Jack Murdock

Jack Murdock (October 28, 1922 – April 27, 2001) was an American actor.

He was born in Urbana, Ohio to performer parents. His father had a vaudeville group called Teck Murdock and Company; his mother and her sister had an act called The Kennedy Sisters. The two acts combined as Teck Murdock and the Kennedy sisters. He lived with an aunt and uncle in Put-in-Bay in South Bass Island.

Murdock enlisted in the U.S. Navy after he graduated from high school; he served as a gunner's mate in the north Atlantic.

Career

Ohio Murdock was a director WBNS-TV in Columbus.

Murdock was also familiar to St. Louis television viewers as the personification of "Grandpa Pidgeon" on commercials for the GrandPa's chain of 15 discount retail stores in the St. Louis area.

New York Murdock left St. Louis in 1968 to pursue a career on Broadway. He lived in Glen Rock, New Jersey but frequently toured the United States in theatre productions. He appeared in 50 films between 1973 and 1998.

Murdock appeared in Big Top Pee-Wee with New York City natives Albert Henderson and David Byrd.

Later life Murdock had a wife, Bette Graf, and two children: Teck and Christine.

He died in Burbank, California of emphysema at age seventy-eight. His remains were cremated.

Filmography Year Title Role Notes1974 The Crazy World of Julius Vrooder Millard 1976 Moving Violation Bubba 1980 Any Which Way You Can Little Melvin 1980 Altered States Hector Orteco 1981 Cutter's Way Concession Owner 1981 Honky Tonk Freeway Rhino Wrangler 1983 Blue Thunder Kress 1983 Sweetwater Cleary 1986 Psycho III Lou 1988 Big Top Pee-wee Otis 1988 Rain Man John Mooney 1989 Gross Anatomy Old Man Patient 1990 False Identity Hayes 1991 Dutch Homeless Man 1992 Mission of Justice Mr. Schenk