Kevin Kline was born in St. Louis, Missouri, to Margaret and Robert
Joseph Kline, who owned several stores. His father was of German Jewish
descent and his mother was of Irish ancestry. After attending Indiana
University in Bloomington, Kline studied at the Juilliard School in New
York. In 1972, Kline joined the Acting Company in New York which was
run by John Houseman. With this
company, Kline performed Shakespeare across the country. On the stage,
Kline has won two Tony Awards for his work in the musicals "On the
Twentieth Century" (1978) and "The Pirates of Penzance" (1981). After
working on the Television soap
Henderson (1951),
Kline went to Hollywood where his first film was
Sophies Entscheidung (1982). He was
nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance. His work in the
ensemble cast of
Der große Frust (1983) would again be
highly successful, so that when
Lawrence Kasdan wrote
Silverado (1985), Kline would again be
part of the cast. With his role as Otto "Don't call me Stupid!" West in
the film
Ein Fisch namens Wanda (1988),
Kline would win the Oscar for Supporting Actor. Kline could play
classic roles such as Hamlet in
Hamlet (1990);
or a swashbuckling actor like
Douglas Fairbanks in
Chaplin - Das Leben der unsterblichen Filmlegende (1992); or a comedic role in
Lieblingsfeinde - Eine Seifenoper (1991). In all the films that
he has worked in, it is hard to find a performance that is not well
done. In 1989, Kline married actress
Phoebe Cates.
