Kiel Martin
Martin, c. 1987
Born
Kiel Urban Mueller

(1944-07-26)July 26, 1944
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedDecember 28, 1990(1990-12-28) (aged 46)
Rancho Mirage, California, U.S.
OccupationActor
Years active1956–1990
Spouses
Claudia Martin
​
​
(m. 1969; div. 1971)​
    Christina Montoya
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1978; div. 1980)​
      Joanne La Pomaroa
      ​
      ​
      (m. 1982; div. 1984)​
      Children1 (with Martin)

      Kiel Urban Mueller (July 26, 1944 – December 28, 1990), known professionally as Kiel Martin, was an American actor best known for his role as Detective John "J.D." La Rue on the 1980s television drama Hill Street Blues.[1]

      Early years

      Martin was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,[2] and raised in the city of Hialeah, Florida in Miami-Dade County. He was named after the city of Kiel, Germany in honor of his family's German ancestry.[3]

      A 1962 graduate of Hialeah High School, Martin considered dropping out when he reached the age of 16. To prevent this, his father arranged for him to audition for a minor role in the school's production of the musical Finian's Rainbow. Martin was instead offered the lead.[4] When he was 18, he made 90 dollars a day dubbing voices for "Mexican fairy-tale movies imported by K. Gordon Murray."[5]

      Martin was a drama student at Miami-Dade Junior College, the University of Miami,[5] and Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas,[6] later saying "I went to whatever college that was doing a play I wanted to be in. And I left whenever they ran out of plays. I was not a serious college-goer."[7] He briefly served in the army where he played the lead in a production of Neil Simon's Come Blow Your Horn.[7] He was discharged in 1964.[4]

      Career

      Martin's debut as a professional actor came in repertory theatre in Florida.[2] After an attempt at stand-up comedy in Miami, he learned to play the guitar, working for two years in New York as a musician and a dockworker. He also performed in Shakespearean plays at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre and worked as a repertory actor in New York and New Orleans[4] before becoming a client of the William Morris Agency.[6]

      In 1967, Martin was signed as a contract player at Universal Studios after being recommended by June Havoc, who saw him perform when they were both working at the New Orleans Repertory Company.[8] However, in August of that year, he broke 15 bones in a motorcycle accident after crashing into an oak tree. He spent four days in a coma and required two years recuperation during which he lost 40 pounds.[9]

      Afterwards, Martin appeared in The Panic in Needle Park (1971) starring Al Pacino and Lolly-Madonna XXX (1973) along with a young Jeff Bridges. He also costarred in the 1975 film Moonrunners, which was the basis for the television series The Dukes of Hazzard.[10][11][12] He was, with Jon Voight and Michael Sarrazin, among the final three actors considered for the role of Joe Buck in Midnight Cowboy.[13][14][15] He starred as Daniel in the 1989 Spanish film Lluvia de otoño (Autumn Rain) in his only non-English-speaking role.[16]

      In addition to Hill Street Blues, Martin made guest appearances on various television shows between the late 1960s and the 1980s, including Dragnet, The Virginian, The Love Boat, Father Dowling Mysteries, and Murder, She Wrote. He appeared as Eckels in an episode of The Ray Bradbury Theatre in an adaption of the famed science fiction short story "A Sound of Thunder."[17] He was also a regular on the soap opera The Edge of Night.[2] Martin starred in the short-lived 1987 Fox sitcom Second Chance[18] until its revamping as Boys Will Be Boys resulted in his character being dropped.

      Martin wrote and performed the song "Not for Long" for the 1972 made for TV movie The Catcher, also co-writing the film's title track with Jackie DeShannon, who sang it.[19] He had earlier sung Tom Paxton's "I'm Bound for the Mountains and the Sea" on the TV series Then Came Bronson.

      Personal life

      He was married three times. In 1969, he married Claudia Martin (1944–2001), who was actor/crooner Dean Martin's daughter. They had a daughter named Jesse. The marriage ended in 1971.[20] He was married to Christina Montoya 1978-80. His final marriage was to Joanne La Pomaroa 1982-84.

      Death

      Martin was performing the role of Sgt. Merwin J. Toomey in a Calgary production of Neil Simon's Biloxi Blues[21] when he was forced to leave the play following chest pains.[22] A biopsy revealed that he was suffering from lung cancer and he soon began chemotherapy.[23] Friends would later describe him as displaying "courage" and "a positive attitude" during this time.[24]

      Martin died of cardiovascular collapse caused by lung cancer, aged 46, at his home in Rancho Mirage, California.[2][25] Though most obituaries reported that no funeral services were held for Martin, friend Ron Herbinger explained that "in Kiel's will he set aside some money for a party in some park in Palm Springs for close friends. He then was cremated and his ashes were flown over the gathering and spread from the sky."[26]

      Filmography

      Film
      Year Title Role Notes
      1960La caperucita rojaThe Ferocious WolfEnglish version, Voice, Uncredited
      1961Caperucita y sus tres amigosEnglish version, Voice, Uncredited
      1962Caperucita y Pulgarcito contra los monstruosEnglish version, Voice, Uncredited
      1969The UndefeatedUnion Runner
      1971The Panic in Needle ParkChico
      1972Trick BabyWhite Folks
      1973Lolly-Madonna XXXLudie Gutshall
      1975MoonrunnersBobby Lee Hagg
      1982Human HighwayConstruction Worker
      1989Lluvia de otoño
      Television
      Year Title Role Notes
      1968DragnetWalter Marshall1 episode
      1968The VirginianTony Barnessaison 06/04
      1968The VirginianCal Orseysaison 06/21
      1969The VirginianRankinsaison 7 episode 22 (Incident at Diablo Crossing)
      1972GunsmokeIke Daggett1 episode
      1972The CatcherWes WatkinsTV movie
      1975The Log of the Black PearlChristopher SandTV movie
      1977-1978The Edge of NightRaney CooperTV series
      1981-1987Hill Street BluesJ.D. LaRueTV series
      1981Child Bride of Short CreekBob KalishTV movie
      1982Matt HoustonBill Claudius1 episode
      1987Convicted: A Mother's StoryVanTV movie
      1987If It's Tuesday, It Still Must Be BelgiumZane DrinkwaterTV movie
      1987Second ChanceCharles Russell9 episodes
      1989Miami VicePaul Cutter1 episode
      1989The Ray Bradbury Theater: A Sound of ThunderEckersTV series
      1990Perry Mason: The Case of the Poisoned PenMax MulgrewTV movie
      1990Murder, She WroteDanny Snow1 episode, (final appearance)

      References

      1. ↑ Obituary Variety, January 7, 1991.
      2. 1 2 3 4 "Actor Kiel Martin Dies at 46". The Washington Post. January 2, 1991. Archived from the original on May 30, 2017. Retrieved May 30, 2017.
      3. ↑ Feder, Robert (July 17, 1983). "Working on Hill Street is sheer pleasure". The Spokesman-Review. p. 87 – via Newspapers.com.
      4. 1 2 3 MacNeil, Chris (August 1, 1981). "Hill Street's LaRue hopes for 5-year run". The Kokomo Tribune. p. 17 – via Newspapers.com.
      5. 1 2 Kelley, Bill (October 31, 1987). "'Second Chance' For Kiel Martin". Sun Sentinel. Archived from the original on May 30, 2017. Retrieved May 30, 2017.
      6. 1 2 Jicha, Tom (May 19, 1981). "Local makes good being bad — in 'Street Blues'". The Miami News. p. 20 – via Newspapers.com.
      7. 1 2 Carlton, Bob (May 1, 1984). "'Hill Street's' Kiel Martin dislikes being idle". The Shreveport Journal. p. 11 – via Newspapers.com.
      8. ↑ "Kim Novak Tells Some Of Her Marriage Ideas". Tampa Bay Times. September 1, 1967. p. 60 – via Newspapers.com.
      9. ↑ "'I Was Trouble As A Kid'". The Daily Herald. June 8, 1981. p. 36 – via Newspapers.com.
      10. ↑ White, Bryan (June 26, 2008). "Just the good ol' boys. Never meanin' no harm. Moonrunners".
      11. ↑ Holland, Jon (2009). "Dukes Historian".
      12. ↑ LeVasseur, Andrea. "Moonrunners Review". StarPulse.com. Archived from the original on 2012-10-08. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
      13. ↑ Monush, Barry (2009). Everybody's Talkin' The Top Films of 1965-1969. New York: Applause Theatre & Cinema Books. p. 314. ISBN 9781557836182.
      14. ↑ Mann, William J. (2006). Edge of Midnight: The Life of John Schlesinger. New York: Billboard Books. pp. 306–307. ISBN 9780823084692.
      15. ↑ Holleran, Scott (2007). "Interview: Actor Jon Voight".
      16. ↑ Caparrós Lera, J. M. (1992). El cine espanol de la democracia: De la muerte de Franco al "cambio" socialista (1975-1989). Barcelona: Anthropos. p. 372. ISBN 9788476583128.
      17. ↑ Sandercombe, W. Fraser (2010). Masters of SF: the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. Burlington, Ont.: Collector's Guide Publishing Inc. p. 126. ISBN 9781897350287.
      18. ↑ Terrace, Vincent (2011). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010 (2nd ed.). Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. p. 939. ISBN 9780786464777.
      19. ↑ Marill, Alvin H. (1980). Movies Made for Television: The Telefeature and the Mini-Series 1964-1979. Farncombe, Godalming, Surrey: LSP Books Limited. p. 99. ISBN 9780853210818.
      20. ↑ Lisanti, Tom (2003). Drive-in Dream Girls: A Galaxy of B-Movie Starlets of the Sixties. McFarland. p. 285. ISBN 9780786471652. Retrieved May 30, 2017.
      21. ↑ Zimmerman, Kate (January 19, 1990). "LaRue just role for Kiel Martin". Calgary Herald. pp. 72, 73 – via Newspapers.com.
      22. ↑ "Actor takes over role". Calgary Herald. February 13, 1990. p. 35 – via Newspapers.com.
      23. ↑ "Actor suffering from cancer". Calgary Herald. February 14, 1990. p. 35 – via Newspapers.com.
      24. ↑ "Friends remember Kiel Martin's courage". The Desert Sun. January 1, 1991. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
      25. ↑ "Kiel Martin, 46, Actor Who Played Sleazy Cop on 'Hill Street Blues'". The Seattle Times. Associated Press. January 2, 1991. Archived from the original on May 30, 2017. Retrieved May 30, 2017.
      26. ↑ Lambert, Andy (2004–2022). "Recollections of Hill Street Blues".
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