Bruce Dern

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Bruce Dern
Image:Brucedern.JPG Bruce Dern in After Dark, My Sweet
Birth name	Bruce MacLeish Dern
Born	4 June 1936 Chicago, Illinois, USA
Spouse(s)	Marie Dean Diane Ladd (1960-1969) Andrea Beckett (1969-present)

Bruce MacLeish Dern (born June 4, 1936) is an American screen actor.

Dern was born in Chicago, Illinois to John Dern and Jean MacLeish. His paternal grandfather was George Dern, a former Utah governor and Secretary of War, his uncle was poet Archibald MacLeish, and his godfather was well-known politician Adlai Stevenson.

Dern is generally regarded as a talented actor who has suffered from typecasting, due to having had a series of roles as mentally unstable characters early in his film career.^[1] His best-known role may be that of Freeman Lowell, the caretaker of Earth's last forests in Silent Running (1972), but other memorable roles include Asa Watts in The Cowboys (1972), and Michael Lander, a deranged blimp pilot in the film version of Thomas Harris's Black Sunday (1977).

Dern has stated that his role as Asa Watts in The Cowboys made it difficult for him to get work in Hollywood for several years. As Asa Watts, he killed John Wayne's character by shooting him in the back. Wayne told Dern during filming "America will hate you for this." "Yeah, but they'll love me in Berkeley," Dern replied.^{[citation needed]}

He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Coming Home (1978) with Jane Fonda. He was also nominated for the "Best Actor" prize at the Berlin Film Festival for That Championship Season (1982).

Dern is the father of actress Laura Dern and was formerly married to actress Diane Ladd.

Filmography