American actor who had a successful career for over four decades. He had two acting sons, Jeff and Beau, and one daughter. Bridges was known as a devoted family man committed to non-violence. Athletic, he kept his college weight and was always in good physical shape.
In 1941 he made his film debut in “Lone Wolf.” His popular TV series, “Sea Hunt” ran from 1957-1961. The show cast him as a stone-faced macho type, and he later played dimwit comedy in “Airplane!” (1980).
Of his more than a hundred movies, his most memorable roles were in supporting parts such as “Home of the Brave,” 1949 and “High Noon,” 1952. On stage since the late ’30s, Bridges was a struggling actor when his sons were born, Beau in late 1941 and Jeff in late 1949. There was a third little boy two years before Jeff who died of S.I.D.S., and later, a daughter, Cindy.
Though he was an avid lifelong tennis player and swimmer and played basketball, baseball and football in his school and college, Bridges admitted that he had never tried skin diving until he landed the role in “Sea Hunt.”
A member of the Actors Lab group in Hollywood and opposed to prejudice against any group, Bridges was put on Hollywood’s blacklist for alleged Communist leanings during the early 1950s. In 1953, he was blacklisted and did not work for three years before clearing his name with the FBI and congressional committees. In 1994, he and his wife Dorothy, whom he met when they were students at UCLA, received the Ralph Bunche Peace Award commemorating the UN Year of the Family.
Unquestionably, the best role of Bridges’ lifetime was patriarch of the family, creating a bond of love and loyalty with his sons that they passed on to their families. He died on 10 March 1998 at his home in Hollywood, California. He had suffered from a heart condition since 1992.
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