Ed O'Neill

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STATISTICS

Full name: Edward O'Neill (middle name, if any, is unknown)
Birth:     Born April 12, 1946, in Youngstown, Ohio.
Family:    Father (name possibly Edward, Sr.) was a steelworker, his mother a social worker.
           Two younger brothers and two younger sisters.
           Wife: Catherine (Cathy) Rusoff since 1986. Have spearated and reunited.
           Two young daughters, born 1999 and 2006. Names are unknown.
Height:    6'1"
Eyes:      Blue; wears glasses.
Hobbies:   Cooking. Has been playing Handball for about 30 years.
           Has studied Brazilian Jui-Jitsu (a form of self-defense) for 
           over 10 years under Royce Gracie. Recently received his black belt.



BEFORE THE SHOW

 Ed played football through high school and college. Though he did love football,
 he thought that this would be the way to attract girls, but soon found out he
 was wrong. He played for the Youngstown State University (The "Penguins") and Ohio
 University. He was a Rookie (Chuck Knolls first year) with the Pittsburgh
 Steelers in 1969, but was soon cut because he was "undisciplined and unruly" and
 never got along with head coaches, though he was a good player. 

 

 He felt that football was something he had to do, rather than something he
 wanted to do. He soon discovered that his real love was for acting. Once cut 
 from the Steelers, Ed decided to begin studying theatre. In Youngstown, he scored
 a part in "Rainmaker", which then lead to the role of the Greek guard in "Antigone".
 After that, he enrolled in some acting courses. He also taught Grade six (slow 
 learners) Social Studies whilst studying arts and theatre at Ohio University. 
 It wasn't until 1977 that Ed decided to pursue acting as a profession.
 Unless I have solid evidence to the contrary, Ed was not in Deliverance!

 Ed had many jobs over the years. He was a bellhop in a hotel (and even got a
 visit by the Pittsburgh Steelers!); a bartender; a steelworker; he taught speed 
 reading; even once became a used car salesman. He was a waiter at the ripe age of
 30. He moved to New York where he began to study in New York's Circle in the Square. 

 From May 6 to September 16, 1979, Ed played 1948 psychotic boxer, Paddy Klonski,
 in the Broadway play "Knockout" with Danny Aiello at the Helen Hayes Theatre in 
 New York. His first biggish movie part was in "Cruising" (with Al Pacino) in 1980,
 credited as 'Edward O'Neil'. Also in 1980, Ed had a small role in "Dogs Of War". 

 Ed was considered for the lead role in "Cheers" in 1982. The character of Sam
 Malone was originally planned to be a football player, and Ed was going to play
 him. Then the producers changed it to a baseball pitcher and Ted Danson got the
 role instead. Ed was also being considered for the leads in "Family Ties" ("You
 could not get a guy who was wronger for the part!") and "Hill Street Blues" 
 (which he didn't really care for).

 Ed played roles both big and small in various TV movies before performing in "Of
 Mice And Men" in Connecticut. It was there that an executive from a new network,
 called FOX, attended. After viewing, he asked Ed to audition for the first sitcom
 for this new network. Though he did not particularly want to do a sitcom, Ed
 agreed to audition, thinking he'd do a quick six shows, get some Christmas cash
 and that'd be it. He read the Pilot script and thought it was funny and original.
 He got called back for another audition. Ed wasn't sure he should go. He gave the
 script to his wife and she started to laugh whilst reading it. It was then that Ed
 knew he wanted the part of Al Bundy. And nobody could have played it better.


DURING THE SHOW

 Ed believes that the pilot episode of Married with Children had excellent reviews,
 but that didn't stop him from thinking that they would only do six episodes and
 then be off the air. He didn't think that MWC would find an audience, but the
 first season, containing 13 episodes, completely proved Ed wrong; let alone eleven
 years. By the fourth season, Al Bundy was a national television blue-collar hero. 

 Ed acted in many movies during the eleven years that MWC lasted. He also hosted
 Saturday Night Live in Janurary 1990. He was the first star from the FOX network to host 
 SNL. A "Wayne's World" sketch in this show Ed was in was possibly a lead-in for his
 appearance in both feature films (in which he is given the special "and" credit.)

 

 His wife, Cathy, appeared on MWC twice, once in 1988 ("Just Married... With
 Children" [220]) and again in 1991. ("If Al Had A hammer" [603]) In 1991, a story
 was released in one of the gossip magazines that Ed and Christina Applegate were
 rumoured to be having an affair. Ed was amused by this story, Christina horrified.
 It wasn't true, by the way.
 Ed was orginally cast in the film "Flight Of The Intruder", but once previewed, he 
 had to be cut out of the film because audiences could not accept the fact that it 
 was "Al Bundy in the army".

 Ed was honoured with a Golden Globe nomination in 1992 and 1993, but it being MWC
 meant he wouldn't win, of course. MWC has never really been appreciated in the awards
 industry.

 Ed could see that MWC was running out of steam by the end, once commenting that
 "it's hard to think of fresh ideas after the first 100 episodes."  When MWC was
 finally cancelled, cast members were saddened, yet happy for the opportunity to do
 other things, particularly Ed. He was beginning to feel that he was not an actor
 anymore, just some guy waiting for retirement. Ed has a lot of difficulty being
 respected as he is still recognised as Al Bundy wherever he goes. He had realised
 before 1993 that he'd been typecast, because "Bundy is such a hard character to
 get out of people's minds, and I'm always gonna look like the guy."


AFTER THE SHOW

 Since MWC's cancellation, Ed has acted in several movies and the ten-hour mini-series
 "The Tenth Kingdom". 

 

 He sweetly surprised Christina Applegate on the set of her new show "Jesse" in 1998. 
 He is the spokesman, and can be seen in commercials as the Phone Patrol for 1-800-COLLECT.
 He has appeared in a couple of plays, and has a particular fondess for David Mamet. 
 He got a new show, "Big Apple", in early 2001 on CBS. 

 

 Unfortunately, running against "ER" it was cancelled after just five episodes. Ed then
 came back playing another cop, possibly one of the most famous ever - Joe Friday - in
 the new "Dragnet" series on ABC, which lasted two seasons. After the first season, 
 they changed the cast (except for Ed) and renamed it "L.A. Dragnet" for some reason, 
 and the show went downhill and was eventually cancelled in 2004. Ed reunited with Katey Sagal 
 in an episode of her show, "8 Simple Rules". He continues to act in movies and TV shows. 
 He had a recurring role on "The West Wing". Another series, "John From Cincinnatti", ran for
 one series (10 episodes) on HBO in 2007.

 

 Ed has now found success on the new ABC show "Modern Family" which is a documentary- 
 style situation comedy. The series was picked up for a full season 2009-2010.



FILMOGRAPHY


FILMS

 Date     Title                               
                         
 1980     Cruising                             
 1980     The Dogs of War                      
 1989     K-9                                  
 1989     Disorganised Crime                   
 1990     Sibling Rivalry                      
 1990     The Adventures of Ford Fairlane
 1991     Dutch AKA Driving Me Crazy            
 1992     Wayne's World                           
 1993     Wayne's World 2               
 1994     Blue Chips                    
 1994     Little Giants                   
 1997     Prefontaine                     
 1997     The Spanish Prisoner              
 1999     The Bone Collector               
 2000     Lucky Numbers                     
 2001     Nobody's Baby  
 2004     Spartan
 2005     Steel Valley


TELEVISION MOVIES / MINI-SERIES

 Date     Title                                

 1980     The Day the Women Got Even  
 1982     Farrell for the People                 
 1983     When Your Lover Leaves                 
 1985     Braker                               
 1986     A Winner Never Quits                  
 1986     Popeye Doyle                      
 1987     Right to Die                          
 1988     Police Story: Gladiator School        
 1990     The Whereabouts of Jenny                
 1990     A Very Retail Christmas                 
 2000     The Tenth Kingdom
 2006     Inseperable                 



TELEVISION SERIES

 Date     Title                                   

 unknown  All My Children                         
 1984     Miami Vice - "Heart of Darkness"       
 1985     The Equalizer - "The Children's Song"   
 1985     Hunter - "The Garbage Man"              
 1986     Spenser: For Hire - "Widow's Walk"      
 1987-97  Married... with Children                
 1987     Hollywood Squares                       
 1989     Midnight Caller - "Twelve Gauge"        
 1990     In Living Color
 2001     Big Apple 
 2003-04  Dragnet
 2005     The West Wing
 2005     8 Simple Rules - "Old Flame"
 2005     The West Wing [4 episodes]
 2006     Twenty Good Years - "Between a Brock and a Hard Place"
 2006     The Unit - "Silver Star"
 2007     John From Cincinnatti
 2009-    Modern Family



INTERVIEWS / SPECIALS

 Date     Program

 1989   Late Night with David Letterman
 1989   Emmy Awards (presenting with Katey Sagal)
 1989   After Hours (behind the scenes)
 1990   Saturday Night Live
 1990   Earth Day (as Al Bundy)
 1990   Emmy Awards (presenting with Julia Duffy)
 1991   The Joan Rivers Show
 1991   Home Videos of the Stars (behind the scenes)
 1991   Hey Hey It's Saturday
 1991   Late Night with David Letterman
 1991   Into the Night
 1992   Backstage with The Bundys
 1992   Hollywood Insider
 1992   The Please Watch the Jon Lovitz Special
 1993   The Whoopi Goldberg Show
 1993   Arsenio Hall
 1994   Arsenio Hall
 1993   A Day in the Life of... (behind the scenes)
 1990   An Evening at The Improv (with Katey Sagal)
 1993   The Late Show
 1993   MTV Video Music Awards 
 1995   My Favorite Married
 1996   Entertainment Tonight ("Spring Break")
 1997   Bundymania
 1997   Home and Family
 1998   Later
 1999   Celebrity Profile (Christina Applegate)
 2000   Celebrity Profile (Katey Sagal)
 2001   The Rose O'Donnell Show
 2001   E! True Hollywood Story: Married with Children
 2003   Married with Children Reunion Special
 2009   Late Night With Jimmy Fallon



STAGE

 Date     Title                               

 1979    Knockout (on Broadway)
 19??    The Front Page
 19??    A Streetcar Named Desire
 19??    One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
 198?    Of Mice and Men


RADIO PLAYS

 Date     Title                             

 1998    A View From The Bridge



OTHER / MISCELLANEOUS

 Promotions for Married... with Children.
 Promotions for Married with Children's syndication.
 Many commercials, especially for 1-800-COLLECT.