Dean Stockwell

Acting

Dean Stockwell

Born 1936-03-05 · North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Robert Dean Stockwell (March 5, 1936 – November 7, 2021) was an American film, television and stage actor with a career spanning over 70 years. As a child actor under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he first came to the public's attention in films including Anchors Aweigh (1945), The Green Years (1946), Gentleman's Agreement (1947), The Boy with Green Hair (1948), and Kim (1950). As a young adult, he had a lead role in the 1957 Broadway and 1959 screen adaptation of Compulsion; and in 1962 he played Edmund Tyrone in the film version of Long Day's Journey into Night, for which he won two Best Actor Awards at the Cannes Film Festival. He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama for his starring role in the 1960 film version of D. H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers. He appeared in supporting roles in such films as Dune (1984), Paris, Texas (1984), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Blue Velvet (1986), Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), and Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988). He received further critical acclaim for his performance in Married to the Mob (1988), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He subsequently had roles in The Player (1992), Air Force One (1997), The Rainmaker (1997) and The Manchurian Candidate (2004). His television roles include Rear Admiral Albert "Al" Calavicci in Quantum Leap (1989–1993), Navy Secretary Edward Sheffield on JAG (2002–2004), and Brother Cavil on Battlestar Galactica (2004–2009). Following his roles on Quantum Leap and Battlestar Galactica, he appeared at numerous science fiction conventions. He retired from acting in 2015 following health issues and focused his later life on sculpture and other visual art.

Acting credits

Dune poster
6.2

In the year 10,191, the most precious substance in the universe is the spice Melange. The spice extends life. The spice expands consciousness. The spice is vital to space travel. The spice exists on only one planet in the entire universe, the vast desert planet Arrakis, also known as Dune. Its native inhabitants, the Fremen, have long held a prophecy that a man would come, a messiah who would lead them to true freedom.

Dune

1984

Paris, Texas poster
8.1

A man wanders out of the desert not knowing who he is. His brother finds him, and helps to pull his memory back of the life he led before he walked out on his family and disappeared four years earlier.

Paris, Texas

1984

Blue Velvet poster
7.6

The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.

Blue Velvet

1986

Air Force One poster
6.5

When Russian neo-nationalists hijack Air Force One, the world's most secure and extraordinary aircraft, the President is faced with a nearly impossible decision to give in to terrorist demands or sacrifice not only the country's dignity, but the lives of his wife and daughter.

Air Force One

1997

The Player poster
7.2

A Hollywood studio executive is being sent death threats by a writer whose script he rejected - but which one?

The Player

1992

Beverly Hills Cop II poster
6.5

Axel Foley returns to the land of sunshine and palm trees to investigate the near-fatal shooting of police Captain Andrew Bogomil. With the help of Sgt. Taggart and Det. Rosewood, they soon uncover that the shooting is associated with a series of "alphabet" robberies masterminded by a heartless weapons kingpin—and the chase is on.

Beverly Hills Cop II

1987

The Rainmaker poster
7.0

Fresh out of law school and desperate for work, idealistic rookie Rudy Baylor takes on a powerful insurance company accused of denying a dying boy’s claim. Teaming up with a scrappy, unlicensed paralegal, he finds himself in a David-versus-Goliath courtroom battle that tests his ethics, courage, and belief in justice.

The Rainmaker

1997

To Live and Die in L.A. poster
7.1

When his longtime partner on the force is killed, reckless U.S. Secret Service agent Richard Chance vows revenge, setting out to nab dangerous counterfeit artist Eric Masters.

To Live and Die in L.A.

1985

The Manchurian Candidate poster
6.5

Years after his squad was ambushed during the Gulf War, Major Ben Marco finds himself having terrible nightmares. He begins to doubt that his fellow squad-mate Sergeant Raymond Shaw, now a vice-presidential candidate, is the hero he remembers him being. As Marco's doubts deepen, Shaw's political power grows, and, when Marco finds a mysterious implant embedded in his back, the memory of what really happened begins to return.

The Manchurian Candidate

2004

Chasers poster
5.4

Military men Rock Reilly and Eddie Devane are tasked with taking a prisoner, blonde bombshell Toni Johnson, on what becomes an unforgettable road trip. Toni, an enlistee who's in trouble for deserting her unit, soon proves that she's craftier than most inmates.

Chasers

1994

Married to the Mob poster
6.0

Angela de Marco is fed up with her gangster husband's line of work and wants no part of the crime world. When her husband is killed for having an affair with the mistress of mob boss Tony "The Tiger" Russo, Angela and her son depart for New York City to make a fresh start. Unfortunately, Tony has set his sights upon Angela -- and so has an undercover FBI agent looking to use her to bust Tony.

Married to the Mob

1988

Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker poster
7.3

The Joker is back with a vengeance, and Neo-Gotham's Dark Knight, Terry McGinnis, needs answers as he stands alone to face the old Gotham's most infamous Clown Prince of Crime.

Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker

2000

Gentleman's Agreement poster
7.0

A magazine writer poses as a Jew to expose anti-Semitism.

Gentleman's Agreement

1947

The Pacific Connection poster
5.3

Ben is a farm boy who comes into conflict with the Evil Spanish Governor and his two sons. To assist in their oppression the Governor hires a Samurai to teach his son the Japanese Katana sword. To counter this, Ben studies under a blind Franciscan monk to obtain some advanced fighting secrets and develop his warrior senses. Additionally Ben must search for the legendary “Iron Reed”. A mystical stick so strong that grows in the lava of an active Volcano.

The Pacific Connection

1974

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan poster
6.7

When the initial Cylon attack against the Twelve Colonies fails to achieve complete extermination of human life as planned, twin Number Ones (Cavils) embedded on Galactica and Caprica must improvise to destroy the human survivors.

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan

2009

CQ poster
5.9

A young filmmaker in 1960s Paris juggles directing a cheesy sci-fi debacle, directing his own personal art film, coping with his crumbling relationship with his girlfriend, and a new-found infatuation with the sci-fi film's starlet.

CQ

2001

The Legend of Billie Jean poster
6.6

Average Texas teen, Billie Jean Davy, is caught up in an odd fight for justice. She is usually followed and harrased around by local boys, who, one day, decide to trash her brother's scooter for fun. The boys' father refuses to pay them back the price of the scooter. The fight for "fair is fair" takes the teens around the state and produces an unlikely hero.

The Legend of Billie Jean

1985

Buffalo Soldiers poster
6.3

A criminal subculture operates among U.S. soldiers stationed in West Germany just before the fall of the Berlin wall.

Buffalo Soldiers

2002

Tucker: The Man and His Dream poster
6.7

Ypsilanti, Michigan, 1945. Engineer Preston Tucker dreams of designing the car of future, but his innovative envision will be repeatedly sabotaged by his own unrealistic expectations and the Detroit automobile industry tycoons.

Tucker: The Man and His Dream

1988

Catchfire poster
5.3

A witness to a mob assassination flees for her life from town to town, switching identities, but cannot seem to elude Milo, the chief killer out to get her.

Catchfire

1990

Home Sweet Homicide poster
4.5

Mystery writer Marian Carstairs is hard at work trying to finish her latest novel. Her three children meanwhile are entertaining themselves by trying to solve a murder in their own neighborhood. In between gathering clues, the kids play matchmaker by trying to fix up their widowed mom with the handsome detective investigating the case.

Home Sweet Homicide

1946

Gardens of Stone poster
6.2

At Arlington National Cemetery during the Vietnam era, veteran sergeant Clell Hazard trains young soldiers while mourning those lost in combat. Unable to return to war himself, he mentors Jackie Willow—the idealistic son of a fallen comrade—hoping to prepare him for the realities of Vietnam and the cost of duty.

Gardens of Stone

1987

Rites of Passage poster
5.6

A father and his two sons go on holiday together hoping to reconcile some of their differences, but when the arrival of two escaped convicts interrupts their vacation, the three men must cooperate in order to survive.

Rites of Passage

1999

The Valley of Decision poster
7.2

Mary Rafferty comes from a poor family of steel mill workers in 19th Century Pittsburgh. Her family objects when she goes to work as a maid for the wealthy Scott family which controls the mill. Mary catches the attention of handsome scion Paul Scott, but their romance is complicated by Paul's engagement to someone else and a bitter strike among the mill workers.

The Valley of Decision

1945

Behind the camera