Bob Gunton facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Robert "Bob" Gunton
Gunton in 1963
Born	Robert Patrick Gunton Jr. (1945-11-15) November 15, 1945 (age 79) Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Alma mater	Paulist Seminary St Peter's College University of California, Irvine
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1965–present

Robert Patrick Gunton Jr. (born November 15, 1945) is an American actor. He is known for playing serious and powerful characters. You might know him as Warden Samuel Norton in the movie The Shawshank Redemption. He also played Chief George Earle in Demolition Man.

On TV, he was Dr. Walcott in Patch Adams. He also played Secretary of State Cyrus Vance in Argo. Robert Gunton was Leland Owlsley in the Daredevil TV show. He also played Secretary of Defense Ethan Kanin in 24. And he was Noah Taylor in Desperate Housewives.

Besides movies and TV, Gunton is a talented theatre actor. He was the first actor to play Juan Perón on Broadway in the musical Evita. He also played the main character in the 1989 show Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. For these roles, he was nominated for Tony Awards. He has also won other awards for his acting.

Robert Gunton's Early Life and Service

Robert Patrick Gunton Jr. was born in Santa Monica, California. His mother was Rose Marie and his father was Robert Patrick Gunton Sr. His father was a leader in a labor union. Robert went to Mater Dei High School. He also studied at Paulist Seminary St Peter's College. Later, he attended the University of California, Irvine. Robert Gunton is a Catholic. He first thought about becoming a priest.

He served in the United States Army from 1969 to 1971. He was a radio operator with the 101st Airborne Division. He was part of the Battle of Fire Support Base Ripcord in South Vietnam. This battle was a 23-day fight.

Robert and a friend received the Bronze Star Medal for their bravery. They went back to the base to get important radios. This happened during the final moments of evacuation. They did this so the radios would not fall into enemy hands. Because of their actions, he was one of the last people to leave the base. During the battle, he lost one of his dog tags. It was returned to him more than 40 years later in 2018.

Acting Career Highlights

Robert Gunton played Juan Perón in the first Broadway show of Evita in 1980. This role earned him a nomination for a Tony Award. He also had a role in the 1985 TV movie Finnegan Begin Again. Later, he starred as Sweeney Todd in a 1989 Broadway revival. He received another Tony nomination for this role. He has been in other Broadway shows too. These include Working and Big River.

Gunton has played several famous leaders. He played President Richard Nixon for a TV show called Nightline. He also played President Woodrow Wilson in the movie Iron Jawed Angels (2004). You might also know him as Captain Benjamin Maxwell. He played this role in the 1991 Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Wounded".

One of his most famous roles was Warden Samuel Norton. He was the head of Shawshank State Prison in The Shawshank Redemption (1994). He acted alongside Tim Robbins in that movie. Gunton also played Cecil Dobbs in the 2011 movie The Lincoln Lawyer.

He was a guest star in the first season of Desperate Housewives. He also appeared in the sixth season of 24. In 24, he played United States Secretary of Defense Ethan Kanin. He later became a regular on the show. He played Kanin as the White House Chief of Staff for the new president. He returned for the eighth season as the President's United States Secretary of State. Gunton also played Leland Owlsley in the 2015 TV series Daredevil. In 2017, he made a guest appearance on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

In 2021, Gunton helped bring back the character Egon Spengler in Ghostbusters: Afterlife. He was a body double for the character.

Stage Roles

Film Roles

Television Roles

Images for kids

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  Gunton in 1963

See also

In Spanish: Bob Gunton para niños