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For other people named Kevin McCarthy, see Kevin McCarthy.

Kevin McCarthy (born February 15, 1914) is an American actor.

McCarthy was born in Seattle, Washington, the son of Martha Therese (née Preston) and Roy Winfield McCarthy.^[1] McCarthy's father was from a wealthy Irish Catholic family based in Minnesota, and his mother was born in Washington state to a Protestant father and a Jewish mother.^[2] He is the brother of the late author Mary McCarthy, and a distant cousin of former U.S. senator and presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy. He graduated from Campion High School in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin in 1932.

McCarthy was quite accomplished at a young age in the theatre. In 1949, he was cast as Biff in the London company of Death of a Salesman, starring Paul Muni. A film was made in 1951 and he was nominated for an Academy Award for his role.^[3]

McCarthy later went on to have a long and distinguished career as an in-demand character actor. He has had some starring roles sprinkled in his career, most notably the horror film classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers. On television, he had roles in two short-lived series: The Survivors with Lana Turner; and Flamingo Road as Claude Weldon, father of the Morgan Fairchild character.

Beginning in 1942, McCarthy had a long and close friendship with the acclaimed actor Montgomery Clift. McCarthy and Clift were cast in the same play together, Ramon Naya's Mexican Mural. The two of them, along with McCarthy's wife Augusta Dabney McCarthy, quickly became the best of friends. They socialized together and acted in several projects together.

McCarthy was also there the night in 1956 when Clift wrapped his car around a telephone pole on Coldwater Canyon. They had spent the evening at a dinner party at the home of Elizabeth Taylor in Beverly Hills. By 11:30, Clift excused himself, but he had drunk so much that McCarthy took it upon himself to drive ahead of him and thus lead him down the hill. Minutes later, McCarthy returned to the party. "Monty's been in an accident! I think he's dead!" Clift was seriously injured and his face scarred in the accident, but he survived. Still, his career was never the same after that.^[4]

Despite his advanced age, McCarthy has four feature films completed or in production in 2007.

McCarthy has appeared in almost 100 films, including:

• Winged Victory (1944)
• Death of a Salesman (1951), nominated for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
• Nightmare (1956)
• A Big Hand for the Little Lady (1966)
• Hotel (1967)
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), credited as Running Man in a cameo role
• Piranha (1978)
• The Howling (1981)
• Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)
• My Tutor (1983)
• Innerspace (1987)
• UHF (1989)
• Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003)
• Loving Annabelle (2006)

• Kevin McCarthy at the Internet Movie Database
• Official web site