Jack O'Halloran (born April 8, 1943) is an American actor and former professional boxer. As a heavyweight, he fought in 57 professional boxing matches (including fights with future heavyweight champions George Foreman and Ken Norton) between 1966 and 1974.
He then made his film acting debut in Farewell, My Lovely (1975) and played notable roles in King Kong (1976), as Non in Superman (1978) and its sequel Superman II (1980), the comedy Dragnet (1987), the Chuck Norris vehicle Hero and the Terror (1988), and the 1994 live-action film version of The Flintstones.
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Early life
O'Halloran was born in Philadelphia, and grew up with his mother, Mary, and stepfather, Peter Paul Patrick O'Halloran. In his book Family Legacy, he claimed to be the illegitimate son of mafia hitman and crime boss Albert Anastasia. He lived in Runnemede, New Jersey, where he attended Triton Regional High School.
Boxing career
Fighting as "Irish" Jack O'Halloran from Boston, he was a heavyweight boxing contender active from 1966 to 1974. The 6'6" O'Halloran was undefeated in his first 16 professional fights, with a career record of 34 wins, 21 losses and 2 draws.
During his boxing career, O'Halloran defeated former title contenders Cleveland Williams and Manuel Ramos. He also defeated Danny McAlinden, who won a bronze medal in boxing at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica and later became the British and Commonwealth Heavyweight Champion. O'Halloran's losses included defeats to Joe Roman (twice), Joe Bugner, Ron Lyle, and future heavyweight champions George Foreman and Ken Norton.
In 1973, O'Halloran was close to attaining a match against Muhammad Ali when he was knocked out by Jimmy Summerville. That ended his chances to fight Ali. Although O'Halloran went on to defeat Summerville by K.O. in a rematch, with only three more wins and five losses he was never again a serious heavyweight contender. O'Halloran however knocked out Ali's younger brother Rahaman in Rahaman's final fight in September 1972. That was Rahaman's only stoppage defeat. The California Boxing Hall of Fame listed O'Halloran as one of its inductees of the 2009 HOF class.
Acting career
Retiring from boxing in 1974, O'Halloran turned to acting and he won the role of ex-convict Moose Malloy in the 1975 film Farewell, My Lovely, featuring Robert Mitchum as private eye Philip Marlowe. After Farewell, My Lovely O'Halloran was offered other roles, some of which he turned down, including the role of Jaws in The Spy Who Loved Me which went to Richard Kiel.
Superman film series
He acquired other roles as tough henchmen which culminated in the role he is best known for, Non, the menacing but mute member of the trio of Kryptonian supervillains banished to the Phantom Zone by Jor-El (Marlon Brando) in Superman (1978) and inadvertently released by Superman in Superman II (1980). In an interview O'Halloran said that it was his idea to make Non a childlike character, having difficulty adjusting to his newfound powers and making sounds in the absence of voice. He criticized Alexander and Ilya Salkind, the producers of the Superman films, for their mishandling of the franchise, believing that their firing of director Richard Donner was a huge blow to the series and the cause of its downturn in quality, a sentiment that was shared by Gene Hackman, who refused to reprise his Lex Luthor role in the third film, and by Margot Kidder who played Lois Lane.
In an interview with Starlog Magazine in 2006, O'Halloran talked about how he and Christopher Reeve did not get along during the making of Superman II. On one occasion, he had Reeve against a wall, but Richard Donner intervened and dissuaded him from hitting Reeve. O'Halloran later discussed the incident on the How Did This Get Made? podcast's Episode 24.1. Despite the clash, O'Halloran said that his heart went out to Reeve after his 1995 accident and commended him for helping others with spinal cord injuries.
Other acting roles
O'Halloran has also played supporting roles in King Kong (1976), March or Die (1977), The Baltimore Bullet (1980), Dragnet (1987), Hero and the Terror (1988), Mob Boss (1990), The Flintstones (1994), and Dagon Troll World Chronicles (2019).
Other ventures
In 2008, O'Halloran announced plans to enter into a partnership with veteran Hollywood executive Jay Samit to create Long Beach Studios, a chain of film studio facilities throughout the United States. In 2010, O'Halloran released Family Legacy. The book outlines O'Halloran's relationship with his alleged father, a former boss of the Gambino crime family, Albert Anastasia.
