16 Facts About Paul Gleason

Paul Xavier Gleason was an American film and television actor.

Paul Gleason was known for his roles on television series such as All My Children and films such as The Breakfast Club, Trading Places, and Die Hard.

Paul Gleason attended North Miami High School and Florida State University, where he played football with Burt Reynolds.

Paul Gleason signed a professional baseball contract with the Cleveland Indians, but played just briefly in two minor league seasons between 1959 and 1960.

Paul Gleason moved to New York City, eventually joining The Actors Studio, where he would study for four years before moving to Los Angeles.

Paul Gleason starred in many movies, often as an antagonistic figure, and became well-known initially as Dr David Thornton on All My Children, playing the role from 1976 to 1978.

Paul Gleason guest-starred in "The Trouble with Harry" and "Fire", two episodes of The A-Team.

Additionally, Paul Gleason played the villainous Clarence Beeks, the Duke brothers' security consultant and fixer, in the 1983 comedy Trading Places starring Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy.

Paul Gleason played the disciplinarian Vice Principal Richard Vernon, in the 1985 coming-of-age film The Breakfast Club opposite many members of the Brat Pack.

Paul Gleason played similar characters in the 1988 film Johnny Be Good, the 2002 film Van Wilder, and on several episodes of the TV sitcom Boy Meets World.

Paul Gleason directly parodied his Breakfast Club role in the 2000 A-Teens music video for "Dancing Queen" and in the 2001 comedy film Not Another Teen Movie.

Paul Gleason was known to Star Wars fans for his role as Jeremitt Towani in the 1985 made-for-TV film Ewoks: The Battle for Endor.

In 1988, Gleason played Deputy Police Chief Dwayne T Robinson in the Bruce Willis action film, Die Hard.

Paul Gleason made a guest appearance on Friends as Jack, Phoebe's boss at an investment company, in the season 6 episode "The One That Could Have Been," and appeared in one episode of Seinfeld, as the man ultimately responsible for George Costanza being hired by the New York Yankees.

Paul Gleason died on May 27,2006, at a Burbank, California, hospital from pleural mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lung connected with asbestos, which he is thought to have contracted from asbestos exposure on building sites while working for his father as a teenager.

Paul Gleason is buried near the southeast corner of the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood, Los Angeles.