Clifford Wallace "Kip" Niven (May 27, 1945 – May 6, 2019) was an American actor and theater director.

Early life

Niven was born in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

and grew up in

Prairie Village, Kansas Prairie Village is a city in Johnson County, Kansas, United States, and located within the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 22,957. History After the successful development of the Coun ...

, the son of William Watson Niven and Elizabeth Hopkins Niven. He graduated from

Shawnee Mission East High School Shawnee Mission East High School is a public high school in Prairie Village, Kansas, United States, for grades 9 through 12. It is one of five high schools operated by the Shawnee Mission USD 512 school district. Shawnee Mission East High Sc ...

and briefly attended

Baylor University Baylor University is a Private university, private Baptist research university in Waco, Texas, United States. It was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Te ...

, before graduating from

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

. After college, he joined the Army, serving three years, including a tour in Vietnam.

Career

In 1972, Niven was featured in the premiere episode of ''

The Sixth Sense ''The Sixth Sense'' is a 1999 American psychological thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It stars Bruce Willis as a child psychologist whose patient ( Haley Joel Osment) claims he can see and talk to the dead. Released ...

''. In 1973, he joined

David Soul David Soul (born David Richard Solberg; August 28, 1943 – January 4, 2024) was an American-British actor and singer. With a career spanning five decades, he rose to prominence for portraying Detective Kenneth "Hutch" Hutchinson in the Americ ...

Robert Urich Robert Michael Urich (December 19, 1946 – April 16, 2002) was an American film, television, and stage actor and television producer. Over the course of his 30-year career, he starred in a record 15 television series. Urich began his car ...

and

Tim Matheson Tim Matheson (born Timothy Lewis Matthieson; December 31, 1947) is an American actor and director. Some of his best-known acting roles include the title character of the 1960s animated ''Jonny Quest (TV series), Jonny Quest'' TV series, Eric "O ...

as one of the four rogue cops in ''

Magnum Force ''Magnum Force'' is a 1973 American action-thriller film and the second to feature Clint Eastwood as maverick cop Harry Callahan after the 1971 film '' Dirty Harry''. Ted Post, who had previously worked with Eastwood on '' Rawhide'' and '' H ...

'', starring

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...

. He amassed nearly 100 credits in film and television, enjoying recurring roles on TV series such as ''

The Waltons ''The Waltons'' is an American historical drama television series about a family in rural mountainous Western Virginia of the Appalachian Mountains / Allegheny Mountains / Blue Ridge Mountains chain, during the economic hardships and mass unemp ...

'', ''

Alice Alice may refer to: * Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Literature * Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll * ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...

'' and ''

Emergency! ''Emergency!'' is an American Action fiction, action-adventure medical drama television series jointly produced by Mark VII Limited and Universal Television. Debuting on NBC as a midseason replacement on January 15, 1972, replacing two situatio ...

''. In his later years, Niven returned to the Kansas City area, where he was described as "a pillar of the local theatre scene".

Personal life

Niven's first wife, Susan Tisdall Niven, whom he married in 1968 and with whom he had two children, died in a car accident in 1981. In 1982, he married actress

Linda Lavin Linda Lavin (; October 15, 1937 – December 29, 2024) was an American actress and singer. Known for her roles on stage and screen, she received several awards including three Drama Desk Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, two Obie Awards, and a T ...

. They divorced in 1992. In 1994, Niven married Beth Reiff, with whom he had a daughter. They remained together until her death in 2012. Niven lived in the Kansas City suburb of

Leawood, Kansas Leawood () is a city in Johnson County, Kansas, United States, and is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 33,902. History 19th century After the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, the are ...

. He died of a heart attack in Kansas City, Missouri, on May 6, 2019, aged 73.

Filmography

References

External links

* 1945 births 2019 deaths 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors American male film actors American male stage actors American male television actors American theatre directors Male actors from Kansas City, Missouri People from Leawood, Kansas People from Prairie Village, Kansas United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War University of Kansas alumni {{US-screen-actor-1940s-stub