Ken Jenkins

Ken Jenkins
Ken Jenkins
Born	August 28, 1940 (age 84); Dayton, Ohio, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1974–present
Spouse(s)	Joan Patchen; (m. 1958; div. 1969); Katharine Houghton; (m. 1970)
Children	3; including Daniel Jenkins
Relatives	Katharine Hepburn (aunt-in-law)

Ken Jenkins (born August 28, 1940) is an American actor, best known for his role as Dr. Bob Kelso, the chief of medicine on the American comedy series Scrubs (2001–2009).^[2]^[3] He has also had notable appearances in many popular TV shows.

Early life

Jenkins was born in Dayton, Ohio and graduated from Wilbur Wright High School, Ohio in 1958.^[4]

Career

In 1969, Jenkins joined Actors Theatre of Louisville under the leadership of Jon Jory, where he served as a company member for three years.

Jenkins appeared on episodes of Homefront, The X-Files, Babylon 5, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Wiseguy, Early Edition, and Beverly Hills, 90210, and starred in Scrubs in the first eight seasons as a main cast member and guest-starred in the ninth and final season. His character, Dr. Bob Kelso, is his most recognizable role to date.

Jenkins has appeared in many films throughout his career, including The Wizard of Loneliness, Executive Decision, The Abyss, Air America, Last Man Standing, Fled, Gone in 60 Seconds, I Am Sam, The Sum of All Fears, Matewan, Courage Under Fire, and the 1998 remake of Psycho. He appeared as Fran Goldsmith's father in Stephen King's TV miniseries, The Stand. Jenkins also had a role in Clockstoppers.

Jenkins also had a recurring role on Cougar Town, as Jules' (Courteney Cox) father. Jenkins appears in The Blanks' music video for "Guy Love" as the owner of an L.A. bar, as he appeared with The Blanks in Scrubs, most prominently band member Sam Lloyd, who starred as regular Ted Buckland.

Jenkins portrayed Representative Howard W. Smith in the 2016 HBO TV movie All the Way, in which Smith's segregationist views posed as a central and divisive opposition to President Lyndon B. Johnson's proposal of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Jenkins was the voice of Blister on Harvey Beaks.

Jenkins can also sing and play the acoustic guitar, and is seen doing so on the Scrubs episodes "My Tuscaloosa Heart" and "My Musical", and in the Cougar Town episode "You Don't Know How It Feels".

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	What Comes Around	Larry
1987	Matewan	Sephus Purcell
1988	The Wizard of Loneliness	Joel Spender
1989	The Abyss	Gerard Kirkhill
1989	In Country	Jim Holly
1990	Air America	Major Donald Lemond
1990	By Dawn's Early Light	Looking Glass Colonel 'Sam'
1991	Edge of Honor	Bo Dubs
1992	Crossing the Bridge	Lou Morgan
1995	Hiroshima	James F. Byrnes
1995	Past the Bleachers	Milton
1996	Executive Decision	General Wood
1996	Last Dance	Warden Laverty
1996	Courage Under Fire	Joel Walden
1996	Fled	Warden Nichols
1996	Last Man Standing	Capt. Tom Pickett
1998	Where's Marlowe?	Linguist
1998	Psycho	District Attorney
1999	The Last Marshal	Judge Wooley
2000	Gone in 60 Seconds	Televangelist	Uncredited
2000	Lucky Numbers	Dan Schuff
2001	The Tailor of Panama	Morecombe
2001	I Am Sam	Judge McNeily
2002	Clockstoppers	NSA Agent Moore
2002	Home Room	Police Captain
2002	The Sum of All Fears	Admiral Pollack
2007	Welcome to Paradise	Reverend McNamara
2016	All the Way	Judge Howard Smith

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988–1990	Wiseguy	Paul Beckstead	Recurring role (seasons 2–4)
1989	Star Trek: The Next Generation	Dr. Paul Stubbs	Episode: "Evolution"
1993	Mad About You	Jack Farrer	Episode: "Married to the Job"
1994	The Stand	Peter Goldsmith	Miniseries, episode: "The Plague"
1997	Babylon 5	Captain Trevor Hall	Episode: "No Surrender, No Retreat"
1998	Thirst	Lou Wolford	TV movie
1998	Early Edition	Winston Thorpe	Episode: "Deadline"
1999	Beverly Hills, 90210	Pastor Neal	3 episodes (season 10)
1999, 2000	Sliders	Robert Clark / Professor Jack Bigelow	2 episodes
2001	The X-Files	Deputy Chief Karras	Episode: "Medusa"
2001–2010	Scrubs	Doctor Robert Kelso	Main cast
2010–2015	Cougar Town	Chick	Recurring role (seasons 2–6)
2012–2015	Gravity Falls	Pa Duskerton (voice)	2 episodes
2018	A Series of Unfortunate Events	Elder Sam	2 episodes

References

^ "Father, son appear together on stage". The News and Courier. April 6, 1986. pp. 8–E. Archived from the original on April 11, 2013. Retrieved February 23, 2013.
^ Hopkins, Tom. "Ken Jenkins 'Scrubs' TV bias". dayton-daily-news. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
^ "Is Ken Jenkins really gone ..." TVGuide.com. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
^ Hopkins, Tom (November 16, 1992). "For Father And Son, Prime-Time Roles Are As Easy As ABC". Dayton Daily News. p. 3B.