Celebrity Nooz: John Saxon

John Saxon (Actor) - A Nightmare on Elm Street

Updated: 11/22/11

Name: John Saxon

Birth Name: Carmine Orrico

Born: August 5, 1936, Brooklyn, New York

Claim To Fame: He is best known for his role in the movie A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Family Life: He has a son named Antonio with his former wife Mary Ann Saxon. They were married from 1967-1979 (divorced). He has been married to Gloria Martel since 2008.

Info: Saxon studied acting with famous acting coach Stella Adler and broke into films in the mid-1950s, playing teenage roles. In 1956, he starred with swimming star Esther Williams in the dramatic film The Unguarded Moment.

He appeared in many films in his early career, including Mario Bava's The Girl Who Knew Who Much (1963), Curtis Harrington's Sci-Fi classic Queen of Blood (1966), and won a Golden Globe Best Supporting Actor nomination for his portrayal of a Mexican bandit in the 1966 film The Appaloosa.

He played a Mexican revolutionary in Joe Kidd (1972), appeared in Bruce Lee's Hollywood debut Enter the Dragon (1973), and in 1975, starred in several episodes of the ABC produced series The Six Million Dollar Man playing a number of characters.

He played Hunt Sears, head of a breakfast cereal conglomerate, in the 1979, Oscar-nominated film The Electric Horseman, appeared in the 1982 TV movie Rooster, and appeared on the last week of the game show "Whew!"

Some of the Italian films he has appeared in include One Dollar Too Many (1968), Napoli violenta (1976), and also played Dylan Hunt in the Gene Roddenberry shows called Planet Earth and Strange New World.

He has had supporting roles in many horror films, such as Bob Clark's Black Christmas (1974), Dario Argento's Tenebrae (1982), Mitchell (1975), Battle Beyond the Stars (1980), Cannibal Apocalypse (1980), Prisoners of the Lost Universe and in Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) as the heroine's (Nancy Thompson's) father.

Trivia: Attended New Utrecht High School and graduated in 1953.

Was renamed John Saxon by his agent Henry Willson.

His son Antonio graduated with honors from the University of California.

Was a celebrity player (along with Betty White) on the final week of the cult-classic gameshow "Celebrity Whew!" (1979)

Has a black belt in karate.

Is fluent in Italian. He is the son of immigrants from Calabria, Italy.

His likeness was used for the Kenner action-figure doll called 'Maskatron' which was based on the series The Bionic Woman.

Where Are They Now: Recently, Saxon has appeared in a bunch of independent films and guest starred on several television series, including CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and the Showtime series Masters of Horror. He was a special guest on the Creation Entertainment - Weekend of Horrors 2010 on May 21 in L.A. Saxon has two more films in production, comedies The Extra (2011), and Bring Me the Head of Lance Henriksen (2012).

Write To John Saxon:
Sorry, no address found.

Official Website: http://www.johnsaxonsite.com

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