| Birth Name: | Reginald Thomas Kirkwood |
| Birth Date: | 30 May 1920 |
| Birth Place: | Melbourne, Australia |
| Death Place: | Hesperia, California, U.S. |
| Occupation: | Professional golfer, actor, reporter, television host |
| Years Active: | 1940–1961 |
| Spouse: | |
| Father: | Joe Kirkwood Sr. |
Reginald Thomas Kirkwood (30 May 1920 – 7 September 2006), better known as Joe Kirkwood Jr., was a professional golfer on the PGA Tour and a film actor.[1] [2] He started going by the name Joe Jr. in the late 1930s.[1] [3]
Kirkwood was born in Melbourne, Australia. His father, Joe Kirkwood Sr., was a golf pro acknowledged as having put Australian golf on the world map. In 1948, father and son both made the cut at the U.S. Open, the first father and son duo to do so (a record they held until 2004). When the younger Kirkwood won the 1949 Philadelphia Inquirer Open, they became the third father and son winners in the history of the PGA Tour.[4] Kirkwood Jr. also won the Ozark Open in 1950 and defeated Sam Snead to win the 1951 Blue Ribbon Open in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Kirkwood served in both the U.S. Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II but was medically discharged from both services for asthma and high blood pressure that he suffered from since childhood.[5] In 1945, Kirkwood was invited by Monogram Pictures to test for the role of boxer Joe Palooka, a popular comic book character. He got the part and starred in Joe Palooka, Champ (1946) as well as ten additional Joe Palooka films through 1951. Kirkwood returned to the role in the 1954 television series The Joe Palooka Story.
In the late 1950s, Kirkwood, who has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1620 Vine Street, was one of the reporters on the NBC Radio program Monitor. He also hosted a show, "Let's Play Golf", on Los Angeles station KHJ-TV.[6]
Kirkwood and his wife, Joyce Woltz, owned bowling centers in Studio City, Los Angeles and Porterville, California, and owned property in Princeville, Hawaii.[7]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1946 | Joe Palooka, Champ | Joe Palooka | ||
| 1946 | Night and Day | Classmate | Uncredited | |
| 1946 | Gentleman Joe Palooka | Joe Palooka | ||
| 1947 | Joe Palooka in the Knockout | |||
| 1947 | Joe Palooka in Fighting Mad | |||
| 1948 | Joe Palooka in Winner Take All | |||
| 1948 | Joe Palooka in the Big Fight | |||
| 1949 | Joe Palooka in the Counterpunch | |||
| 1950 | Joe Palooka Meets Humphrey | |||
| 1950 | Joe Palooka in Humphrey Takes a Chance | |||
| 1950 | Joe Palooka in the Squared Circle | |||
| 1951 | Joe Palooka in Triple Cross | |||
| 1961 | The Marriage-Go-Round | Henry 'Doc' Granger | (final film role) |
Kirkwood married Joyce Woltz in 1962.[8] His first marriage, to Cathy Downs, lasted from 1949[9] until their divorce in 1955.[10] Downs and Kirkwood starred together in The Joe Palooka Story TV series from 1954 to 1955.
Kirkwood died 7 September 2006, in Hesperia, California.[11]
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner-up | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 22 May 1949 | Philadelphia Inquirer Open | −12 (68-66-68-74=276) | 4 strokes |  Johnny Palmer | [12] | |
| 2 | 1 Oct 1950 | Ozark Open | −18 (69-66-66=201) | 4 strokes | Dave Douglas | [13] | |
| 3 | 22 Jul 1951 | Blue Ribbon Open | −13 (72-66-69-64=271) | 2 strokes | Sam Snead | [14] |