Michael J. Pollard
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Biography
With his impish grin, the diminutive Michael J Pollard became a familiar face to moviegoers and television viewers in the 1960s, often in offbeat roles. The stage-trained New Jersey native racked up numerous credits on and off Broadway from his 1958 debut in "Comes a Day," including "A Loss of Roses" (1959), co-starring Warren Beatty, the musical "Bye Bye Birdie" (1960), "Enter Laughing" (1963), as the oddball friend of the leading character, a role he recreated in the 1967 feature version, and Sam Shepard's "Curse of the Starving Class" (1978).
Pollard entered films with Martin Ritt's "Adventures of a Young Man" (1962) and went on to portray a number of small roles in films ranging from "The Stripper" (1963) to the motorcycle drama "The Wild Angels" (1966). Pollard received his widest exposure in Arthur Penn's groundbreaking "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967). For his turn as the getaway-car driver C.W. Moss, he received an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor. Despite the acclaim, Pollard lacked leading man qualities and except for "Little Fauss and Big Halsey" (1970), he was relegated to playing quirky supporting parts. Among his better-known features are "Melvin and Howard" (1980), "Roxanne" (1987), "Tango & Cash" (1989) and "Dick Tracy" (1990).In 1991, Pollard's voice was heard on the animation series "The Toxic Crusaders" (1991). After working on several projects, he was cast as Mr. Cummings in Gavin O'Conner's drama feature "Tumbleweeds" (1999). Since he began his career in the late 1950s, Pollard has been a frequent guest on TV on everything from "The Andy Griffith Show" to "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" to "Star Trek." He was a regular in support of Harvey Korman and Valerie Perrine in the short-lived sitcom "Leo and Liz in Beverly Hills" (CBS, 1986). Pollard was formerly married to actress Beth Howland, remembered as Vera in the long-running sitcom "Alice."
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1955
Stage acting debut, "Anniversary Waltz" in Nutley, NJ
1958
Made Broadway debut in "Comes a Day"
1962
Feature acting debut, "Adventures of a Young Man"
1963
Created role of Marvin in Broadway production of "Enter Laughing"
1967
Reprised stage role of Marvin in feature version of "Enter Laughing"
1967
Played C.W. Moss in "Bonnie and Clyde"
1970
Co-starred with Robert Redford in "Little Fauss and Big Halsey"
1986
TV series debut as regular in the short-lived "Leo and Liz in Beverly Hills" (CBS)
1989
Cast in the action comedy "Tango and Cash"
1991
Lent his voice for the animation series "The Toxic Crusaders"
1999
Cast in the Gavin O'Conner drama "Tumbleweeds"
2001
Played Ned in the drama mystery "Out Of The Black"
2002
Cast in the horror feature "House Of 1000 Corpses"