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Karyn Kupcinet | |
|---|---|
 Kupcinet in 1962 | |
| Born | Roberta Lynn Kupcinet (1941-03-06)March 6, 1941 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | November 28, 1963(1963-11-28) (aged 22) |
| Cause of death | Homicide |
| Resting place | Memorial Park Cemetery, Skokie |
| Alma mater | Pine Manor College |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1959–1963 |
| Father | Irv Kupcinet |
Karyn Kupcinet (bornRoberta Lynn Kupcinet; March 6, 1941 – November 28, 1963) was an American stage, film, and television actress. She was the daughter ofChicago newspaper columnist and television personalityIrv Kupcinet and the sister of television director and producerJerry Kupcinet.
On November 28, 1963, six days after theassassination of John F. Kennedy, Kupcinet was found dead in her home inWest Hollywood, California. Her death was officially ruled an unsolvedhomicide. Because it occurred shortly after the assassination, her name was referenced in a number ofconspiracy theories surrounding the event, although law enforcement has not established a connection. Irv Kupcinet publicly rejected suggestions linking his daughter to the assassination, and in 1992 criticizedNBC'sToday for referencing such claims. Her death remains officially unsolved.[citation needed]
Karyn Kupcinet was born Roberta Lynn Kupcinet inChicago,Illinois, toIrv Kupcinet, then a sportswriter for theChicago Daily Times, and his wife, Esther "Essee" Kupcinet (née Solomon). She had one younger brother,Jerry Kupcinet, who later worked as a director and producer in syndicated television. The family was ofRussian-Jewish ancestry.[1] During childhood, she acquired the nickname Cookie and later adopted the stage name Karyn.
Kupcinet made her acting debut at age 13 in a Chicago production ofAnniversary Waltz. By this time, her father had moved from sportswriting to entertainment journalism and, beginning in 1953, hosted the 15-minute television talk showKup’s Corner onWBBM-TV. Kupcinet attendedPine Manor College in Massachusetts for a semester before studying acting at theActors Studio inNew York City.[2]
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Kupcinet worked as a model and stage actress before moving to Hollywood. Her mother, Essee Kupcinet, encouraged her early involvement in performance and arranged her first public appearance as a baby clothing model at five-and-a-half months old.[4][5] Kupcinet continued modeling throughout childhood, appearing in advertisements in national newspapers and magazines and later in television commercials. She began taking acting lessons at a young age, performed memorized scenes for family and friends, and appeared in children’s theater productions.[2]
She made her professional stage debut in 1955 at age 13 in the Chicago production ofAnniversary Waltz, understudyingCarol Lynley.[6] Kupcinet attended theFrancis W. Parker School in Chicago, where she participated in school theater productions and graduated in 1958. She briefly studied atPine Manor College and took part in aHarvard University Drama Club production before attending the Actors Studio in New York City, studying under instructors includingLee Strasberg,Herbert Bergof,Marc Daniels, andMartha Graham.[7]
By the time she relocated to California at age 20, Kupcinet had appeared in a number of stage productions, includingThe Apollo of Bellac,The Royal Family,The Chalk Garden,Jenny Kissed Me,Time of the Cuckoo, andPicnic. She later performed inFather of the Bride inFlorida alongsidePat O’Brien.[9]
Kupcinet’s screen work included film, television, and commercials. Irv Kupcinet's friendship withJerry Lewis led to an early speaking part for Karyn inThe Ladies Man (1961), directed by Lewis.[2] She subsequently guest-starred on series includingThe Donna Reed Show,Wide Country,GE True,Going My Way,The Andy Griffith Show, andDeath Valley Days. She also held a regular role on the prime-time seriesMrs. G. Goes to College (later retitledThe Gertrude Berg Show).[10] In 1962 she continued stage work, appearing inThe Miracle Worker at the Laguna Beach Summer Theatre,[2][11] returning toFather of the Bride, and performing inSunday in New York in Chicago.[2]
Kupcinet’s final television appearance was as Penny Ames in a January 16, 1964 episode ofPerry Mason titled "The Case of the Capering Camera" which aired after her death.[12]
By 1961, Kupcinet had relocated to Hollywood and received positive reviews for her acting work.[13] She became involved in a relationship with actor Skip Ward, whom she met while working on a television series.
In the summer of 1962, she was arrested inPomona, California, forshoplifting from a bookstore.[14][15]
In December 1962, Kupcinet guest-starred onThe Wide Country, where she met series actorAndrew Prine.[15] The two began dating,[2][15] though the relationship was marked by differing expectations; Kupcinet soughtmonogamy, while Prine, recently divorced, continued to date others. Following an allegedabortion in July 1963, the relationship became increasingly strained. Prine continued seeing other people, and Kupcinet began stalking Prine and his new partner.[2] On one occasion, after Prine and a companion heard noises in his attic and contacted police, officers found Kupcinet there.[citation needed]
After her death, an investigation by theLos Angeles County Sheriff’s Department determined that Kupcinet had sent anonymous, threatening, and profane messages, consisting of words and letters she had cut out of magazines, to Prine and to herself.[2][15] Fingerprints matching hers were later found on the notes and on the tape used to attach them.[2]
Kupcinet had struggled with weight concerns beginning in high school, when she began usingdiet pills. Pressure to maintain a slim appearance increased after her casting inThe Ladies Man, and she subsequently used diet pills and otherprescription drugs.[2] ALos Angeles Times interviewer, assigned to help Kupcinet promoteThe Gertrude Berg Show in March 1962, noted her talking exclusively about food and her weight.[10]
An excerpt from Kupcinet's diary, published decades later, reflected her view of Hollywood as an emotionally demanding environment.[citation needed]
On November 28, 1963, Kupcinet had dinner with actorMark Goddard and his wife, Marcia Rogers Goddard, at their home inBeverly Hills, California.[16] Although expected at 6:30 p.m., she arrived by taxicab about an hour late.[citation needed] The Goddards later reported that she scarcely ate and appeared physically unsettled, noting "her lips seemed numb. Her voice was funny. She moved her head at odd angles" and that her pupils wereconstricted.[17] When Mark confronted Kupcinet about her behavior, she began to cry and put her arm around him.[18] At one point during the meal, she told an unsubstantiated story about a baby that had been abandoned on her doorstep earlier that day.[17] She left by taxicab at approximately 8:30 p.m., stating she would call the couple.[19]
After returning to her apartment, Kupcinet was visited by writer Edward Stephen Rubin, and later by actor Robert Hathaway. According to their statements to authorities, the three watched television and had coffee until Kupcinet fell asleep on the couch. She later went to her bedroom, and Rubin and Hathaway departed around 11:15 p.m., locking the door behind them. Hathaway stated that he returned home and was later joined by Andrew Prine, and the two spent several hours talking and watching television.[20]
When Kupcinet did not telephone them as she had said she would, the Goddards went to her apartment on November 30.[2] They discovered her deceased on the couch and notified the authorities. Investigators found multiple prescription medications in the residence.[2][15] A note reflecting her thoughts about personal matters was also found.[21] The coroner, Harold Kane, determined that a fracture of thehyoid bone indicated Kupcinet had beenstrangled, and her death was ruled ahomicide.[22]
Detectives concluded that the story Kupcinet had told regarding an abandoned baby on her doorstep was unfounded.[17] Investigators informed the Federal Bureau of Investigation that they believed she may have beenshowering prior to her death and may have opened the door to someone she knew.[23]
_pictured_in_early_1963.jpg)
Andrew Prine told investigators that he had spoken with Kupcinet by telephone on the day before she died. Law enforcement also questioned members of the Hollywood community, including Edward Stephen Rubin and Robert Hathaway, who were believed to have been among the last to see her. Both men were considered possible suspects during the investigation.[2][24][25]
In his 1988 memoir, Irv Kupcinet wrote that he and his wife did not believe Prine was involved in their daughter’s death.[26] He indicated that they instead regarded another acquaintance, actor and producer David Lange, as a potential suspect, citing information they had been given during the investigation.[26] According to the memoir, Lange lived in the same apartment building as Kupcinet, and a witness reported hearing unusual activity on the night her body was discovered. The memoir also referenced a statement from an individual who claimed Lange had privately admitted responsibility; however, according to Irv Kupcinet, authorities reported being unable to pursue the matter further because Lange obtained legal representation and declined to answer questions.[27] The case remains officially unsolved.
Later in the 1960s, David Lange moved from Los Angeles to New York. The next public display of his name occurred in 1971 when the movieKlute, a box office success, listed him in the credits as “co-producer.” The screenplay, written byAndy and his brother Dave Lewis, was filmed entirely on location in New York City in 1970. It is about an aspiring stage actress who has turned to prostitution to pay the rent in a brownstone on Manhattan’s West 43rd Street, and she is repeatedly harassed by telephone and stalked by a man whom she met once a long time ago.
Kupcinet’s death was first referenced in connection with theassassination of John F. Kennedy in 1967 byPenn Jones Jr. in his self-published bookForgive My Grief II.[29] Jones cited anAssociated Press report concerning an unidentified woman who placed a telephone call in or nearOxnard, California approximately twenty minutes before the assassination. Jones alleged that the caller was Kupcinet. He claimed she had been attempting to warn a local telephone operator of the impending shooting after learning about it in advance. According to the Associated Press, the woman could not be identified. According to Penn Jones, Irv Kupcinet had purportedly received information, about a plan to assassinate the president, fromJack Ruby, whom Jones speculated may have known Irv in Chicago in the 1940s.[21] Jones theorized that Karyn Kupcinet was killed by individuals associated with theAmerican Mafia as a warning to her father to remain silent about why Kennedy and his accused assassinLee Harvey Oswald had been killed.[30]
Irv Kupcinet denied that either he or his daughter had foreknowledge of the shootings of Kennedy or Oswald. Friends who were with Karyn inPalm Springs, California on November 22, 23 and 24, 1963, including Andrew Prine andEarl Holliman, reported that she reacted to news coverage with shock and grief and that she did not indicate prior knowledge of the events or previous familiarity with Jack Ruby.[21]
In 2013, theVentura County Star published an article marking the 50th anniversary of the assassination that discussed the unidentified caller referenced by Jones.[31] For theVentura County Star, the story was local, as employees ofGTE, a telephone service provider, had been able, in 1963, to narrow down the origin of the phone call to Oxnard. Citing Federal Bureau of Investigation records declassified years after the assassination, the article reported that two GTE telephone operators who heard the call told the FBI the caller’s voice did not match Kupcinet’s in age or tone, and that they believed the caller may have been "mentally disturbed".[31] Also, her rambling monologue did not focus much on the president.[31] She claimed that the United States government was going to be overthrown, and that Kennedy was one of many federal officials who would be removed from their jobs in a variety of ways.[31]
TheWarren Commission found no evidence that Irv Kupcinet had contact with Jack Ruby prior to November 1963 or that he had advance knowledge of Oswald’s death.[32] Although Irv Kupcinet was socially acquainted with several prominentChicago Outfit figures, includingSam Giancana andTony Accardo, he rejected claims linking his associates to his daughter’s death. Following her death, Kupcinet sought the assistance of attorney and MafiafixerSidney Korshak to secure the release of his daughter’s remains. These associations later contributed to continued public speculation, which Kupcinet consistently disputed.[2][9][33]
Irv Kupcinet received a letter of condolence fromRose Kennedy following his daughter’s death.
No official investigation has established a connection between the Kennedy assassination and the death of Karyn Kupcinet.[2]
In the early 1990s, during renewed public interest in the Kennedy assassination around the release of the filmJFK, Irv Kupcinet publicly criticized conspiracy theories related to the assassination.[21] WhenToday onNBC aired a segment listing individuals who died violently in 1963 and were speculated to have possible links to the assassination, the program included Karyn Kupcinet's name. In his February 9, 1992Chicago Sun-Times column, Irv Kupcinet objected to the reference, stating that there was no evidence connecting his daughter’s death to the events in Dallas and characterizing the suggestion as unfounded.[21]
In 1999, the television programE! True Hollywood Story aired an episode titled "Death of a Dream: Karyn Kupcinet", which profiled her life and discussed theories surrounding her death.[35]
_at_Memorial_Park_Cemetery%2c_Skokie.jpg)
Irv and Essee Kupcinet established a playhouse atShimer College in memory of their daughter.[36] In 1971, they also founded the Karyn Kupcinet International School for Science, a summer research internship program, at theWeizmann Institute of Science.[37]
In 2007, Kupcinet’s niece, actress Kari Kupcinet-Kriser, andWashburn University professor Paul Fecteau began work on a book about her death and personal writings.[38] The project was later abandoned.[citation needed]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | The Andy Griffith Show | Hannah Carter | Episode: "A Feud Is a Feud" |
| 1960 to 1961 | Hawaiian Eye | Maila Terry Crane | 2 episodes |
| 1961 | The Donna Reed Show | Jeannie | Episode: "Mary's Little Lambs" |
| 1961 | The Ladies Man | Working Girl | |
| 1961 to 1962 | The Gertrude Berg Show | Carol | 3 episodes |
| 1962 | The Red Skelton Show | Janet - Secretary | Episode: "How to Fail..." |
| 1962 | G.E. True | Marybelle | Episode: "The Handmade Private" |
| 1963 | The Wide Country | Barbara Rice | Episode: "A Cry from the Mountain" |
| 1963 | Going My Way | Amy | Episode: "Has Anyone Seen Eddie?" |
| 1964 | Perry Mason | Penny Ames | Episode: "The Case of the Capering Camera" |
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)