Radio, TV and Movie Actor. He grew up in Syracuse, New York. The radio station WFBL was in the same building as his father’s shoe store in Syracuse and he began playing child roles on the radio by the age of 16. He graduated from Syracuse University, passed the bar exam but never practiced law. He was 6’ 2” tall and weighed 170 pounds. While at Syracuse he played football, basketball and tennis and also worked as radio announcer at WFBL. His voice drew the attention of a Universal Pictures producer who met him and arranged a screen test leading to a motion picture contract in 1937. He worked steadily in movies until he enlisted in the Marines and served in World War II. The MGM studio head, Louis B. Mayer, was so enraged with him for enlisting that he was dropped by the studio. While in the Marines he was a combat cameraman in the Pacific. Before and after the war he appeared in more than 125 films but was never considered more than a second echelon actor. In the 1940’s he narrated Looney Tunes cartoons. In the mid 1950’s he hosted several television shows and acted in others such as “Riders to the Stars” and “Climax” in 1954 and “Men into Space”. He was once asked why he seemed to make so many “B” pictures and he answered saying it was his mistake in being so cooperative, and accepting the lead in bad pictures and lousy parts in those bad pictures. He died in of heart congestion in Duarte, California at the age of 61. Survived by his wife, Rena Morgan, who he married in 1945.
Radio, TV and Movie Actor. He grew up in Syracuse, New York. The radio station WFBL was in the same building as his father’s shoe store in Syracuse and he began playing child roles on the radio by the age of 16. He graduated from Syracuse University, passed the bar exam but never practiced law. He was 6’ 2” tall and weighed 170 pounds. While at Syracuse he played football, basketball and tennis and also worked as radio announcer at WFBL. His voice drew the attention of a Universal Pictures producer who met him and arranged a screen test leading to a motion picture contract in 1937. He worked steadily in movies until he enlisted in the Marines and served in World War II. The MGM studio head, Louis B. Mayer, was so enraged with him for enlisting that he was dropped by the studio. While in the Marines he was a combat cameraman in the Pacific. Before and after the war he appeared in more than 125 films but was never considered more than a second echelon actor. In the 1940’s he narrated Looney Tunes cartoons. In the mid 1950’s he hosted several television shows and acted in others such as “Riders to the Stars” and “Climax” in 1954 and “Men into Space”. He was once asked why he seemed to make so many “B” pictures and he answered saying it was his mistake in being so cooperative, and accepting the lead in bad pictures and lousy parts in those bad pictures. He died in of heart congestion in Duarte, California at the age of 61. Survived by his wife, Rena Morgan, who he married in 1945.
Bio by: Gail Campbell Schulte
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