(written from a Production point of view)
Chris Sarandon (born 24 July 1942; age 81) is the Academy Award-nominated American actor and voice actor who played Martus Mazur in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine second season episode "Rivals". He is perhaps best known for his role as Prince Humperdinck in the comic fantasy film The Princess Bride with Carol Kane and as the speaking voice of Jack Skellington in Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, but his career has included extensive work in many other films as well as in television and theater.
Sarandon was born in Beckley, West Virginia and received his master's degree in theater from The Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington, DC. It was here that he met his first wife, Academy Award-winning actress Susan Sarandon. They married in 1967 and divorced in 1979. During the 1980s, Sarandon was married to model Lisa Ann Cooper, with whom he had three children. Sarandon and Cooper divorced in 1989. He is currently married to actress Joanna Gleason. They wed in 1994.
Stage work[]
Following his graduation from CUA, Sarandon became involved with regional theater. He made his professional stage debut playing Seaman Jack Hunter in a 1965 production of Tennessee Williams' The Rose Tattoo. Five years later, he was performing on Broadway, in the original production of The Rothschilds. He then appeared in Two Gentlemen of Verona in 1972.
In 1980, Sarandon starred with Star Trek: The Motion Picture actor Stephen Collins in the short-lived Broadway musical, Censored Scenes From King Kong. He returned to Broadway in 1991, working with his future wife, Joanna Gleason, in Nick & Nora.
In September 2005, Sarandon replaced Star Trek: Voyager guest actor Mark Harelik in the role of Signor Naccarelli in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical The Light in the Piazza. Sarandon's most recent Broadway production was a revival of Cyrano de Bergerac from October 2007 through January 2008, in which he acted alongside Voyager guest star Concetta Tomei.
Television work[]
In 1968, Sarandon landed his first television role, that of Dr. Tom Halverson on CBS' Guiding Light. Sarandon appeared on the series as a regular from 1969 through 1973, after which he starred with fellow Deep Space Nine performer Salome Jens in the 1974 TV movie, The Satan Murders.
Sarandon starred in a trio of TV movies in the early 1980s, including Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities (1980, with Alice Krige) and 1981's Broken Promise with Marc Alaimo and George Coe. In 1985, he played Lindsay Wagner's husband in the NBC movie This Child Is Mine (co-starring Jennifer S. Parsons and Sierra Pecheur), and the following year, Sarandon worked alongside LeVar Burton and Frank Langella in the movie Liberty, also for NBC.
Sarandon's other TV movies during the 1980s included Mayflower Madam (directed by Lou Antonio), Goodbye, Miss 4th of July (co-starring Walker Edmiston, Ed Lauter, and Ned Vaughn), and Tailspin: Behind the Korean Airliner Tragedy (with Ed O'Ross and Harris Yulin).
In 1992, Sarandon starred in A Murderous Affair: The Carolyn Warmus Story, a TV movie in which he plays a married man who has an affair with the title woman, portrayed by Virginia Madsen. Voyager star Robert Picardo played an attorney in this movie, and Bruce Gray, Lenore Kasdorf, and David Spielberg also appear. Sarandon's other TV movies during the 1990s include David's Mother (starring Kirstie Alley) and Danielle Steel's No Greater Love (with Daniel Hugh Kelly).
In addition to his work on Deep Space Nine, Sarandon made guest appearances on such television shows as Sisters (on which he was directed by David Carson), Picket Fences (reuniting with director Lou Antonio), The Outer Limits (acting with Len Cariou), Perversions of Science (with Tracy Middendorf), and Stark Raving Mad (in an episode with Star Trek: Enterprise's Anthony Montgomery).
He also had a brief recurring role on The Practice, working with John Billingsley and Frank Novak. More notably, he had recurring roles as doctors two different series: in 1998, he appeared as Dr. Gordon Mays in three episodes of CBS' Chicago Hope (including one with Mark Moses); and in 1999, he played Dr. Peter McGrath in six episodes of the drama series Felicity, co-created by J.J. Abrams and starring Keri Russell.
Sarandon's more recent recurring roles are Dr. Burke on ER (credited along with Sam Anderson, Jacqueline Kim, and Lily Mariye), Howard Pincham on NBC's Law & Order (with Tzi Ma), and Judge Barry Krumble on Judging Amy. On the latter series, Sarandon made his first appearance in the episode "Who Shot Dick?", co-starring Deep Space Nine's René Auberjonois and Barry Wiggins and directed by Nancy Malone. Subsequent episodes saw Sarandon working with Olivia Hack, Gregory Itzin, Kris Iyer, Matt McKenzie, John Rubinstein, and, as a director, Andrew Robinson.
Other recent TV credits include guest appearances on Charmed, Cold Case, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
Film work[]
Sarandon was nominated for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for his first film role, that of Leon Shermer in Dog Day Afternoon (1977, starring Carol Kane, with Robert Costanzo and Tom Towles).
In his second film, Lipstick (1976), Sarandon co-starred with Robin Gammell, Meg Wyllie, and Bill Zuckert. He then starred in The Sentinel (1977, featuring Deep Space Nine's star Nana Visitor). His next movie was Cuba (1979, co-starring Sean Connery and Walter Gotell).
Sarandon starred in two popular horror films in the 1980s. The first was Fright Night (1985), in which he played the villainous vampire, Jerry Dandridge, for which he was nominated for a Saturn Award by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films. Sarandon filmed a cameo in the 2011 remake which stars film lead Anton Yelchin. The second film was the horror film Child's Play (1988), in which he co-starred with Catherine Hicks and Brad Dourif.
Perhaps Sarandon's best-known live-action film role is that of egomaniacal Prince Humperdinck in the film The Princess Bride. In this film, Sarandon's character hired a Sicilian played by fellow Deep Space Nine guest star Wallace Shawn to kidnap his prospective bride. However, Sarandon and Shawn do not appear together on-screen except for a brief instant (Shawn's character is shown slumped over while Sarandon's character delivers a line).
Sarandon's other film credits during the 1980s include The Osterman Weekend (1983, co-starring Meg Foster), Protocol (film)Protocol (1984, with Ed Begley, Jr., Joel Brooks, Cliff DeYoung, Kenneth Mars, Jeanne Mori, Gail Strickland, Keith Szarabajka, George D. Wallace, and Paul Willson), Slaves of New York (1989, with Anthony Crivello), and Collision Course (1989, with John Hancock, Mike Starr, and Ron Taylor).
Sarandon's most recognizable film role may be that of Jack Skellington, the protagonist of Tim Burton's acclaimed stop-motion animated musical, The Nightmare Before Christmas. Sarandon provided the character's speaking voice, while composer Danny Elfman filled in when the character was singing. Sarandon later voiced the character in the various Kingdom Hearts video games, as well as the Nightmare Before Christmas game, Ooogie's Revenge.
In addition, Sarandon co-starred with Corbin Bernsen and Ben Cross in the 1994 thriller Temptress. His subsequent film credits include Edie & Pen (1996, with Louise Fletcher, Charles Lucia, and Michael McKean), Bordello of Blood (1996, co-starring William Sadler, with cameos by Whoopi Goldberg and Virginia Madsen), American Perfekt (1997, with Paul Sorvino), Road Ends (1997, with Brad Blaisdell and Bert Remsen), and Let the Devil Wear Black (1999, with Jonathan Banks and Tony Plana). The latter three films, as well as Edie & Pen, also starred Sarandon's wife, Joanna Gleason.
More recently, Sarandon made an appearance in Perfume (2001, with Robert Joy, Paul Sorvino, and Harris Yulin). Sarandon's other films include Loggerheads (2005), The Chosen One (2007, with Debra Wilson), and Multiple Sarcasms (2010).