IMDB biography:

He was one of Hollywood’s more interesting curiosities. Kent Smith, by most standards, had the makings of a topflight 40s and 50s film star — handsome; virile; personable; highly dedicated; equipped with a rich stage background; no slouch in the talent department. For some reason all these fine qualities did not add up and stardom would remain elusive in a career that nevertheless covered almost five decades. Today, Smith’s name and face has been almost completely forgotten. His solid body of work on stage, screen and TV certainly defies such treatment. Perhaps his looks weren’t distinctive enough; perhaps he was overshadowed once too often by his more popular female screen stars; perhaps there was a certain lack of charisma or sex appeal for audiences to latch onto; perhaps a lack of ego or even an interest in being a “name” star. Whatever the reason, this purposeful lead and second lead’s resumé deserves more than a passing glance.

Christened Frank Kent Smith, he was born in New York City on March 19, 1907, to a hotelier. An early experience in front of a crowd happened during childhood when he performed as an assistant to Blackstone the Magician. Kent graduated from boarding school (Philips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire) and attended Harvard University, finding theater work at various facilities during his time off. One such group, the University Players in West Falmouth, Massachusetts, produced such screen icons as James Stewart, Henry Fonda and Margaret Sullavan.

Kent made his theatrical debut in the short-lived play “Blind Window” at the Ford’s Theatre in Baltimore in 1929 in a cast that also featured young hopeful Clark Gable. Taking his first Broadway curtain call in “Men Must Fight” in 1932, a steady flow of theater work came his way throughout the rest of the 30s in which he performed opposite some of the theater’s finest grande dames — Lillian Gish, Katharine Cornell, Jane Cowl, Blanche Yurka and Ethel Barrymore. He proved equally adept in both classic (“Caesar and Cleopatra,” “Saint Joan,” “A Doll’s House”) and contemporary settings (“Heat Lightning,” “The Drums Begin”).

Aside from an isolated appearance in The Garden Murder Case (1936), Kent’s film output didn’t officially begin until 1942. RKO took an interest in the stage-trained actor and offered him a lead role in the low-budget horror classic Cat People (1942) as the husband of menacingly feline Simone Simon. He returned to his protagonist role in the lesser-received sequel The Curse of the Cat People (1944). After a few more decent films, including Hitler’s Children (1943) and This Land Is Mine (1943), Kent joined the U.S. Army Air Force and appeared in several government training films during his service, which ended in 1944.

He came back to films without a hitch during the post-war years posting major credits in The Spiral Staircase (1945), Magic Town (1947) , Nora Prentiss (1947), My Foolish Heart (1949) and The Fountainhead (1949), although he tended to pale next to his illustrious female stars — Dorothy McGuire, Jane Wyman, Ann Sheridan, Susan Hayward and Patricia Neal. Normally a third wheel in romantic triangles or good friend/rival to the star, he never found the one big film role (or TV show) that could have put a marquee name to the face.

Kent fared better on stage and in the newer medium of TV in the 1950s. Among the highlights: he complimented Helen Hayes both in the video version of her stage triumph “Victoria Regina” and in her Broadway vehicle “The Wisteria Tree”, which was based on Chekhov’s “‘The Cherry Orchard”. He was also given praise for his strong stage performances in “The Wild Duck” and “The Autumn Garden”, and appeared alongside Elaine Stritch in the national touring company of the musical “Call Me Madam”. He was everywhere on TV, guesting on such popular shows as “Wagon Train”, “Naked City”, “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”, “The Outer Limits” and “Peyton Place”. In 1962, he replaced Melvyn Douglas in the national company of Gore Vidal‘s “The Best Man”. Also in the cast was actress Edith Atwater. The couple married that same year. His first marriage to minor actress Betty Gillette ended earlier in divorce after 17 years and one daughter.

The remainder of Kent’s career remained quite steady, if unremarkable, in both films and TV, lending able character support as assorted gray-haired authoritarians usually upstanding in reputation but certainly capable of shady dealings if called upon. The actor died at age 78 of heart disease in Woodland Hills, California, just outside of Los Angeles. His widow Edith died less than a year later of cancer.

Perhaps with such a common last name as “Smith”, it was destined that he would spend a life time trying to stand out. Nevertheless, a career as rich and respectable as his was, and with a wide range of roles that included everything from battling evil cats to spouting Shakespeare at Stratford, true recognition and reconsideration is long overdue.

– IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net

“New York Times” obituary from April 2016:

Anne Jackson, a distinguished star of the stage who was half of one of America’s best-known acting couples, sharing much of a long and distinguished career with her husband, Eli Wallach, died on Tuesday at her home in Manhattan. She was 90.   Her death was confirmed by her daughter Katherine Wallach.   If not quite on the same level of stardom as Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne or Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, Ms. Jackson and Mr. Wallach came close. From the early 1950s to 2000, when they starred Off Broadway in Anne Meara’s comedy “Down the Garden Paths,” they captivated audiences with their onstage synergy, displaying the tense affections and sizzling battles of two old pros who knew both how to love and how to fight   Ms. Jackson, who had endured a difficult life growing up in Brooklyn, carved out an impressive stage career of her own. Critics hailed her range and the subtlety of her characterizations — including all the women, from a middle-aged matron to a grandmother, in David V. Robison’s “Promenade, All!” (1972) — and a housewife verging on hysteria in Alan Ayckbourn’s “Absent Friends” (1977).   She was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance as the daughter of a manufacturer, played by Edward G. Robinson, in Paddy Chayefsky’s “Middle of the Night” (1956).

The volatility that characterized much of Ms. Jackson and Mr. Wallach’s stage work often carried over into their dressing rooms, with life imitating art over some technique or timing in a performance. Friends called it candid shoptalk by perfectionists who respected each other intellectually, emotionally and professionally. Life in the Jackson-Wallach apartment on Riverside Drive was also a turbulent affair: a juggling of finances and schedules to meet the demands of show business, marriage and parenthood — raising three children in the competitive wilds of Manhattan. They hired help, tried to smooth frictions with gruff tact and bought a weekend home in East Hampton, N.Y., to get away from it all.   n 1979, Ms. Jackson published a memoir that surprised critics. It was not about her career and had no spicy gossip or self-promotional revelations. The book, “Early Stages,” was instead a frank examination of her childhood and the years of turmoil that formed her, ending poignantly with the deaths of her parents.   “She writes of it vividly, sensitively, modestly,” Seymour Peck wrote in a review for The New York Times. “She cherishes it: this family nurtured her, gave her the strength, let her go on to become an actress, somehow prepared her for her own good marriage (to Eli Wallach) and for motherhood.”   She also examined her early days with Mr. Wallach. “We had a lot in common,” she wrote. “Neither of us could sing; both of us loved to act; we were both ambitious and idealistic; and we endowed each other with the most extraordinary virtues.”

IMDB Entry:

Mahoney is of French and Irish extraction, with some Cherokee. At the University of Iowa, he was outstanding in swimming, basketball and football. When World War II broke out, he enlisted as a Marine fighter pilot and instructor. In Hollywood, he was a noted stunt man, doubling for Errol Flynn, John Wayne, and Gregory Peck. Gene Autry signed him for the lead in his 78-episode The Range Rider (1951) TV series. He tested to replace Johnny Weissmuller, as Tarzan but lost out to Lex Barker. In 1960, he played the heavy in Gordon Scott‘s Tarzan the Magnificent (1960), and his part there led Sy Weintraub to hire him as Scott’s replacement. In his two Tarzan movies, he did all his own stunts. In Tarzan’s Three Challenges (1963), he continued working in spite of dysentery, dengue fever and pneumonia. By this time, Weintraub was looking for a younger Tarzan, envisioning a future TV series. By mutual agreement, his contract with Mahoney was dissolved. After a couple of years

Ben Piazza was born on July 30, 1933 in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA as Benito Daniel Piazza. He was an actor, known for. The Hanging Tree in 1959,  The Bad News Bears (1976), The Blues Brothers (1980) and Mask (1985). He was married to Dolores Dorn. He died on September 7, 1991 in Sherman Oaks, California, USA.

IMDB Entry:

Born in Cleveland, Morris came to Hollywood in the early 1960s. His acting experience at that time consisted of a few minor roles on the Seattle stage. He found work appearing on Television series such as The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961) and The Twilight Zone (1959) before being cast in Mission: Impossible (1966). Morris played quiet, efficient electronics expert Barney Collier from 1966-1973. After the show ended, Morris continued to appear in other Television series and a couple of Television movies. In 1979, he went to Las Vegas to film the television series Vega$ (1978) in which he played Lt. David Nelson. He liked the city so much he decided to stay. This series lasted 2 years. In 1981, Morris survived a serious road accident and did not reappear on television for years. In 1989, he appeared in a short-lived remake of Mission: Impossible (1988).   He died in 1996.

– IMDb Mini Biography By: Tony Fontana <tony.fontana@spacebbs.com>

IMDB Entry:

An American television actress, Lynda Day George first drew attention when she appeared in the popular TV series Mission: Impossible (1966) as Lisa Casey, a role for which she received a Golden Globe nomination. She also did numerous guest-star roles in such series as The Love Boat (1977) and Charlie’s Angels (1976).   While appearing in the feature The Gentle Rain (1966), she met Christopher George, the handsome lead actor of the popular war series The Rat Patrol (1966); they fell in love about three years later, when they were reunited in the John Wayne western Chisum (1970), and they were married after its release. During the 1970s, Lynda appeared in numerous films with her husband. In 1983, she and Chris co-starred in the horror film Mortuary (1983). Sadly, after its completion Christopher George died of a heart attack, at age 54.  Lynda was devastated and felt that she couldn’t act without him. She appeared in another film shortly after his death, called Young Warriors (1983), but after appearing in as a guest star a few TV series, Lynda gave up acting.

John Carroll was born on July 17, 1906 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA as Julian LaFaye. He was an actor, known for Flying Tigers (1942), Go West (1940) and Only Angels Have Wings (1939). He was married to Lucille Ryman Carroll and Steffi Duna. He died on April 24, 1979 in Hollywood, California, USA.