This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Paul Gleason" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(December 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Paul Gleason
Gleason in 1984
Born	Paul Xavier Gleason (1939-05-04)May 4, 1939 Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S.[1]
Died	May 27, 2006(2006-05-27) (aged 67) Burbank, California, U.S.
Resting place	Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
Alma mater	Florida State University
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1962–2006
Spouses	Candy Moore ​ ​ (m. 1971; div. 1978)​ Susan Kehl ​ ​ (m. 1995)​
Children	2

Paul Xavier Gleason (May 4, 1939 – May 27, 2006) was an American film and television actor. He was known for his roles on television series such asAll My Children and films such asThe Breakfast Club,Trading Places, andDie Hard.

Gleason was born on May 4, 1939, inJersey City, New Jersey,^[2] the son of Eleanor (née Doyle), aregistered nurse, and George L. Gleason, a restaurateur, professional boxer, iron worker, and roofing manufacturer.^[1] Gleason was raised inMiami Beach, Florida. At age 16, he ran away from home and hitchhiked across the east coast, sleeping on beaches and playing baseball.^[2] He attendedNorth Miami High School andFlorida State University, where he playedfootball withBurt Reynolds.^[3] He signed a professional baseball contract with theCleveland Indians, but played just briefly in two minor league seasons between 1959 and 1960.^[4]

In 1960, a West Coast trip led to an introduction to sitcom iconOzzie Nelson, which, in turn, led to an appearance onOzzie and Harriet (per Nelson's habit of hiring athletes for guest spots on the show). Suddenly, acting was an option, and an increasingly attractive one, given Gleason's failing baseball career. He moved to New York City, eventually joiningThe Actors Studio,^[5][6] where he would study for four years before moving to Los Angeles.^[7]

Gleason starred in many movies, often as an antagonistic figure, and became well-known initially as Dr. David Thornton onAll My Children, playing the role from 1976 to 1978. He then portrayed Capt. Ernest "Tex" Lee in the 1979 television miniseriesIke. He guest-starred in "The Trouble with Harry" and "Fire",Columbo and two episodes ofThe A-Team. Additionally, Gleason played the villainous Clarence Beeks, the Duke brothers' security consultant andfixer, in the 1983 comedyTrading Places starringDan Aykroyd andEddie Murphy.

Gleason played the disciplinarian Vice Principal Richard Vernon, in the 1985coming-of-age filmThe Breakfast Club opposite many members of theBrat Pack. The film has been noted as one of the most prominent and well-remembered of its genre,^[8] and many reviews praised Gleason's performance as the vice principal who was frequently at odds with members of the titular group, particularlyJudd Nelson's John Bender. In an on-set interview, Gleason spoke at length about the skill of the teenage actors he worked with, adding that he believed he "could never have been as good at [their] age."^[9] He also described the finale of the film, during which Vernon reads an essay from the Club dismantling his assertions about them, as asatori for the character, stating that Vernon is "supposed to realize something about the fact that he has let these kids down, and that he really hasn't understood them."^[9]

He played similar characters in the 1988 filmJohnny Be Good (as a high school football coach), the 2002 filmVan Wilder (as an antagonistic professor), and on several episodes of the TV sitcomBoy Meets World (as a university dean). He directly parodied hisBreakfast Club role in the 2000A-Teens music video for "Dancing Queen" and in the 2001 comedy filmNot Another Teen Movie. In 2006,The Breakfast Club received a special citation at theMTV Movie Awards, honoring the film's continued influence; Gleason and several other members of the cast were present to accept the award.^[10] When Gleason died the same year, hisNPR obituary referred to his turn as Vernon, referring to Gleason as "a 'principal' screen presence."^[10]

Gleason was known toStar Wars fans for his role as Jeremitt Towani in the 1985 made-for-TV filmEwoks: The Battle for Endor. In 1988, Gleason played Deputy Police Chief Dwayne T. Robinson in theBruce Willis action film,Die Hard. In his review of the film, criticRoger Ebert described Gleason's character as having "one purpose: to be consistently wrong at every step of the way,"^[11] and as a foil for Willis andReginald VelJohnson.

In 2002, Gleason appeared in episodes ofDawson's Creek as Larry Newman, the sex-and-violence obsessed chief of aB movie studio. He appeared as a nonsensical judge in an episode ofDrake & Josh, as well as in an episode ofGeorge Lopez as the brother ofGeorge's boss, a crazy old drunk. In 2005, he appeared as the Sheriff in the horror filmAbominable. Gleason made a guest appearance onFriends as Jack, Phoebe's boss at an investment company, in the season 6 episode "The One That Could Have Been," and also appeared in one episode ofSeinfeld, as the man ultimately responsible forGeorge Costanza (Jason Alexander) being hired by theNew York Yankees. His final appearance before his death was in an independent film calledThe Book of Caleb.

Gleason, in addition to his acting career, participated in many celebrity charity golf events each year, and was known to mingle with fans and sign autographs during these golf tournaments. Shortly before his death, he also published a book of poetry.^[10] During hisMinor League Baseball career, he also struck up a friendship withTed Williams, which he later discussed in the bookTed Williams: A Tribute, published in 1997.^[12] ActorJimmy Hawkins, a friend of Gleason's stated after his death that "he always had great stories to tell."^[10]

From 1971 to 1978, he was married to actressCandy Moore; they had one daughter, Shannon. From 1995 until his death, he was married to Susan Kehl; they had one daughter, Kaitlin. At the time of his death, he also had a granddaughter.^[10]

Gleason died on May 27, 2006, at aBurbank, California, hospital frompleuralmesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lung connected withasbestos, which he is thought to have contracted from asbestos exposure on building sites while working for his father as a teenager. Gleason was 67 years old.^[2] He is buried near the southeast corner of theWestwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery inWestwood, Los Angeles.

• Voisin, Scott, "Character Kings: Hollywood's Familiar Faces Discuss the Art & Business of Acting." BearManor Media, 2009.ISBN 978-1-59393-342-5.

• Paul Gleason atIMDb
• Paul Gleason at theTCM Movie Database
• Career statistics and player information fromBaseball-Reference
• Paul Gleason atFind a Grave

• 1939 births
• 2006 deaths
• 20th-century American male actors
• 21st-century American male actors
• American male film actors
• American male soap opera actors
• American male television actors
• Burials at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
• Deaths from cancer in California
• Deaths from mesothelioma in the United States
• Florida State Seminoles football players
• Florida State University alumni
• Male actors from Jersey City, New Jersey
• Male actors from Miami
• Minor league baseball players
• Selma Cloverleafs players
• Wytheville Senators players

• All articles with dead external links
• Articles with dead external links from August 2025
• Articles with permanently dead external links
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use American English from October 2016
• All Wikipedia articles written in American English
• Use mdy dates from October 2016
• Articles needing additional references from December 2019
• All articles needing additional references
• Articles with hCards
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from April 2025
• TCMDb name template using numeric ID from Wikidata