John Joseph Patrick Ryan, best known by his stage name, Jack Lord, was an American television, film and Broadway actor, director and producer.
29 Facts About Jack Lord
2.
Jack Lord starred as Steve McGarrett in the CBS television program Hawaii Five-O, which ran from 1968 to 1980.
3.
Jack Lord's father, William Lawrence Ryan, was a steamship company executive.
4.
Jack Lord grew up in Richmond Hill, Queens, New York.
5.
Jack Lord was educated at St Benedict Joseph Labre School, John Adams High School, in Ozone Park, Queens, and the United States Merchant Marine Academy, then located at Fort Trumbull in New London, Connecticut, graduating as an Ensign with a Third Mates License.
6.
Jack Lord attended New York University on a football scholarship, and earned a degree in Fine Arts.
7.
Jack Lord spent the first year of the United States' involvement in World War II with the United States Army Corps of Engineers, building bridges in Persia.
8.
Jack Lord returned to the Merchant Marine as an able seaman before enrolling in the deck officer course at Fort Trumbull.
9.
Jack Lord received theatrical training from Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse.
10.
Jack Lord worked first as a car salesman for Horgan Ford, then later as a Cadillac salesman in New York to fund his studies.
11.
Jack Lord had been in The Little Hut, The Illegitimist, and The Savage.
12.
Jack Lord was associate producer in his 1950 film Cry Murder.
13.
In 1957, Jack Lord starred in Williamsburg: the Story of a Patriot, which has run daily at Colonial Williamsburg since then.
14.
In 1958, Jack Lord co-starred as Buck Walden in God's Little Acre, the film adaptation of Erskine Caldwell's 1933 novel.
15.
In 1962, Jack Lord starred as series namesake Stoney Burke, a rodeo cowboy from Mission Ridge, South Dakota.
16.
Jack Lord credited Gary Cooper as his on-screen role model, and the inspiration for his characterization of Stoney Burke.
17.
Jack Lord was considered for Eliot Ness in The Untouchables before Robert Stack won the role.
18.
Jack Lord appeared on the first episode of Have Gun, Will Travel.
19.
Jack Lord asked for 50 percent ownership of the show, so Roddenberry offered the role to Shatner.
20.
Jack Lord starred in Hawaii Five-O for its 12 seasons as Detective Steve McGarrett, appointed by the governor to head the State Police criminal investigation department in Honolulu, Hawaii.
21.
The opening sequence includes a shot of Jack Lord standing on a penthouse balcony of the Ilikai hotel.
22.
Jack Lord insisted his character drive Ford vehicles; McGarrett drove a 1967 Mercury Park Lane in the pilot, a 1968 Park Lane from 1968 to 1974, and a 1974 Mercury Marquis for the remainder of the series.
23.
Jack Lord was a hands-on partner who paid attention to minute details, and was known for battles with network executives.
24.
Jack Lord only learned of his son's death after receiving a copy of his death certificate from his son's mother.
25.
Jack Lord met his second wife while house hunting in upstate New York.
26.
On January 17,1949, Jack Lord married fashion designer Marie de Narde, a job she gave up to devote her time to him and his career.
27.
Jack Lord suffered from Alzheimer's disease for at least seven years before his death, although some accounts have suggested that he may have had the illness as early as the final season of Hawaii Five-O, in 1979.
28.
Jack Lord died of congestive heart failure at his home in Honolulu, on January 21,1998, at the age of 77, leaving an estate of $40 million.
29.
Jack Lord was a philanthropist and the entire estate went to Hawaiian charities upon his wife Marie's death at the age of 100 in 2005.