Andrew Prine

Andrew Prine
Prine in 2010
Born	Andrew Lewis Prine (1936-02-14)February 14, 1936 Jennings, Florida, U.S.
Died	October 31, 2022(2022-10-31) (aged 86) Suresnes, France
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1957–2015
Spouses	Sharon Farrell Heather Lowe

Andrew Lewis Prine (February 14, 1936 – October 31, 2022) was an American film, stage, and television actor.

Early life

Prine was born in 1936, in Jennings, Florida. He was raised in a farming community.^[1] After graduation from Miami Jackson High School in Miami, Prine attended the University of Miami and performed at the acclaimed Jerry Herman Ring Theatre.

Career

Early beginnings

In the mid-1950s, Prine was a "starving" stage actor in New York City.^[1] Prine made his acting debut in an episode of United States Steel Hour, in 1957.^[2] He was the lead in the Broadway production of Thomas Wolfe's Look Homeward, Angel.^[3] Adapted by playwright Ketti Frings, the play opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on November 28, 1957.^[4] In 1958, Prine was brought in as a replacement for Anthony Perkins.^[5] It ran for a total of 564 performances, and closed on April 4, 1959. The production was a critical success,^[6] it won 1958 Best American Play and was nominated for several Tony Awards.^[7]

Prine left Broadway in pursuit of acting, after he realised the greater pay difference.^[6] From 1959, he was cast in a series of small roles for television.^[8] In 1962, Prine was cast in the Academy Award-nominated film The Miracle Worker as Helen Keller's older brother James.^[9] He had fond memories of his co-star Anne Bancroft, who was dating Mel Brooks at the time.^[1]

Westerns and television: 1960s

In 1962, Prine landed the lead role of Andy Guthrie with Earl Holliman in the 28-episode NBC series Wide Country, a drama about two brothers who are rodeo performers which aired between 1962 and 1963.^[10] He learnt from rodeo performer and technical advisor Slim Pickens. Prine later credited Holliman for the quality of the series, in terms of rewriting the script and his dedication.^[6] After the cancellation of Wide Country, Prine continued to work throughout the 1960s, in such western television series as Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Virginian, and Wagon Train.^[10]

His other television appearances included the non-western series Dr. Kildare, Cannon, Combat!, and Twelve O'Clock High.^[8] He notably played Dr. Richard Kimble's brother Ray in an important first-season episode of The Fugitive.^[11]

In the late 1960s, Prine appeared in three prominent films made by director Andrew V. McLaglen: The Devil's Brigade (1968) with William Holden, Bandolero! (1968) with Jimmy Stewart, Dean Martin and Raquel Welch, and Chisum (1970) with John Wayne. Prine was known for his youthful, egotistical attitude. Nobody else intimidated him, with the exception of Wayne.^[6] Out of all the films in his career, Prine confessed that the Westerns were his personal favorite.^[1]

Horror and television: 1970s–1980s

During the 1970s and 1980s, Prine steadily worked in film and television. These series included Baretta, Barnaby Jones, Hawaii Five-O, The Bionic Woman, W.E.B., Dallas, and as Steven in the science-fiction miniseries V and its sequel V: The Final Battle.

Prine appeared in a succession of cult horror films Simon, King of the Witches (1971), Hannah, Queen of the Vampires (1973), Terror Circus (1973), The Centerfold Girls (1974), The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976), Grizzly (1976), The Evil (1978), and Amityville II: The Possession (1982).^[12]

Later years: 1990s–2010s

During the 1990s, Prine continued to work in film and television. His appearances included Weird Science and Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Prine worked with director Quentin Tarantino on an Emmy-winning episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and in Saving Grace with Holly Hunter, Boston Legal, and Six Feet Under, in addition to feature films with Johnny Knoxville. The Encore Western Channel has featured him on Conversations with Andrew Prine, interviewing Hollywood actors such as Eli Wallach, Harry Carey, Jr., and Patrick Wayne, and film makers such as Mark Rydell with behind-the-scenes anecdotes.^{[citation needed]}

Stage

A life member of the Actors Studio,^[13] Prine's stage work includes Long Day's Journey into Night with Charlton Heston and Deborah Kerr, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, directed by Henry Fonda, and A Distant Bell on Broadway.^{[citation needed]}

Legacy

Prine received the Golden Boot Award for his body of work in Westerns (in 2001)^[14] and two Dramalogue Critics Awards for Best Actor in a leading role.^[15]

Personal life

Prine briefly married his first wife, actress Sharon Farrell in 1963. The couple divorced the same year, reportedly after only living together for one month and ten days.^[16]

He married his second wife, actress Brenda Scott in 1965. The couple had multiple remarriages and divorces, before they remarried a third time with their relationship lasting from 1973 to 1978.^[10]

In 1986, he married his third wife, actress-producer Heather Lowe. The couple were together until his death in 2022.^[5]

Karyn Kupcinet investigation

From 1962 to her death on November 28, 1963, Prine dated actress Karyn Kupcinet.

The relationship was problematic; Kupcinet was abusing diet pills along with other prescription drugs.^[17]

The problems in Kupcinet's relationship with Prine were mainly due to Prine's objections to making the relationship exclusive. After Kupcinet underwent an illegal abortion in July 1963, the relationship cooled, and Prine began dating other women. In turn, Kupcinet began spying on Prine and his new girlfriend.^[18]

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department later determined Kupcinet had delivered threatening and profane messages, consisting of words and letters she had cut out of magazines, to Prine and herself.

On November 30, 1963, Karyn Kupcinet was found dead in her apartment at the age of 22. Coroner Harold Kade concluded that due to a broken hyoid bone in her throat, Kupcinet had been strangled. Her death officially was ruled a homicide.^[19]

During the course of its investigation, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department named Andrew Prine as one of its chief suspects. When questioned by law enforcement, Prine said he had talked with Kupcinet twice by phone on Wednesday, the day before her murder, claiming he was trying to resolve a lover's quarrel between them. Detectives considered it possible that, after Prine learned the anonymous threat letters both he and Kupcinet had received had been created by Kupcinet and their unresolved argument, he had a motive for murder. In addition, both Edward Rubin and Robert Hathaway, the two men who had possibly been the last to see her alive, were friends of Prine. They eventually were named as suspects.^[20][21][18]

In 1988, Kupcinet's father Irv Kupcinet published a memoir in which he revealed that he and his wife Essee believed that Andrew Prine had nothing to do with their daughter's murder.^[22] He was suspicious of a person, still alive when he wrote his memoir, who had no connection to Prine.^[22] Irv Kupcinet named David Lange, a neighbor of his daughter, who had twice confessed to friends he was guilty. Later when questioned, Lange suggested he was kidding. However, when a girlfriend who was with Lange in his upper apartment told him about the police activity at his friend Karen's apartment, his reaction was adamant and he told her to close the drapes and keep quiet. She thought his demeanor was strange because Lange often had been in Karyn's apartment.^{[citation needed]}

Death

Prine died of natural causes while on vacation in Suresnes, France on October 31, 2022, at the age of 86.^[5]

Filmography

Television

References

External links

• Andrew Prine at IMDb