One of the most important men in classic westerns Kevin Joseph Aloysius Connors, professionally known as Chuck Connors, was larger than life. He started his career as a professional athlete before embarking on an acting career. Famous for his role as Lucas McCain on the hit ABC series The Rifleman, he’s also a writer with impeccable features. He proved his elite athleticism by becoming one of only 12 athletes in American professional sports history to have played in both MLB and the NBA.
After playing the titular cowboy in The Rifleman, he’s become a string of badass villains. He spent the latter part of his life on charitable causes. Chuck Connors used his fame to raise money for handicapped children at golf tournaments. Let us dive into the life of one of the greatest actors of all time.
Bio and career
The Rifleman was born in Brooklyn, New York, on Sunday, April 10, 1921, to Canadian immigrants of Irish descent, Marcella (née Londrigan) and Alban Francis “Allan” Connors, the eldest of their two children. His younger sister, Gloria, was taken in two years after him.
From an early age, he began to show adept athleticism and was a dedicated fan of Major League Baseball’s Brooklyn Dodgers. In time, he won a scholarship to Adelphi Academy, a prep school in Brooklyn, where he graduated in 1939. He then went to Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey, where he played basketball and baseball for two years. in professional baseball. While in school, he also changed his first name to Chuck, a nickname given to him for his repeated use of the word while playing on the baseball team.
He played on two minor league teams in 1940 and 1942 before enlisting in the Army at Fort Knox, Kentucky after America entered World War II on October 10, 1942. Four years later, he was released from his obligation to serve in the army, after which he joined the Boston Celtics of the Basketball Association of America. Due to waning enthusiasm for the sport or the effects of the war on him, Chuck Connors played 53 one-shot games, before quitting the team and basketball at the start of the 1947–48 season. Before getting into acting, he picked up the colors and played for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1949 and the Chicago Cubs in 1951.
Over a career spanning four decades, Connors has appeared on both the big and small screens. The 6’6″ stallion began his film career in 1952 with Pat and Mike and the following year starred in South Sea Woman and then opposite John Wayne in Trouble Along the Way. He has starred in the 1962 Western film and rose to prominence in the late 60s and 70s with roles in Kill Them All and Come Back Alone (1968), Embassy (1972), the absolutely legendary Green Silky (1973), the slasher teen movie Tourist Trap (1979).
On television, he is best known for his role as Lucas McCain for five years in the famous ABC series The Rifleman (1958-1963). Johnny Crawford who played Mark McCain, the son of Lucas and Connors reprized their roles in a western film, The Gambler’s Return: The Luck of a Draw (1991). He has performed in many shows and has become a lovable television actor. Others include leading roles in Arrest and Judgment (1963-1964), Marked (1965-1966), Cowboy in Africa (1967-1968), The Yellow Rose (1983-1984).
After The Rifleman, Chuck Connors took a hard turn and played against type. His physique portrayed him as an imposing villain and often influenced his roles. He played various roles like bombers, assassins, brutal bodyguards, crooks. He even played a killer with garden shears. On television, he also starred as slave owner Tom Moore in the miniseries The Roots which earned him an Emmy nomination.
Chuck Connors net worth
Connors was a man of many hats who gained immense success from the various businesses he was involved in. His net worth is estimated at $5 million.
Was he gay? – Spouse and children
Chuck Connors was an incredibly handsome man and was widely known to be a social butterfly. With his strong athletic physique, steel jaw, bold blue eyes, and deep, commanding voice, he was bound to be a sight for both men and women. If any of the people mentioned above wanted to say something about their sexuality, a man who has been married three times could not be called gay.
Connors was first married to Elizabeth Jane Riddell Connors from 1948 to 1961. Two years later, he tied the knot with her Geronimo (1962) co-star Kamala Devi. The duo also shared the screen in other works such as Marked, Broken Saber and Cowboy in Africa before their divorce in 1973. Their last and smallest nuptials were entrusted to Faith Quabius, who played the role of attendant in Soylent Green. They married in 1977 and divorced in 1979. He was married to Rose Mary Grumley before his death.
He had four sons with his first wife. Michael (1950-2017), Jeffrey (1952-2014), Stephen (born in 1953) and Kevin (1956-2005). His son Jeffrey joined him in The Rifleman, filmed in 1959 as Toby Halperin, in the episode Tension He is also a known author for Strength Coach: A Call to Serve (2013). He died following outpatient surgery on February 19, 2014.
Cause of death
Screen veteran and TV heavyweight Chuck Connors was a lifelong smoker. Three weeks before his death, he had been hospitalized for pneumonia linked to lung cancer.
He breathed his last on November 10, 1992 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles at the age of 71 and his body was interred in San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Los Angeles.