As a pre-law student at the University of Dayton, he visited New York in the 1940s and approached the Ethel Barrymore Theater. Merely eager to see the inside of a major Broadway theater, he asked two guys outside in the alley, whom he assumed were stagehands, if he could take a quick look. "Buy a ticket," one of them advised him. After paying $1.80. Aldredge watched as the purported "stagehands" - Brando, Marlon and Malden, Karl - strode out to perform in "A Streetcar Named Desire." After that, Aldredge said, his ambitions to become a lawyer suddenly changed.
Attended Goodman School of Drama at DePaul University.
Has been nominated for Broadway's Tony Award five times: as Best Actor (Dramatic) in 1972 for "Sticks and Bones"; as Best Supporting or Featured Actor (Musical) in 1975 for a revival of "Where's Charley?"; as Best Actor (Featured Role - Musical) in 1994 for "Passion," a performance he recreated in the television version of the same title, Passion (1996) (TV); and as Best Actor (Featured Role - Play) in 1981 for a revival of Lillian Hellman's "The Little Foxes," and in 2004 for a revival of "Twentieth Century." He has yet to win.
His wife Aldredge, Theona, a costume designer, was nominated for Broadway's Tony 15 times between 1961 and 2001, winning the Tony three times.