Jason Wingreen, a talented character actor, was born on October 9, 1920, in Brooklyn, New York City, to a Jewish tailor father. Growing up in the Howard Beach neighborhood of Queens, Jason attended John Adams High School and majored in English and Speech at Brooklyn College, initially planning to become a sportswriter.
However, Jason caught the acting bug during his time at Brooklyn College, where he took a mandatory speech course and joined the undergraduate theater group the Masquers, eventually becoming its president in his senior year. After graduating in June 1941, Jason landed his first show business job with a marionette company.
Wingreen then served in the armed forces during World War II as a member of the 81st Fighter Squadron, 50th Fighter Group, 9th Air Force. Following his tour of duty, Jason returned to Howard Beach and utilized the G.I. Bill to attend the New School.
In the early 1950s, Jason helped found the renowned Circle in the Square Theatre company in Greenwich Village, and in 1954, he made his Broadway debut in the plays "Fragile Fox" and "The Girl on the Via Flaminia." Jason's first television appearance was in 1955, and he made his film debut shortly thereafter.
Throughout his career, Wingreen was a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a distinction he held since the early 1960s. Jason Wingreen passed away at the age of 95 on December 25, 2015, at his home in Los Angeles, California, leaving behind his son Ned, two grandchildren, and his sister Harriett Wingreen, who was the orchestra pianist for the New York Philharmonic for several decades.
