 Cain's Hundred Eddie Light Episode: "The Left Side of Canada" The Dick Powell Show Deering Episode: "Squadron" 1962–1963 Stoney Burke E.J. Stocker 17 episodes 1963 The Dick Powell Show Hank Fairbrother Episode: "The Old Man and the City" Kraft Suspense Theatre Maynard Episode: "The Hunt" The Outer Limits Ben Garth Episode: "The Zanti Misfits" Wagon Train Seth Bancroft Episode: "The Eli Bancroft Story" The Fugitive Deputy Martin Episode: "The Other Side of the Mountain" 1964 The Virginian Pell Episode: "First to Thine Own Self" Lee Darrow Episode: "The Payment" Wagon Train Jud Fisher Episode: "Those Who Stay Behind" The Fugitive Charley Episode: "Come Watch Me Die" 77 Sunset Strip Ralph Wheeler Episode: "Lovers' Lane" The Greatest Show on Earth Vernon Episode: "The Last of the Strongmen" The Alfred Hitchcock Hour Roy Bullock Episode: "Night Caller" Jesse Episode: "Lonely Place" 12 O'Clock High Lieutenant Michaels Episode: "Golden Boy Had Nine Black Sheep" 1965 Lieutenant Danton Episode: "The Lorelei" Lieutenant Michaels Episode: "The Mission" Technical Sergeant Frank Jones Episode: "The Jones Boys" The Virginian Bert Kramer Episode: "A Little Learning" Wagon Train Wilkins Episode: "The Indian Girl Story" The Fugitive Cody Episode: "Corner of Hell" Hank Episode: "The Good Guys and the Bad Guys" Rawhide Ed Rankin Episode: "Walk into Terror" Laredo Joe DurkeeEpisode: "Rendezvous at Arillo" A Man Called Shenandoah Bobby Ballantine Episode: "The Verdict" The F.B.I. Private First Class Byron Landy Episode: "Pound of Flesh" Gunsmoke Doyle Phleger Episode: "Ten Little Indians" Judd Print Episode: "South Wind" 1966 Lou Stone Episode: "The Jailer" The Fugitive Hutch Episode: "The Devil's Disciples" Branded Les Episode: "The Wolfers" The Loner Lud GrantEpisode: "To Hang a Dead Man" Disneyland TurkEpisode: "Gallegher Goes West: Crusading Reporter" Run for Your Life Alex Ryder Episode: "The Treasure Seekers" The Big Valley Jack Follet Episode: "Under a Dark Star" Harry Dixon Episode: "By Force and Violence" Clovis Episode: "The Lost Treasure" 1967 Gabe Skeels Episode: "Four Days to Furnace Hill" Run for Your Life Alex Ryder 2 episodes 1968 Lancer Lucas Thatcher Episode: "Julie" The Big Valley John WeaverEpisode: "The Prize" The F.B.I. Virgil Roy Phipps Episode: "The Nightmare" Bonanza Cully Maco Episode: "The Trackers" 1969 Lancer Tom Nevill Episode: "A Person Unknown" Gunsmoke Guerin Episode: "The Long Night" Then Came Bronson Bucky O'Neill Episode: "Amid Splinters of the Thunderbolt" 1970 Bonanza Bayliss Episode: "The Gold Mine" Land of the Giants Thorg Episode: "Wild Journey" The High Chaparral Wade Episode: "Only the Bad Come to Sonora" The Immortal Luther Seacombe Episode: "To the Gods Alone" 1985 Space Stanley Mott 5 episodes Toughlove Rob Charters Television film 1987 Roses Are for the Rich Douglas Osborne Uncle Tom's Cabin Augustine St. Claire 1989 Trenchcoat in Paradise John Hollander 1990 The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson Scout Ed Higgins 1991 Into the Badlands T.L. Barston Carolina Skeletons Junior Stoker 1993 It's Nothing Personal Billy Archer 1994 Dead Man's Revenge Payton McCay Amelia Earhart: The Final Flight George Putnam 1995 A Mother's Prayer John Walker Mrs. Munck Patrick Leary 1999 Hard Time: The Premonition Winston 2003 King of the Hill Randy Strickland (voice) Episode: "Boxing Luanne" Hard Ground Nate Hutchinson Television film 2006–2011 Big Love Frank Harlow 29 episodes 2007 CSI: NY Vet Episode: "Boo" 2013 Pete's Christmas Grandpa Television film 2016 The Cowboy Himself Television documentary 2019 Black Monday Rod "The Jammer" Jaminski 2 episodes Mr. Mercedes John Rothstein 8 episodes 2021 Goliath Frank Zax 8 episodes 2024 Palm Royale Skeet Rollins 3 episodes

Video games Year Title Role 2020 Shadow Stalkers The Director 2020 MegaRace: DeathMatch Rabies

Awards and nominations Year Title Award 1972 Drive, He Said National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor 1973 The Cowboys Bronze Wrangler for Best Theatrical Motion Picture 1975 The Great Gatsby Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture 1979 Coming Home Nominated – Academy Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture 1983 That Championship Season Silver Bear for Best Actor 2009 Swamp Devil Philadelphia Film Festival Jury Prize 2014 Nebraska AARP Annual Movies for Grownups Award for Best ActorBoston Society of Film Critics Award for Best CastCannes Film Festival Best Actor AwardDublin Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActorLos Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorNational Board of Review Award for Best ActorNominated – Academy Award for Best Actor