Actor. He spent his early teenage years growing up in Illinois and throughout the Midwest before entering Lake Forest College in Illinois with the intent of pursuing a degree in law. Following graduation he remained at Lake Forest College as a drama instructor, before appearing on radio in the 1938 production of "Aunt Jenny's Real Life Stories." He appeared on Broadway five years later in the theater production of "Kiss and Tell" before making his first big screen appearance in 1947 as a psychotic killer in "Kiss of Death," which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Signed to a multi-film contract with 20th Century-Fox by co-founder/studio head Darryl F. Zanuck, he gained fame in his early profession as a movie villain in the film noir genre and worked in a variety of films throughout his career including numerous Westerns and war pictures. In the late 1950s, he formed his own production house as a vehicle to promote and showcase his own films and acting abilities. After peaking professionally in the early 1960s, he turned his attention to television, appearing in a number of television movies and dramas until his retirement in the early 1990s. His notable film credits include: "Yellow Sky" (1948), "Down to the Sea in Ships" (1949), "Panic in the Streets" (1950), "Halls of Montezuma" (1950), " "The Frogman" (1951), "Red Skies of Montana" (1952), "Take the High Ground!" (1953), "Pickup on South Street" (1953), "Hell and High Water" (1954), "Broken Lance" (1954), "Saint Joan" (1957), "Tunnel of Love" (1958), "The Alamo" (1960), "Judgment at Nuremberg" (1961), "How the West Was Won" (1962), "The Bedford Incident" (1965), "Madigan" (1968), "Death of a Gunfighter" (1969), "When the Legends Die" (1972), "Murder on the Orient Express" (1974), "Twilight's Last Gleaming" (1977), "Rollercoaster" (1977), "Coma" (1978), "The Swarm" (1978), "Hanky Panky" (1982), "Against All Odds" (1984) and "True Colors" (1991). In 1991 he was honored with a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame for his contributions to the motion picture industry.