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Kevin Delaney Kline (born October 24, 1947 in St. Louis, Missouri) is an American actor.
Born to Robert Joseph Kline (a German-born Jew) and Peggy May Kirk (an Irish-Catholic), Kline was raised in his mother's faith and graduated from the Roman Catholic Saint Louis Priory School in 1965 afterwards attending Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, where he began as an aspiring classical pianist. He joined the on-campus theater group the " Vest Pocket Players" and fell in love with the theater as an undergraduate.
In 1970 he was awarded a scholarship to the newly-formed Juilliard Drama School in New York. In 1972, he joined with fellow Juilliard graduates, including Patti Lupone and David Ogden Stiers, and formed the City Center Acting Company, under the aegis of famed British actor John Houseman. The troupe, which later shortened its name to The Acting Company, traveled across the U.S. performing Shakespeare and other classical plays.
In 1976, Kline left the Acting Company and settled in New York City, doing a brief stint as the character " Woody Reed" in the now defunct soap opera Search for Tomorrow. This was followed in 1978 by a small role as " Bruce Granit" , a matinee' idol caricature, in Hal Prince's On The Twentieth Century for which Kline won his first Tony Award.
In 1981, Kline paired up with rock diva Linda Ronstadt and singer Rex Smith in the New York Shakespeare Festival's Central Park production of The Pirates of Penzance, garnering another Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical, for his comically dashing portrayal of the Pirate King. He later played the role in a film version of the musical, also with Ronstadt, which had a limited theatrical release.
In ensuing years, Kline appeared many times in New York Shakespeare Festival productions of Shakespeare, including title roles in Richard III, Much Ado About Nothing, Henry V, and two productions of Hamlet, one of which he also directed. Dubbed " the American Olivier" by New York Times theater critic Frank Rich for his stage acting, Kline finally ventured into film in 1982, winning the coveted role of the tormented and mercurial " Nathan" opposite Meryl Streep in Alan Pakula's Sophie's Choice (Streep won an Academy Award for her performance in the film)
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