Rod Steiger (April 14, 1925 - July 9, 2002) was an American actor.
He was born Rodney Stephen Steiger in Westhampton, New York. He ran away from home at age sixteen to join the US Navy during World War II. After the war, he returned to New Jersey and joined a drama group before studying drama full-time under Lee Strasberg and Elia Kazan at The Actor's Studio.
Steiger appeared in over 100 motion pictures. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his portrayal of Sheriff Bill Gillespie in In the Heat of the Night (1967) opposite Sidney Poitier.
He was nominated for the Academy Award for his roles in On the Waterfront (1954), The Pawnbroker (1965) and The Hurricane (1999).
Steiger had five wives, actress Sally Gracie (married 1952-divorced 1958), actress Claire Bloom (married 1959-divorced 1969), Sherry Nelson (married 1973-divorced 1979), Paula Ellis (married 1986-divorced 1997) and actress Joan Benedict (married 2000-his death 2002).
He was offered the title role in Patton but turned it down because he did not want to glorify war. The role was then given to George C. Scott, who won the Oscar. Steiger called this refusal his "dumbest career move." He also turned down The Godfather.
He died in Los Angeles of pneumonia and kidney failure at the age of seventy-seven. He is interred in the Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery.
Rod Steiger has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7080 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood.
Steiger numbers
Rod Steiger is the most linkable actor in the Internet Movie Database. The average Steiger number of a movie actor is 2.679 (compared to Bacon's 2.955). Steiger has a Bacon number of 2. William Rufus Shafter has a Steiger number of 8. See: Small world phenomenon.
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