Richard Jaeckel : Biography, Pictures, Photos, Trivia, Address, Filmography (Spenser for Hire)

Although battling cancer, director Joe Dante had originally hoped that Jaeckel would be able to return to work and provide the voice of Link Static for his upcoming project Small Soldiers (1998). This film reunited Jaeckel's fellow cast members from The Dirty Dozen (1967). Jaeckel died from his cancer before shooting began.

Was forced to file bankruptcy in late 1995 due to a $1.7 million debt and eventually he lost his home in Brentwood, California. He later moved into the Motion Picture and Television Retirement Center in Woodland Hills, a home for old actors were he stayed for the next three years until his death in June of 1997.

According to Robert Osborne in "Academy Awards 1972 Oscar Annual," Jaeckel got the role in "Sometimes a Great Notion" (1971) when Paul Newman ran into him at Malibu Beach. Jaeckel was relaxing and swimming with his family and friends, and as Newman watched him playing with his own children, he thought that Jaeckel would be just right to play his brother in the film. Newman subsequently stood up for casting Jaeckel at later conferences with studio management, and he got the part, and an Oscar nomination.

Jaeckel had the distinction of being cast as an 'irregular' supporting player in films along side the likes of Paul Newman, Burt Lancaster and Glenn Ford.