PROFILBARU.COM

George Chakiris
George Chakiris
	Chakiris in 2010
Born	September 16, 1932 (age 92); Norwood, Ohio, U.S.
Other names	George Kerris
Occupation(s)	Actor, dancer
Years active	1947–1996, 2021
Website	GeorgeChakiris.com

George Chakiris (born September 16, 1932) is an American actor and dancer. He is best known for his appearance in the 1961 film version of West Side Story as Bernardo, the leader of the Sharks gang, for which he won both the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture.

Life and career

Early life

Chakiris was born on September 16, 1932, in Norwood, Ohio, to Stelianos (Steve) and Zoe (née Anastasiadou) Chakiris, Greek immigrants from Turkey. He is one of eight siblings.^[1]^[2]^[3]

His family moved to Long Beach, California, in 1944. He attended Jefferson Junior High school and was graduated in 1950 from Woodrow Wilson Classical High School, both in Long Beach.^[4]^[5]

Chakiris attended one year at Long Beach City College, but wanted to pursue a career in dance, so he dropped out and moved to Hollywood. He worked in the advertising department of May Company California, a department store, and studied dance at night.^[4]^[5]

Early films

Chakiris made his film debut at age 15 in 1947 in the chorus of Song of Love.^[5]

For several years he appeared in small roles, usually as a dancer or a member of the chorus in various musical films, including The Great Caruso (1951), Stars and Stripes Forever (1952), Call Me Madam (1953), Second Chance (1953), and The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. (1953).

He was a dancer in Marilyn Monroe's "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" number in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), and he appeared in Give a Girl a Break (1953) and White Christmas (1954).

He can be seen in the wedding dance in the MGM musical film Brigadoon (1954), and appeared in There's No Business Like Show Business (1954).

Chakiris was sometimes cast in non-Caucasian roles, including in West Side Story as a Puerto Rican and in Diamond Head as a native Hawaiian.

Paramount

Chakiris appeared uncredited as a dancer in White Christmas (1954) and appeared in a close-up with Rosemary Clooney while she sang "Love, You Didn't Do Right by Me". A publicity photo of this generated fan mail, and Paramount signed him to a movie contract. "I got lucky with the close-up with Rosemary," said Chakiris.^[6]^[7]

Chakiris appeared in The Country Girl (1954) and The Girl Rush (1955), dancing with Rosalind Russell in the latter. He received a positive review from Hedda Hopper.^[8]

MGM borrowed him for Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956), and he danced in Las Vegas.^[9]

Chakiris had a small non-dancing part in Under Fire (1957).

West Side Story

About 1958, frustrated with the progress of his career, Chakiris left Hollywood for New York. The stage musical West Side Story had been running for a year on Broadway, and Chakiris auditioned for Jerome Robbins. He was cast in the London production as Riff, leader of the Jets. The musical launched on the West End in late 1958, and Chakiris received excellent reviews, playing it for almost 22 months.^[10]

The Mirisch Brothers bought the film rights to West Side Story and screen-tested Chakiris. They thought his dark complexion made him more suited to the role of Bernardo, leader of the Sharks, and cast Russ Tamblyn as Riff. Filming took seven months.^[11]^[4]

The film adaptation of West Side Story (1961) was hugely successful, and Chakiris won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance. This led to a long-term contract with the Mirisch Company.^[12]

Chakiris played the lead role in Two and Two Make Six (1962), directed by Freddie Francis.

Chakiris starred as a doctor in the film Diamond Head (1963), opposite Charlton Heston and Yvette Mimieux.^[13]

In the early 1960s, he embarked on a career as a pop singer, resulting in a couple of minor hits. In 1960, he recorded a single with producer Joe Meek.

Three-picture deal with Mirisch Brothers

Chakiris's fee around this time was reported to be $100,000 per movie.^[14] His first new film for the Mirisches was Flight from Ashiya (1964), shot in Japan with Yul Brynner and Richard Widmark.

The Mirisches reunited Chakiris with Brynner in Kings of the Sun (1963), an epic about the Mayans, which was a box-office flop. Chakiris went to Italy to make Bebo's Girl (1964) with Claudia Cardinale.

He acted in 633 Squadron (1964), a war movie with Cliff Robertson, the last movie he made for the Mirisches. Chakiris later said he made a mistake with his Hollywood films by looking at the "potential" of them instead of the quality of the roles.^[15]

Europe

Chakiris played a Greek terrorist in Cyprus in a British film, The High Bright Sun (1965), with Dirk Bogarde. He went to Italy for The Mona Lisa Has Been Stolen (1965) and France for Is Paris Burning? (1966).^[16]

He appeared with Catherine Deneuve and Gene Kelly in Jacques Demy's French musical film The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967). Around this time, his manager cancelled his contract with Capitol Records.^[17] However, he enjoyed his time in Europe, saying he had time to "experiment and refine my craft."^[15] He also performed a nightclub act at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, his first stage work since West Side Story. The show was successful and led to Chakiris receiving an offer to appear with Jose Ferrer in a TV production of Kismet (1967). He appeared in The Day the Hot Line Got Hot (1968) in France, and The Big Cube (1969) with Lana Turner in America. He made Sharon Vestida de Rojo (Sharon Dressed in Red) (1970) in Spain.^[18]

1970s and 1980s

In 1969, Chakiris did a stage production of The Corn Is Green in Chicago with Eileen Herlie. He enjoyed the experience and it revived his confidence as an actor. He said all the films he made after West Side Story had been "a waste of time...it was difficult to take them seriously...It was my fault and no one else's".^[19]

Chakiris accepted a dramatic role on TV's Medical Center to change his image.^[19]

He starred in the first national tour of the Stephen Sondheim musical Company, in the role of Bobby, from 1971-1972.

Chakiris worked heavily on TV in the 1970s and 1980s in Britain and the U.S., guest-starring on Hawaii Five-O, Police Surgeon, Thriller, Notorious Woman, Wonder Woman, Fantasy Island, CHiPs, Matt Houston, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Poor Little Rich Girls, Hell Town and Murder, She Wrote.

He appeared in the final episode (March 22, 1974) of The Partridge Family as an old high school boyfriend to Shirley Partridge (Shirley Jones). Their kiss goodbye was the final scene in the program's run. He also starred in the Terry Marcel film Why Not Stay for Breakfast? (1979).

Chakiris appeared in several episodes of Dallas and had a role on Santa Barbara.

Later career

Chakiris was top-billed in the vampire film Pale Blood (1990). On TV, he had a recurring role on the series Superboy as Professor Peterson from 1988 to 1990, and guest-starred on Human Target and the miniseries The Girls of Lido.

On stage, he starred in the musical in a Long Beach Civic Light Opera production of The King and I in 1995.^[20]

On March 23, 1998, on the 70th Academy Awards telecast, he appeared in the "Oscar's Family Album" segment, a historic gathering of 70 actors who have received both competitive and honorary awards seated onstage together.^[21]

He has given occasional television interviews since then, but is mostly retired. His hobby of making sterling silver jewelry has turned into a new occupation,^[22] working as a jewelry designer for his own brand, George Chakiris Collections, consisting of handmade original sterling silver jewelry.

In 2012, he presented a musical about veganism titled Loving the Silent Tears.^[23]^[24]

In 2021, Chakiris appeared in the film Not to Forget (2021), which aims to raise awareness and funds for the fight against Alzheimer's disease. The movie, directed by Valerio Zanoli, stars Karen Grassle and five Academy Award winners: George Chakiris, Cloris Leachman, Louis Gossett Jr., Tatum O'Neal, and Olympia Dukakis.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1947	Song of Love	Choir boy	As George Kerris
1951	The Great Caruso	Dancer	Uncredited
1952	Stars and Stripes Forever	Ballroom dancer	Uncredited
1953	Call Me Madam	Dancer in 'The Ocarina' Number
	The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T	Dancer	As George Kerris
	Gentlemen Prefer Blondes	Dancer ("Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend")	Uncredited^[25]
	Second Chance	Background Observer in Dance Sequence	Uncredited
	Give a Girl a Break	Dancer	Uncredited
1954	Brigadoon	Specialty dancer	Uncredited
	White Christmas	Dancer in 'Mandy' and 'Love' numbers	Uncredited
	The Country Girl	Dancer with pick	Uncredited
	There's No Business Like Show Business	Dancer	Uncredited
1955	The Girl Rush	Chorus boy, 'Hillbilly Heart' number	Uncredited
1956	Meet Me in Las Vegas	Young groom	As George Kerris
1957	Under Fire	Pvt. Steiner	Uncredited
1961	West Side Story	Bernardo	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
1962	Two and Two Make Six	Larry Curado
1962	Diamond Head	Dr. Dean Kahanna
1963	Kings of the Sun	Balam
1964	La ragazza di Bube	Bebo	English: Bebo's Girl
	Flight from Ashiya	2nd Lt. John Gregg
	633 Squadron	Lt. Erik Bergman
1965	The High Bright Sun	Haghios
1966	On a volé la Joconde [fr]	Vincent	English: The Mona Lisa Has Been Stolen
1966	Is Paris Burning?	GI in tank
1967	Les Demoiselles de Rochefort	Étienne	English: The Young Girls of Rochefort
1968	Le Rouble à Deux Faces	Eric Ericson	US title: The Day the Hot Line Got Hot
1969	The Big Cube	Johnny Allen
1969	Sharon Vestida de Rojo	Robert Bowman	English: Sharon Dressed in Red
1979	Why Not Stay for Breakfast?	George Clark
1982	Jekyll and Hyde... Together Again	Himself
1990	Pale Blood	Michael Fury
2021	Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It	Himself	Documentary about Rita Moreno, his costar in West Side Story (1961)
2021	Not to Forget	Bank Manager

Selected television appearances

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1956	Ford Star Jubilee		Episode: "You're the Top"
1968	The Carol Burnett Show		Episode 18 (January 22, 1968)
1969	The Jackie Gleason Show		Episode: "Mousey the Dip"
1970–1975	Medical Center	Alex Solkin	3 episodes
1972	Hawaii Five-O	Chris Lahani	Episode: "Death Is a Company Policy"
1974	The Partridge Family	Capt. Chuck "Cuddles" Corwin	Episode: ". . . - - - . . . (S.O.S.)"
	Thriller	Robert Stone	Episode: "Kiss Me and Die"
	Notorious Woman	Frédéric Chopin	Miniseries
1978	The New Adventures of Wonder Woman	Carlo Indrezzano	Episode: "Death in Disguise"
1978	Return to Fantasy Island	Pierre
1982	Fantasy Island	Captain Claude Dumont	Episode: "The Magic Camera/Mata Hari/Valerie"
1983	CHiPs	Bernard DeJardine	Episode: "Fox Trap"
1983	Matt Houston	Brett Cole	Episode: "The Showgirl Murders"
1984	Matt Houston	Clark Sawyer	Episode: "Waltz of Death"
	One Life to Live		Unknown episodes
	Poor Little Rich Girls	Prince Rudolph	Episode: "The Gentleman Caller"
	Nihon no omokage	Lafcadio Hearn	Japanese miniseries ja:日本の面影
	Scarecrow and Mrs. King	Angelo Spinelli	Episode: "Lost and Found"
1985	Hell Town	Ric Montenez	Episode: "Let My Jennie Go"
1986	Dallas	Nicholas	14 episodes
1988	Santa Barbara	Daniel Espinoza
1989	Murder, She Wrote	Eric Bowman	Episode: "Weave a Tangled Web"
1989–1990	Superboy	Professor Peterson	9 episodes
1992	Human Target	Robillard	Episode: "Chances Are"
1995	Les Filles du Lido	Saskia	Miniseries
1996	Last of the Summer Wine	Max Bernard	Episode: "Extra! Extra!"

References

^ "Personally Speaking ep. 68 (George Chakiris)". YouTube. August 26, 2021.
^ Hamilton County Recorder’s Office, Cincinnati, Ohio.
^ Chakiris, George (2021). My West Side Story. Lyons Press. p. 3. ISBN 978-1493055470.
^ ^a ^b ^c Greeks Have a Word for It---Chakiris, Los Angeles Times, December 10, 1961: Q4.
^ ^a ^b ^c Chakiris, George. My West Side Story. Lyons Press, 2021. Page 10. ISBN 978-1493055470
^ Kiesewetter, John (December 12, 2011). "George Chakiris makes holiday homecoming". Cincinnati Enquirer. Cincinnati, Ohio.
^ "Biography for George Chakiris" on TCM.com
^ Hopper, Hedda (February 8, 1955). "Edmond O'Brien Cast in Jack Webb 'Blues'". Los Angeles Times. p. B6.
^ "Dance Star Does Unique 'Viva Vegas' Role; Kent Taylor in Films Again Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times, July 22, 1955: 17.
^ Playboys of the Western World Wilson, Angus. The Observer December 14, 1958: 15.
^ Hopper, Hedda (June 28, 1960). "Vidal Will Write 'Reunion' Script: Tamblyn and Chakiris Join Cast of 'West Side Story'". Los Angeles Times. p. B8.
^ Mirisch, Walter (April 10, 2008). I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History. University of Wisconsin Press. p. 201.
^ Parsons, Louella O. (April 1, 1962). "Constant, Hard Work Pays Off for George". The Washington Post and Times-Herald. p. G2.
^ Scheuer, Philip K. "Chakiris' Salary Hits Six Figures: Philippine Actor Climbing; Wide Screen for 'Squares'?" Los Angeles Times, May 30, 1962: C9.
^ ^a ^b Scott, John L. "Chakiris Likes Nightclub Life" Los Angeles Times, August 4, 1967: d7.
^ Briggs, Andrew (September 21, 1965). "Two Signed for 'Paris'". Los Angeles Times. p. c13.
^ CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD; Gracious dance; George Chakiris remains grateful to choreographer and director Jerome Robbins for 'West Side Story.' King, Susan. Los Angeles Times November 11, 2013: D.3.
^ Muir, Florabel (September 6, 1967). "Everything Is Roses for George Chakiris". The Washington Post and Times-Herald. p. B13.
^ ^a ^b Browning, Norma Lee (November 22, 1970). "Hollywood Today: George Chakiris Tries Cutting the Ice as Hollywood Looks at His New Image". Chicago Tribune. p. nw2.
^ Fitzgerald, David (November 11, 2013). "George Chakiris' musical notes". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 2, 2024.
^ Pond, Steve (2005), The Big Show: High Times and Dirty Dealings Backstage at the Academy Awards, New York, United States: Faber and Faber, ISBN 0-571-21193-3
^ Holleran, Scott. A Boy Like That. BoxOfficeMojo.com. March 21, 2003.
^ "In-Depth with Loving the Silent Tears Guest Speaker: George Chakiris (Vegetarian)". GodsDirectContact.org. 2012. Retrieved May 31, 2018.
^ Wagley, Catherine (October 30, 2012). "That Musical About Veganism Starring Jon Secada and Based on the Poetry of Supreme Master Ching Hai, Explained". LA Weekly. Retrieved May 31, 2018.
^ "Hometowns to Hollywood: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes". HometownsToHollywood.com. April 24, 2019. Retrieved September 1, 2024.