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George Dzundza

American actor (born 1945)

Field	Value
image
birth_date
birth_place	Rosenheim, Bavaria, Allied-occupied Germany
alma_mater	St. John's University
occupation	Actor
years_active	1973–2011
spouse
children	3

George Dzundza ( ; born July 19, 1945) is a retired American actor. He is known for his varied work in film and on television, including The Deer Hunter (1978), Skokie (1981), No Way Out (1987), The Beast (1988), Impulse (1990), White Hunter Black Heart (1990), The Butcher's Wife (1991), Basic Instinct (1992), Crimson Tide (1995), Dangerous Minds (1995), and City by the Sea (2002).

Dzundza's television roles include Sergeant Max Greevey on the first season of Law & Order (1990–91), Tom Grzelack on Hack (2002–03), Harold O'Malley on Grey's Anatomy (2005–2007), and the voices of Arnold Wesker/The Ventriloquist and Perry White in the DC Animated Universe. He also starred on the short-lived sitcom Open All Night (1981). Along with the ensemble cast, Dzundza won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor for his performance in the Robert Altman film Streamers (1983). Dzundza also appeared on one episode of Andy Griffith's Matlock series (Season 8, Episode 18) where he played a formidable D.A, Brennan.

Early life and education

Dzundza was born in Rosenheim, Germany, shortly after the end of World War II, to Ukrainian father Roman Dzundza and Polish mother Maria Humenecka. His father was from Kalush and mother from Lviv, both in what is now Ukraine. Each had been conscripted into forced labor by the Nazi regime. Dzundza spent his early years living in displaced persons camps with them.

Dzundza's family moved to Amsterdam in 1949, then to the US in 1956, eventually settling on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. He became a naturalized US citizen. He attended Xavier High School and St. Johns University, and studied theatre under Stella Adler and Harold Clurman.

Career

Dzundza began acting in his freshman year of college at the insistence of another student. However, his professional stage debut was in a 1973 New York Shakespeare Festival production of King Lear, which was later aired as an episode of Great Performances. He starred in the Festival's 1973-74 national tour of That Championship Season. He also starred in the Broadway productions The Ritz and Legend, and in A Prayer for My Daughter at the Public Theatre. In 1979 he played the role of Cully Sawyer in the horror film, Salem's Lot.

Dzundza starred in a short-lived 1981 sitcom series Open All Night, He portrayed American Nazi leader Frank Collin in the 1981 television film Skokie. In 1983, he starred in Robert Altman's film Streamers, based on the David Rabe play of the same name. The film's ensemble cast collectively won the Best Actor Award at the 40th Venice International Film Festival.

In 1987, Dzundza played Sam Hesselman, a disabled man in a wheelchair, in No Way Out and Commander Daskal in The Beast in 1988. Other major film roles of his include The Deer Hunter, Impulse, White Hunter Black Heart, The Butcher's Wife, Basic Instinct, Crimson Tide, Dangerous Minds and City by the Sea.

He was an original cast member of the NBC drama Law & Order, playing NYPD Sergeant Max Greevey in the first season only. Dzundza left after the first season of the show.

His other acting work includes an appearance on The Waltons (1975), and playing the Archie Bunker-like father in the short-lived Christina Applegate sitcom Jesse. He voiced supervillain the Ventriloquist in Batman: The Animated Series, and Perry White in Superman: The Animated Series.

In 2005, he played Anubis (aka "Jim") in the Stargate SG-1 episode "Threads". Dzundza portrayed George O'Malley's father Harold on Grey's Anatomy.

Personal life

Dzundza has been married to Mary Jo Vermeulen since 1982.

Now semi-retired, Dzundza resides in Astoria, Oregon, where he directs community and regional theatre productions.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1973	Massage Parlor Murders	Mr. Creepy	Also assistant director
1974	Fischia Il Sesso	Dean
1975	The Happy Hooker	Chet
1978	The Deer Hunter	John Welsh
1981	Honky Tonk Freeway	Eugene
1983	Streamers	Cokes
1984	Best Defense	Steve Loparino
1986	No Mercy	Captain Stemkowski
1987	No Way Out	Sam Hesselman
No Man's Land	Uncle Mike	Uncredited
1988	The Beast	Daskal
Honor Bound	Wocjinski
1990	Impulse	Lt. Joe Morgan
White Hunter Black Heart	Paul Landers
1991	The Butcher's Wife	Leo Lemke
1992	Basic Instinct	Detective Gus Moran
1995	Crimson Tide	COB Walters
Dangerous Minds	Hal Griffith
1997	That Darn Cat	Boetticher
Do Me A Favor	Wallace Muller
1998	Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero	Dr. Gregory Belson (voice)	title=George Dzundza (visual voices guide)	url=http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/George-Dzundza/	access-date=September 12, 2024	publisher=Behind The Voice Actors}} A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
Species II	Colonel Carter Burgess Jr.
1999	Instinct	Dr. John Murray
2000	Above Suspicion	Stamos
2002	Determination of Death	Mac
City by the Sea	Reg Duffy
2005	National Lampoon's Adam & Eve	Eve's dad
2006	Superman: Brainiac Attacks	Perry White (voice)	Direct-to-video
2010	The Chosen One	Norman

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1974	Kung Fu	Mr. Evans / 1st John	Episode: "Night of the Owls, Day of the Doves"
Great Performances	Gentleman	Episode: "King Lear"
1975	Movin' On	Charlie Banner	Episode: "From Baltimore to Eternity"
Starsky & Hutch	Crandell	Episode: "Snowstorm"
The Waltons	A.J. Covington	Episode: "The Abdication"
Grady	George Kosinski	3 episodes
Joe Forrester		Episode: "The Best Laid Schemes"
1976	Bert D'Angelo/Superstar	Mike Zuber	Episode: "Murder in Velvet"
1977	The Streets of San Francisco	Paul Weber	Episode: "The Canine Collar"
1978	The Defection of Simas Kudirka	Gruzauskas	Television film
1979	Salem's Lot	Cully Sawyer	Miniseries
1979–1980	Young Maverick	Clem	2 episodes
1981	Skokie	Frank Collin	Television film
A Long Way Home	Floyd Booth
1981–1982	Open All Night	Gordon Feester	13 episodes
1983	The Face of Rage	Nick	Television film
Faerie Tale Theatre	The Woodsman	Episode: "Sleeping Beauty"
1984	The Lost Honor of Kathryn Beck	Lt. DeCarlo	Television film
When She Says No	Paul Fellows
1984, 1988	CBS Schoolbreak Special	Mr. Elder / Arthur Jennings	2 episodes
1985	The Rape of Richard Beck	Blastig	Television film
Brotherly Love	Lieutenant Conde
The Execution of Raymond Graham	Prison Chaplain
1986	The Disney Sunday Movie	Pete Selzer	Episode: "2 1/2 Dad"
The Twilight Zone	Colonel Ilyanov	Episode: "Red Snow"
One Police Plaza	Detective Gustav Stamm	Television film
1987	Crime Story	Ivan Ivanovitch Patchenko	Episode: "Mig 21"
Glory Years	John Moss	Television film
1988	Something Is Out There	Frank Dileo	2 episodes
1989	Terror on Highway 91	Sheriff Jessie Barton	Television film
The Ryan White Story	Dr. Kleiman
Cross of Fire	Boyd Gurley	Miniseries
1990–91	Law & Order	Sergeant Max Greevey	Main cast (22 episodes)
1992	What She Doesn't Know	Jack Kilcoin	Television film
1993–95	Batman: The Animated Series	Arnold Wesker/The Ventriloquist, G. Carl Francis, Chubb (voices)	6 episodes
1993	The Untouchables	Warden Wyandotte	3 episodes
Animaniacs	Ivan Bloski (voice)	Episode: "Plane Pals"
1994	The Babymaker: The Dr. Cecil Jacobson Story	Cecil Jacobson	Television film
Matlock	Michael Brennan	Episode: "Brennan"
The Enemy Within	Jake	Television film
1996	The Limbic Region	Lloyd
Road Rovers	Gustav Hovac (voice)	Episode: "Where Rovers Dare"
1996–99	Superman: The Animated Series	Perry White (voice)	10 episodes
1997	The New Batman Adventures	Arnold Wesker/The Ventriloquist (voice)	Episode: "Double Talk"
1998–99	Jesse	John Warner Sr.	Main cast (22 episodes)
2000	Touched by an Angel	Bud Baxter	Episode: "The Empty Chair"
Third Watch	Faith's Dad	Episode: "Know Thyself"
2002	The Agency	Helmut	Episode: "The Gauntlet"
2002–03	Hack	Tom Grzelak	Main cast (22 episodes)
2005	Stargate SG-1	Jim/Anubis	Episode: "Threads"
2005–07	Grey's Anatomy	Harold O'Malley	7 episodes
2006	The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy	Coach (voice)	Episode: "The Secret Snake Club vs. P.E."
2008	October Road	Gloy Daniels	Episode: "Hat? No Hat?"
2009	The Beast	Lieutenant Platko	Episode: "Two Choices"
2011	Danni Lowinski	Augustus 'Gus' Lowinski	Television film

Video games

Year	Title	Voice role	Notes
2002	Superman: Shadow of Apokolips	Perry White
2004	Shellshock: Nam '67	Platt
2009	Batman: Arkham Asylum	Blackgate Thug	Uncredited

Stage appearances

Year	Title	Role	Venue	Notes
1973	King Lear	Gentleman	Delacorte Theater, Off-Broadway	For Shakespeare in the Park
That Championship Season	George Sikowski	U.S. tour
1974	Mert and Phil	Dream Man	Vivian Beaumont Theater, Broadway
1975–76	The Ritz	Abe	Longacre Theatre, Broadway
1976	A Streetcar Named Desire		McCarter Theatre, Princeton
Legend	William F. P. Morgan	Ethel Barrymore Theatre, Broadway
1977	As To The Meaning of Words		Hartman Theatre, Stamford
A Prayer for My Daughter	Kelly	Public Theater, Off-Broadway
1999	Measure for Measure	Pompey	Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles

Awards and nominations

Institution	Year	Category	Work
Gold Derby Awards	2007	Drama Guest Actor	Grey's Anatomy
2010	Drama Guest Actor of the Decade
Venice Film Festival	1983	Best Actor	Streamers

References

Notes

References

(2014-12-02). "Say How? A Pronunciation Guide to Names of Public Figures". Loc.gov.
"Dzundza, George 1945—".
Webb, Patrick. (August 7, 2023). "Everyday People: Retired actor wants audiences to question".
(13 September 1998). "New Yorkers bring culture to Catskills".
Jakle, Jeanne. (December 26, 1998). "Nice-guy actor won't turn fans away - or off". [[San Antonio Express-News]] / mySA.com.
"George Dzundza".
Jacobs, Jay S.. (February 26, 2003). "George Dzundza".
"George Dzundza – Broadway Cast & Staff {{!}} IBDB".
"A Prayer for My Daughter".
Handler, David. (March 3, 1982). "'Open All Night' is weird -- but good". The Madison Courier.
(2020-11-02). "Film documents Skokie's resistance to Neo-Nazis".
Slovick, Matt. "No Way Out".
(20 August 2015). "George Dzundza". Stella Adler Studio of Acting.
Kehr, Dave. (2 December 1988). "'The Beast' Intrigues with Its Point of View".
"George Dzundza Credits". tvguide.com.
(November 22, 1999). "Law & Order: The Unofficial Companion". Renaissance Books.
Bengel, Erick. (March 13, 2014). "Dzundza directs Coaster Theatre production". [[The Astorian]].
"George Dzundza (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors.
Block, Alex Ben. (March 6, 2013). "Film Investors' Lawsuit Against Rob Schneider Moves to L.A. Superior Court".
Leo, Vince. (August 30, 2010). "''The Chosen One'' review (2010)".

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