Ken Kercheval

Ken Kercheval was an American actor, born in Wolcottville, Indiana, and raised in Clinton, who began in theater after studying music and drama at Indiana University and later at the Neighborhood Playhouse under Sanford Meisner. He made his Broadway debut in 1962 in Something About a Soldier and appeared off-Broadway in Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill in 1972. In 1966 he played the title character in Fiddler on the Roof, in its original Broadway production, and took his first television part on Search for Tomorrow. Later soap roles included The Secret Storm and How to Survive a Marriage, while his films included The Seven-Ups (1973) with Roy Scheider and F.I.S.T. (1978) with Sylvester Stallone. He became best known as Cliff Barnes, J.R.'s nemesis, on Dallas, starring from 1978 to 1991 and reprising the role in the 2012 revival. He also appeared in the 1991 television movie I Still Dream of Jeannie and in the musical White Christmas.