Actors - James Brolin

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	Actors - James Brolin

James Brolin (born July 18, 1940) is a popular American television, film, character actor, producer and director who starred in three television series in a career that spanned four decades, such as Dr. Steven Kiley on Marcus Welby, M.D. (1969-1976), as Peter McDermott on Hotel (1983-1988), and as Lt. Bill "Raven" Kelly on Pensacola: Wings of Gold (1997-2000). He also co-starred with Jason Lee and Selma Blair in the comedy movie, A Guy Thing
.

Early life

He was born James Kenneth Bruderlin in Los Angeles, California to an aeronautical engineer, Henry and a singer, Helen, and the family settled in Westwood, after his birth. As a teenager in the mid-1950s, he would often be fascinated with another actor James Dean, (this was due to him watching movies of his time). At the same time, while his parents invited a director over to his family's house for dinner before auditioning, he met another fellow actor and classmate Ryan O'Neal, who's about a year younger than Brolin, and the two clicked.

Career Stardom

At the age of 20, he changed his last name from Bruderlin to Brolin, and began his contract over at 20th Century Fox studios, where he took 5,000 hours of acting classes. He made his acting debut in 1961 on an episode of Bus Stop. He also had small roles in several movies from Take Her, She's Mine (1963), Dear Brigitte
(1965), Fantastic Voyage
(1966), among many others. He also had a recurring role on the short-lived series The Monroes, but was soon canceled. The following year, his first big role was The Cape Town Affair (1967), where it did not receive any recognition from the box office. Despite of the issues Brolin had, he was fired from 20th Century Fox Studios.

Marcus Welby, M.D. and Film Work

In 1968, he would then transfer to another job at Universal Studios, where he auditioned for a co-starring role opposite longtime actor Robert Young in the popular 1970s medical drama, Marcus Welby, M.D. for ABC in 1969, where it was unquestionably, one of his best hit series to date. On the show, he played Dr. Steven Kiley, a young and highly-skilled trained doctor who was asked to work with another doctor of experience, and the chemistry of Brolin & Young clicked. While working on the set of the series, he also had to study medical and layman terms, which was often complicated and risky for the show. In its first season in 1970, he was nominated and won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, but was nominated for three more times for a total of four Emmy nominations. He was also nominated for Golden Globes three times for Best Supporting Actor, and won twice between 1971 and 1973, and the actor was on his way to greater fame as the years went on. He would also had two hiatuses in a year when he wasn't working on Marcus Welby, he would then star in a couple of movies, such as, Skyjacked
(1972), and Westworld
(1973). After launching a movie career in 1976, Brolin was very pleased that his first show finally went off the air so that the actor could concentrate on his movie career.

Film Work

In the mid-1970s, he became one of Hollywood's leading man starring in a lot of movies from Gable and Lombard (1976), to High Risk (1981). When Roger Moore expressed his desire to leave the role of James Bond, Brolin did a screen test for Octopussy
(1983) to become the next actor to play the super-spy, but Moore ultimately decided to continue in the series, making the audition moot.

Hotel

Brolin went back to series television to star in yet another popular series, in 1983, where he teamed up with Aaron Spelling to produced a pilot for the prime-time soap opera, Hotel, for ABC. On his second show, he played Peter MacDermott, a hotel manager who helped everybody tried to solve their own problems and to let love in his own life at the same time. Also, co-starring on the show was Connie Sellecca, who played Brolin's promoted manager, Christine Francis, and the two clicked together. Compared to his 1970s series, Marcus Welby, his show was also a ratings winner in the first season, as he invited several guest stars to talk about their own issues and personal feelings as the show progressed. In his first year, Brolin was nominated for 2 additional Golden Globes between 1983 and 1984 for Best Performance By an Actor in a TV Series, but didn't win. He would also serve as series director of the show making him the driving force of the show. In 1985, while his marriage to Jane was falling, his emotional anger took a turn for the worst {when he was asked to invite Jan Smithers on the set of Hotel) when the writers suggested they do a storyline for Peter in which a woman needed to take very good care of him throughout this difficult time. By 1988, after 5 seasons, Hotel was about to close its doors for goods as the show was cancelled.

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