Claude Akins


Claude Aubrey Akins was an American character actor. He played Sonny Pruit in Movin' On, a 1974–1976 American drama series about a trucking team; Sheriff Lobo on The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo, a 1979–1981 American action comedy television series; and in a variety of other roles on television as well as in feature films.

Early years

Akins was born in Nelson, Georgia, and grew up in Bedford, Indiana, the son of Maude and Ernest Akins. Although film reference books gave his age at death as 75, Akins' son said his father was born in 1926, which is supported by public records. He was Cherokee.
Akins served in the Pacific with the U.S. Army Signal Corps during World War II. After the war, he graduated from Northwestern University in 1949, where he had majored in theatre arts and was trained in Shakespeare. He began his theatrical career at the Barter Theater in Abingdon, Virginia. He became an actor on Broadway in the late 1940s, and had a role in the play The Rose Tattoo.

Film career

Akins was signed up by talent agent Meyer Mishkin and became one of "Meyer Mishkin's Band of Uglies," a group of character actors represented by Mishkin that included Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, Jeff Chandler, James Coburn, Michael Ansara and Chuck Connors. He later recounted that early in his career demands were made on actors in low-budget movies that included doing their own stunts to save money. As a result, Akins once was run over by a wagon in one western.
As a film actor, Akins first appeared in From Here to Eternity. He appeared as a seaman in The Caine Mutiny, in which he appeared as one of a pair of incorrigible seamen, Horrible and Meatball, the other played by Lee Marvin. He portrayed prisoner Joe Burdette in Rio Bravo. He played Naval Lt. Commander Farber in Don't Give Up the Ship, starring Jerry Lewis.
Akins appeared in Porgy and Bess and went on to portray Rockwell W. "Rocky" Rockman in The Devil's Brigade, the Reverend Jeremiah Brown in the movie Inherit the Wind, outlaw Ben Lane in Comanche Station that same year. He was featured in Sam Fuller's 1962 film Merrill's Marauders, receiving critical acclaim for his performance as Sgt. Kolowicz, a hard-bitten, weary soldier, especially for a scene in which his unit rests for a short while in a Burmese village. Kolowicz is fed a bowl of rice by an elderly woman and weeps. Writing in his memoir A Third Face, Fuller said it was "one of the scenes I'm most proud of," and that whenever he sees it he bursts into tears.
He played Seely Jones in A Distant Trumpet, and the gorilla leader Aldo in Battle for the Planet of the Apes, the last original Apes movie.
He had a small part in The Sea Chase with John Wayne. He appeared with Yul Brynner and Robert Fuller in the film Return of the Seven, and also appeared in the movie Seasons of the Heart.
In a 1987 interview, Akins called his film career "disappointing," and said that his biggest regret was that he lost the role of "Dragline" in Cool Hand Luke to George Kennedy, who went on to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Television

Akins was cast in myriad television series, including The Adventures of Superman, in which he plays a villainous conspirator, Crusader, and I Love Lucy in which he portrays himself. Much of his work was on Westerns, including Frontier, My Friend Flicka, Boots and Saddles, Maverick, Northwest Passage, The Restless Gun, The Sheriff of Cochise, Wagon Train, Overland Trail, Frontier Circus, The Tall Man, The Rebel, The Big Valley, Daniel Boone, The Legend of Jesse James, Death Valley Days with Jane Russell, ''Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, The Rifleman, Rawhide, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Alaskans, The Texan, and Bat Masterson.
He appeared once on Richard Diamond, Private Detective, Empire, Laredo, the syndicated series, Pony Express, and The Oregon Trail, with Rod Taylor. He was cast as Jarret Sutton in "Escape to Memphis" and as Beaudry Rawlins in Duel on the River on Darren McGavin's NBC series, Riverboat.
Akins played a rodeo clown convicted of armed robbery in "Killer on Horseback", an episode of the NBC anthology series Star Stage, which became the pilot episode for the syndicated police drama State Trooper, starring Rod Cameron. The episode was later broadcast on the regular series as "Rodeo Rough House". Akins also appeared in the 1963 episode "The Chooser of the Slain" on the ABC/Warner Bros. Western series, The Dakotas.
Among Akins's four appearances on NBC's Laramie with series stars John Smith and Robert Fuller was the role of former Sheriff Jim Dark in the episode "Queen of Diamonds".
Akins was featured in two episodes of the original CBS series The Twilight Zone. He also guest-starred in three episodes each of Combat! and The Untouchables. He made a comedic turn on Hazel, as a frustrated painter.
He appeared on Rod Cameron's early syndicated series, City Detective, Meet McGraw with Frank Lovejoy, the ABC/WB drama, The Roaring 20's, and Police Story.
Akins's other early appearances included a role as a policeman on Alfred Hitchcock Presents in "Place of Shadows" and "Reward to Finder". He played another television cop, good-natured Sheriff's Detective Phillip Dix, in the first season of the Perry Mason in "The Case of the Half-Wakened Wife" that aired March 15, 1958. He was in a first-season episode of Maverick titled "Burial Ground of the Gods" that starred Jack Kelly. In 1965, Akins played El Supremo in "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." episode, "The Very Important Zombie Affair". In 1967, Akins played Lt. Finch in The Lucy Show episode, "Lucy Meets the Law".
He portrayed prosecuting attorney Calvin Wolf opposite Carl Betz in an episode of Judd, for the Defense.
Akins was cast as Lou Myerson in the 1964 episode, "One Monday Afternoon", of the NBC education drama series, Mr. Novak, starring James Franciscus, and as Dr. Roy Kirk in an episode, "When Do They Hang the Good Samaritan?", of the CBS political drama, Slattery's People. He played a kidnapper in a 1964 episode of The Fugitive. In 1965, he was featured in an episode of Kraft Suspense Theatre, playing a German infiltrator who went unsuspected. Also that year, Akins portrayed the head of an Irish immigrant family in The Big Valley. Akins had an earlier role in the first season of Barnaby Jones; episode titled "Murder Go-Round".
Before his signature character Sheriff Lobo, Akins appeared as owner-operator trucker Sonny Pruitt in NBC's Movin' On, from 1974 to 1976, with Frank Converse. Akins starred in over 40 episodes of Movin' On, plus a made-for-TV movie "In Tandem". He also starred as a Nashville police detective, Stoney Huff, in the crime drama Nashville 99. Akins' best-known role of Sheriff Elroy P. Lobo had begun as a recurring character on the television series B.J. and the Bear. After becoming a recognizable name in the late 1970s, Akins did testimonial TV commercials for PoliGrip, Rollins Truck Leasing, and AAMCO Transmissions.
Akins found work in the late 1980s lending his voice talents to the work safety instructional video series, Safety Shorts, in which he expounded on the virtues of workplace safety to thousands of industrial employees, offering lessons on the importance of lockout/tagout procedures, personal protective equipment, and the MSDS documentation process. Akins made a golfing video with Ron Masak, entitled Tom Kite and Friends.
Akins also made a latter-day appearance on In the Heat of the Night'', starring Carroll O'Connor.

Personal life

Akins was married to Therese Fairfield from 1952 until his death. His widow died on June 12, 2006. They had three children together.

Illness and death

Akins died of stomach cancer in Altadena, California, on January 27, 1994, at the age of 67. In May 1993, half of his stomach had been removed in cancer surgery. He was cremated, and his ashes were returned to Altadena.

Legacy

Akins told an interviewer in 1987 that he felt "like an outsider in a business I have been a part of for 37 years. For some reason, Hollywood's mainstream has eluded me." Said Akins: "A guy who looks like Robert Redford will most often be cast as a hero. A guy like me or Ernie Borgnine plays a lot of heavies. If you're big, they think you're tough. And if you're tough, they think you're dumb."
The Claude Akins Memorial Golf Classic, a six-person scramble-format golf tournament, takes place at Otis Park Golf Course in Bedford, Indiana, in August or September of each year. Proceeds from the event go to the Akins Scholarship and the Bedford Recreation Foundation Scholarship, given every year to a graduating senior at Bedford North Lawrence High School, as well as many projects involving recreation and improvements.
In 1986, Akins attended the 55th annual American Indian Exposition in Anadarko, Oklahoma. Akins, who was part Cherokee, was a guest speaker and received the Outstanding Indian/Native American of the Year Award.

Selected filmography

Film

Television