Martin Hewitt was discovered by Franco Zefferelli and starred in “Endless Love” opposite Brooke Shields in 1981. His other films include “Yellowbeard” and “Two Lane Junction”.
“Wikipedia” entry:
Martin Hewitt (born February 19, 1958 in San Jose, California) is an Americanactor. He is best known for his film debut as David Axelrod in Franco Zeffirelli‘s Endless Love (1981), as Dan in Yellowbeard and his role as Chad Douglas Fairchild in Zalman King‘s Two Moon Junction (1988). He also played the role of Michael in the film The Falling (1985). As of 2000, he was living in Los Osos, California developing and selling home inspection software and running his own home inspection business, but has appeared in television shows as recently as 2003. He has a daughter and a son with wife Kerstin.
Project X, poster, US poster, from left: Rita Colton, Jack Lord, Rita Colton, Keith Andes, 1949. (Photo by LMPC via Getty Images)The Girl Most Likely, poster, (top to bottom), Tommy Noonan, Keith Andes, Cliff Robertson, Jane Powell, 1958. (Photo by LMPC via Getty Images)Blackbeard The Pirate, poster, (poster art), Keith Andes, Robert Newton, Linda Darnell, William Bendix (bottom left), 1952. (Photo by LMPC via Getty Images)
Keith Andes was born in 1920 in New Jersey. He had a minor role in 1944 in “Winged Victory” and then three years later was one of Loretta Young’s Swedish brothers in “The Farmer’s Daughter”. In 1952 he appeared with Marilyn onroe and Barbara Stanwyck in “Clash By Night” and “Blackbeard the Pirate” with Robert Newton. In 1963 he starred with Glynis Johns in the television series “Glynis”. His later films included “Tora, Tora, Tora” and “And Justice For All”. Keith Andes died in 2005 at the age of 85.
Tom Vallance’s “Independent” obituary on Keith Andes:
A blond actor with an impressive physique and brooding good looks, Keith Andes made a strong impression in several films of the early Fifties – he played Marilyn Monroe’s possessive boyfriend in Clash by Night (1952). He also possessed a fine baritone that was heard to advantage on the stage – he was Lucille Ball’s leading man in her only Broadway musical Wildcat (1960) – and he could have been a natural successor to Howard Keel had not Hollywood cut back on musicals in the late Fifties.
Born John Charles Andes in New Jersey in 1920, he graduated from Temple University and worked in radio as an actor and singer prior to joining the Army Air Force. He had wanted to be a pilot but failed cadet training, and when Moss Hart’s morale-boosting play Winged Victory was being produced with an all-servicemen cast, Andes won the role of a flyer in both the play (1943) and the film version that followed in 1944.
Andes had his first starring role on Broadway, by then using the name Keith Andes, in a revival of the operetta The Chocolate Soldier (1947), with choreography by George Balanchine, a new libretto by Guy Bolton and some scene-stealing comedy from Billy Gilbert. Opinions of Andes were varied – the critic George Jean Nathan found him “embarrassing to both song and story” – but he was given the Theatre World Award for the year’s best performance in a musical. The same year, he was seen on screen in The Farmer’s Daughter, which won Loretta Young an Oscar.
He returned to Broadway in 1950 to take over from Alfred Drake as Fred Graham in Kiss, Me, Kate, starring in the show for over a year. He then signed with RKO, and was cast in Fritz Lang’s Clash By Night (1952) – Monroe documentaries often include the scene in which he playfully tightens a towel around her throat to signify his jealousy.
Other RKO movies included a spirited swashbuckler, Blackbeard the Pirate (1952), the thriller Split Second (1953), Back from Eternity (1956), as a co-pilot stranded with crash survivors in the jungle, and The Girl Most Likely (1957), a musical remake of the comedy Tom, Dick or Harry, with Jane Powell the bemused heroine trying to choose between three suitors. Andes was the handsome millionaire she almost marries before settling for true love, but though the film was a musical he was given no songs. (His only singing on screen was in the 1955 Universal musical, The Second Greatest Sex, an uninspired attempt to put Lysistrata into a western setting.)
A short spell as a contract player at Universal included roles in Away All Boats (1956), and Interlude (1957, as the doctor boyfriend of June Allyson, patiently waiting for her to end an affair with a married man). His role in Damn Citizen (1958), that of a police chief charged with ridding his department of corruption, was the inspiration for a short-lived television series in which he starred, This Man Dawson (1959). Television had given his singing a showcase when he played Johann Strauss Jnr in The Great Waltz (1955), co-starring Patrice Munsel and Jarmila Novotna. Andes sang duets with both ladies, and in a tour de force conducted the orchestra while singing a vocal version of the Overture to Die Fledermaus.
His most memorable singing role came when Lucille Ball cast him as her leading man in the musical Wildcat (1960). The Cy Coleman/Carolyn Leigh songs given to Andes included a humorous duet with Ball, “Give a Little Whistle”, and the paean to oil drilling “Corduroy Road”. Happily, these numbers are preserved on the original cast album, although the show closed after six months due to Ball’s health. “Lucy was a hard-working woman,” said Andes:
What she didn’t have, though, was the stage discipline as opposed to television discipline. She was the lead and she needed to pace herself, and she never learned how to do that. The show could have run for three years at least.
While appearing in Wildcat, Andes divorced his first wife and married the actress Shelah Hackett, although that marriage also ended in divorce. He toured in the national production of Man of La Mancha (1968) and although he played guest roles in television series, he had virtually retired by the Seventies.
I was divorced, my kids were grown, and that is when I bought a boat and lived on it and ran charters on it over to Catalina and down to Mexico and back. I just had a ball.
A dedicated weight-lifter who went to the gym five days a week, he was also a chain-smoker, and had been stricken with a series of health problems that led to his apparently committing suicide by asphyxiation.
Tom Vallance
The above “Independent” obituary can also be accessed online here.
Gary Brumburgh’s entry:
1950s and 60s second lead actor Keith Andes fits into the strappingly handsome and virile mold that encompassed the likes of George Nader, Guy Madison, and Jeffrey Hunter. Although he may not be as well remembered as the aforementioned, he managed to maintain a reliable career on radio (from age 12), stage, TV and films for over three decades. Born John Charles Andes on July 12, 1920, in Ocean City, New Jersey, Keith found work on radio singing and acting throughout his high school years. While serving with the Air Force during WWII, he performed in the patriotic 1943 Broadway stage show “Winged Victory” and, after being seen by studio mogul Darryl F. Zanuck, was given a minor part in the film version the following year. Keith returned to Hollywood in the post-war years and won the role of one of Loretta Young‘s brothers (the others being Lex Barker and James Arness) in the classic film The Farmer’s Daughter (1947). His enviable physique and photogenic good looks made the blond looker an obvious choice to continue in both rugged adventures and beefcake drama but his output was fairly minimal. InClash by Night (1952), one of his best roles, he dallied hot and heavy with a youngMarilyn Monroe and, in Blackbeard, the Pirate (1952), he demonstrated some expert swashbuckling skills. Meanwhile on the musical front, Keith proved he had a resilient baritone. He won a Theatre World Award for “The Chocolate Soldier” in 1947 and, subsequently, starred in “Kiss Me Kate” with Anne Jeffreys of TV’s Topper (1953) fame. More notably, he appeared opposite Lucille Ball in her only Broadway musical “Wildcat” in 1960, winding things up playing “Don Quixote” for over 400 performances in “Man of La Mancha” in 1968. Ironically, the movie studios did not take advantage of his musical prowess, appearing in a bland role with Jane Powell and singing one musical number inThe Girl Most Likely (1958). Beside numerous episodic appearances, he appeared in two television series: This Man Dawson (1959) and the sitcom Glynis (1963), the latter starring popular Brit actress Glynis Johns. Both were short-lived. Slowing down by the 1970s, he appeared very infrequently on camera while finding occasional voiceover work. Sadly, his final years were marred by extreme ill health, including bladder cancer, and he committed suicide in his Santa Clarita, California home at age 85.
– IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net
Elizabeth Allen was born in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1929.She had a career on stage, screen and television. On the stage in 1965, Stephen Sondheim’s “Di I Hear A Waltz” starred Allen with Sergio Franchi. On screen she starred opposite Charlton Heston in “Diamond Head” and John Wayne in John Ford’s “Donovan’s Reef”. On television she starred in one of the classics of “The Twilight Zone” entitled “The After Hours” with Anne Francis. Elizabeth Allen died in New York aged 77 in 2006.
Her “Guardian” obituary:From The New York Times review of John Ford’s Donovan’s Reef (1963) starring John Wayne: “Ford, best when he’s faced with an unknown talent, brings out the ability of Elizabeth Allen, a darkling beauty. She’s delightful as a Boston ice cube whose melting point is Wayne.”
Elizabeth Allen, who has died aged 77, was not exactly “an unknown talent” when she made Donovan’s Reef but, although she had been in two features previously and three after, it was the only film in which she had a chance to show what she could do.
As Ameilia, the refined daughter of a roughneck doctor, she is more than a match for scallywag Wayne as “Guns” Donovan. Ameilia: “I had the strangest feeling that you were going to kiss me.” Donovan: “What?” Ameilia: “Well, I have been kissed before.” Donovan: (kisses her). Ameilia: “I thought I’d been kissed before.” (Kisses him back.)
Born Elizabeth Ellen Gillease in New Jersey, she had a brief career as a model and singer, before getting the job on TV’s The Jackie Gleason Show in the early 1950s, when she became known as the “away we go” girl, because of the phrase she used when introducing the portly comedian’s skits.
Then, in late 1957, Allen was given her big break by Peter Ustinov, who cast her as the female juvenile lead in his cold-war satire, Romanoff and Juliet. (The part was taken by the very different Sandra Dee in the 1961 film.) After the year’s run on Broadway, she appeared in From the Terrace (1960) as a hedonistic society girl who tries to persuade her friend Joanne Woodward to stray from hubby Paul Newman, believing that everybody sleeps around as if it were a big game.
At the same time, Allen continued her career in television, particularly remembered for the role of a mysterious saleswoman in a store where mannequins come alive in a 1960 episode of The Twilight Zone. Then she was back on Broadway as Magda in The Gay Life (1961), an Arthur Schwartz-Howard Dietz musical based on Anatol by Arthur Schnitzler. Despite having only one number, Come A-Wandering With Me, Allen was nominated for a Tony award.
She would be nominated again four years later for her role as the American spinster finding romance in Venice in Do I Hear a Waltz? (based on Arthur Laurents’ The Time of the Cuckoo), the only collaboration between Richard Rodgers (music) and Stephen Sondheim (lyrics), this time singing eight numbers including the delightful title song. (She can still be heard on the original cast album.)
Allen was reunited with Ford for a sexy part in the comic Dodge City sequence, with Jimmy Stewart as Wyatt Earp, in the director’s last Western, Cheyenne Autumn (1966). However, television took up most of her time in the 1960s and 1970s with guest appearances in The Man From UNCLE (as a seductive enemy agent) and Dr Kildare among many others.
The stage continued to attract her with a leading role in Sherry! (1967), a musical version of The Man Who Came to Dinner, which ran just two months but has since gained cult status.
Allen ended her career in 1983, after starring, as elegant as ever, in three daytime television soap operas: as an upper crust hostess in Another World and its spin-off, entitled Texas, and as a selfless doctor in The Guiding Light.
Elizabeth Allen, who married and divorced Baron Carl von Vittinghoff-Schell, was a philanthropist who donated money for animal rights and environmentalist causes. She had no children.
· Elizabeth Allen (Elizabeth Ellen Gillease), actor, born January 25 1929; died September 19 2006
Michael Anderson Jnr was born in 1943 in Hillingdon, Middlesex, He is the son of the reknowned film director Michael Anderson. His first film was “The Moonraker” in 1958 with George Baker, Sylvia Syms and Gary Raymond. He made “Tiger Bay” and “In Search of the Castaways” with Hayley Mills and won critical praise as the son of Deborah Kerr and Robert Mitchum in the Australian drama “The Sundowners” in 1960. He went then to Hollywood and made such films as “Major Dundee” and “The Glory Guys”. In 1965 he was improbably cast as the brother of John Wayne and Dean Martin in “The Sons of Katie Elder”. He had a critical sucess with the television series “The Monroes” in 1966. He has guested on many of the premier television series.
“Wikipedia” entry:
Michael Anderson Jr.
He was born in Hillingdon, Middlesex, into a theatrical family. His grandparents and great-great-aunt were actors. His father is the film director Michael Anderson, Sr. He is the stepson of actress Adrienne Ellis, and stepbrother of actress Laurie Holden. His brother is producer David Anderson.
Although David Knight is a U.S. born actor, virtually all his cinema career has been in the British Isles.
Julia-Arnall & David Knight
He was born in 1928 in Niagara Falls. He had lead roles from his first film “The Young Lovers” in 1954 with Odile Versois.
His best film is probably “Lost” in 1955 with Julia Arnall. This film features a wonderful collection of British actors in small parts e.g. Barbara Windsor, Joan Hickson, Shirley Anne Field, Thora Hird, Joan Sims and Marjorie Rhodes.
David Knight’s last UK feature was “Nightmare” in 1964. After a further few years of television work, he returned to theatre work in the U.S.
IMDB entry:
David Knight was born on January 16, 1928 in Niagara Falls, New York, USA as David Stephen Mintz. He is an actor, known for Nightmare (1964), Chance Meeting (1954) andAcross the Bridge (1957). He is married to Wendy McClure. They have two children.
Obituary in “Rundus” in 2020.
On Sunday, December 20, 2020 David Stephen Knight, actor and professor of theatre, loving husband to Wendy McClure Knight, and father of two children passed away at the age of 92. David Knight was born January 16, 1928 in Niagara Falls, New York to parents The Reverend Eugene Mintz and Leticia Knight-Mintz. He grew up in New Jersey and attended college at Syracuse University in New York and Whittier College in California before receiving a Fulbright Scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London in 1952.
He was quickly contracted to The Rank Organization and acted in more than 10 movies including The Young Lovers (1954), On Such a Night (1956), Across the Bridge (1957), A Story of David: The Hunted (1960), and Nightmare (1964). He also starred in numerous television shows and theatre productions in London’s famous West End, including starring as Bud Frump in the original London production of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” at the Shaftesbury Theatre (1963-1964) and The Lives of Benjamin Franklin (1974). He was a member for the British Actors’ Equity organization in the United Kingdom since the 1950s, and the U.S. Actors Equity Association since the mid-1970s.
David met Scottish dancer and actress Wendy McClure and the two were married on November 25, 1963. The couple had two children, Eugene and Moyra, while living in London. In 1975, during the economic downturn in the United Kingdom, he moved with his family to Winnipeg, Manitoba to teach theater at the University of Manitoba. A year later, in 1976, the family moved to Urbana, Illinois where he was professor of theatre and subsequently became Head of the Theatre Department at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Illinois. There, he partnered with his wife to develop the nationally-ranked professional acting program and the Illinois Repertory Theater where he was Artistic Director.
David and his wife Wendy retired from the university in August 20, 1997 as Professor Emeritus in Theater, and where the David and Wendy Knight undergraduate endowed scholarship remains to assist aspiring acting students. He influenced hundreds of students throughout his tenure, many of whom have highly successful careers in the arts today. After retirement, David and Wendy moved to Westminster, Colorado, where they had previously worked at the University of Colorado Shakespeare Festival. David starred in “Macbeth” and codirected “Comedy of Errors” with Wendy in 1982 and 1983 respectively. In retirement, they traveled extensively, and continued to support the arts by attending the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and the Central City Opera. They celebrated 57 years of marriage on November 25, 2020.
In addition to being a brilliant actor with a remarkable natural talent, David was a gifted teacher with a powerful work ethic who was dedicated to the craft of acting. In his personal life, he was a loving father, a dedicated husband, a voracious reader, and a leader in his community. He is survived by his wife Wendy, children Eugene Knight (wife Chutima) and Moyra Knight (husband Michael MacLean), grandchildren Ewan and Annabelle MacLean; Jupiter, Joseph, and Jasper Knight, and brother Eugene Mintz.
“For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” (1 Corinthians 13
David Selby was born in 1941 in Morganstown, West Virginia. He is best known for his role in the long running television series “Dark Shadows” from 1968 until 1971. On film he has starred with Barbra Streisand in “Up the Sandbox” and with Alec Guinness and Richard Jordan in “Raise the Titanic”.
Gary Brumburgh’s entry:
Actor David Selby, highly regarded for his villainous work on both daytime and nighttime soap classics, was born in Morgantown, West Virginia. He attended West Virginia University and graduated with both B.S. and M.A. degrees from West Virginia University, then earned a Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. Following many years on the stock stage (from 1961), David finally attracted infamous attention when he signed on as Quentin Collins, a werewolf, on the gothic daytime drama “Dark Shadows” in 1968. He inherited heartthrob status briefly with the role and even recorded two songs during the show’s run, “Quentin’s Theme” and “I Wanna Dance With You.” After the series’ demise, he made his movie debut with Night of Dark Shadows (1971), the second film based on the cult series. He broached top film stardom in the early 1970s after co-starring with Barbra Streisand in Up the Sandbox (1972) and Ron Leibman in The Super Cops (1974), and continued his high-profiled pace with New York theatre productions of “The Heiress” (1976), with Jane Alexander and Richard Kiley, and “Eccentricities of a Nightingale” (1976) with Betsy Palmer, but things didn’t quite pan out. In the 1980s, however, steady TV work helped put an extra shot of adrenalin back into David’s career, notably as the cunning Richard Channing on the nighttime soap “Falcon Crest,” a role he played from 1982 until 1990. David has graced most of the popular series over the years including “The Waltons,” “Police Woman,” “Kojak,” “Family,” “Touched by an Angel,” and “Ally McBeal.” He has also appeared sporadically in white-collar film support with roles in Dying Young (1991), White Squall (1996) and Surviving Christmas (2004) to his credit. David continues to perform on stage as well. He portrayed Abraham Lincoln in his own play “Lincoln and James” in 1997 and 1998, and penned the play “Final Assault” which premiered in 2003. He is a staple player in radio drama with the L.A. Theatre Works these days. David and longtime wife Chip have three children.
– IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net
Dan Duryea was , like Zachary Scott, one of the great villians of film. He was born in White Plains, New York in 1907. He came to film with “The Little Foxes” in 1941 with Bette Davis, Patricia Collinge and Teresa Wright. Some of his other great films are “The Pride of the Yankees”, “Scarlet Street”, “The Woman in the Window” and “Criss Cross”. He died in 1968.
Gary Brumburgh’s entry:
Dan Duryea was definitely the man you went to the movies for and loved to hate. His sniveling, deliberately taunting demeanor and snarling flat, nasal tones set the actor apart from other similar slimeballs of the 1940s and 1950s. From his very first picture, the highly acclaimed The Little Foxes (1941), in which he portrayed the snotty, avaricious nephew Leo Hubbard who would easily sell his own mother down the river for spare change, the tall, lean and mean Duryea became a particularly guilty pleasure, particularly in film noir, melodramas and westerns.
Born in White Plains, New York, on January 23, 1907, the son of a textile salesman, Dan expressed an early interest in acting and was a member of his hometown high school’s drama club. Majoring in English at Cornell University and president of his university’s drama society, he abruptly changed the course of his career after deciding that the advertising business was perhaps a more level-headed pursuit. The frantic pace in such a cutthroat field, however, unexpectedly triggered a mild heart attack in his late 20s, and he gave it all up to return to his first love–acting. In the long run…all the better for filmgoers.
Following some summer stock experience, Duryea made his Broadway debut in a bit part in the Depression-era play “Dead End” in 1935. He progressed to the leading role of Gimpy later in the show’s year-long run and never looked back. It was his yellow-bellied varmint in Broadway’s “Missouri Legend” in 1938 that led to his delicious assignment as nephew Leo in “The Little Foxes” starring Tallulah Bankhead the following year. Playing the part for the entire Broadway run, he then capped it off by joining the national tour. Fortunately, when Samuel Goldwyn bought the film rights, Duryea was not excluded and the actor made his highly auspicious film debut in The Little Foxes (1941) with Bette Davis replacing Ms. Bankhead as the mercurial Regina.
Broadway became a distant memory for Dan following his move to 1940s film. In fact, he never returned. Seldom venturing into the “nice guy” arena either, audiences continued to revel in his perpetual mean streak and waited anxiously for his character to receive his comeuppance by the end of the reel, whether by gunshot, poison or even the electric chair. Co-starring in “A”-quality films at the onset, he played a henchman in Billy Wilder‘sBall of Fire (1941) opposite Gary Cooper, then played Cooper’s nemesis again as both a snide reporter in The Pride of the Yankees (1942) and as a gunslinger who takes pot shots at him in Along Came Jones (1945). He continued to harass other stars too, none more so than Edward G. Robinson in the dark and superb Fritz Lang films The Woman in the Window (1944) (again a blackmailer) and Scarlet Street (1945) (an art forger).
He signed with Universal at the peak of his villainy, but the post-WWII move resulted in a lack of quality films. More often than not he found himself mired in such “B” grade outings as Black Bart (1948) and River Lady (1948). His talents were blighted in light comedy as well, as in the case of his starring butler role in The Swindlers (1946), where he is somewhat overshadowed by Ella Raines and William Bendix.
“Once a scoundrel, always a scoundrel” was his motto. He redeemed his unsavory worth somewhat with fine work in Another Part of the Forest (1948), this time playing Oscar Hubbard in a prequel to “The Little Foxes”, and in Criss Cross (1949), where he gets to off both Burt Lancaster and Yvonne De Carlo.
While most of Duryea’s 1950s films were considered average, more sympathetic roles surfaced for him in the form of Chicago Calling (1951), Thunder Bay (1953), Battle Hymn(1957) and Kathy O’ (1958). The 1950s also saw a noticeable move towards TV. This included his own brief series China Smith (1952) / The New Adventures of China Smith(1954), along with guest appearances on such popular series as Wagon Train (1957). He received an Emmy nomination in 1957 for one of his rare “nice guys” in an episode ofGeneral Electric Theater (1953).
Duryea’s celluloid reputation as a heel did not extend into his personal life. Long married (from 1932) to Helen Bryan and a family man at heart (he was once a scoutmaster and PTA parent!), he had two children. One of them, Peter Duryea became an actor for about a decade in the mid-’60s; father and son, in fact, appeared together in the western filmsTaggart (1964) and The Bounty Killer (1965). A second son, Richard, became a talent agent.
Duryea found the pickings slim in his final years and even went overseas to drum up some work in European low-budgeters, including “spaghetti westerns.” In 1967 he appeared in Winchester 73 (1967), a made-for-TV remake of one of his more popular 1950s western films, Winchester ’73 (1950). His last acting work came in the recurring form of shady conman Eddie Jacks on the popular night-time soap serial Peyton Place(1964).
Wife Helen died in January of 1967 of heart problems and Dan followed her to the grave a year later at age 61 after being diagnosed with cancer. They were buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles.
– IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net
2470769 Le cambrioleur: THE BURGLAR, Dan Duryea (bottom), Jayne Mansfield (right), 1957; (add.info.: Affiche du film Le cambrioleur (THE BURGLAR) de Paul Wendkos avec Dan Duryea, Jayne Mansfield, 1957); Everett Collection; it is possible that some works by this artist may be protected by third party rights in some territories.Kathy O’, poster, from left: Patty McCormack, dan Duryea, Jan Sterling, 1958. (Photo by LMPC via Getty Images)Scarlet Street, poster, Dan Duryea, Joan Bennett, Edward G. Robinson, 1945. (Photo by LMPC via Getty Images)JOHNNY STOOL PIGEON, US poster art, from left: Shelley Winters, Dan Duryea, Howard Duff, 1949. Courtesy Everett Collection ACHTUNG AUFNAHMEDATUM GESCHÄTZT PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xCourtesyxEverettxCollectionx MCDJOST EC016Silver Lode, poster, US re-issue poster, standing from left: Dan Duryea, John Payne, 1954. (Photo by LMPC via Getty Images)Terror Street, poster, (aka 36 HOURS), Dan Duryea, Elsie Albiin, 1953. (Photo by LMPC via Getty Images)
Craig Stevens had been in films for years when he won widwspread popularity on television in 1958 with his performance in the title role of “Peter Gunn”. His films include “Dive Bomber” in 1941 where he met his wife Alexis Smith, “Since You Went Way” and “The Doughgirls”. Craig Stevens died in 2000. Alexis Smith predeceased him.
His “Telegraph” obituary:
American actor best known for his role as the television detective Peter Gunn
CRAIG STEVENS, who has died aged 81, played the suave private investigator Peter Gunn in the American television series of the same name which began in 1958.
Detective Peter Gunn was one of those lady-killer private eyes of the late 1950s and 1960s who existed in a world of salubrious uptown offices and sleazy night-time jazz clubs. Gunn’s own well-appointed workplace was at 351 Ellis Park Road, Los Angeles, but from time to time he would saunter over to Mother’s jazz club to watch his blonde girlfriend Edie (Lola Albright) take to the stage as resident singer.
Each episode presented Gunn with a client in a tight corner or a crime to solve. His work entailed frequent fights, but the urbane Gunn – often aided by his police lieutenant friend Jacoby – would always be standing at the end, coolly dusting down his Ivy League clothes.
The programme’s director, Blake Edwards, shot the action in a modified film-noir style. Most memorable of all was the jazzy score by Henry Mancini – later to be reincarnated in such films as The Blues Brothers, several television advertisements and the odd pop song.
Peter Gunn, which was considered exceptionally violent for its time, was broadcast on NBC from 1958 to 1960 and on ABC in 1960-61. It then came to Britain where it also proved hugely popular. It did much to launch Blake Edwards’s career, and Mancini’s score resulted in two bestselling albums for RCA, The Music from Peter Gunn and More Music From Peter Gunn.
Craig Stevens was born Gail Shikles Jnr on July 8 1918 at Liberty, Missouri, the son of a school teacher. He read Dentistry at Kansas University before deciding that acting was more for him.
Moving to Hollywood, he trained at Paramount’s acting school, worked at the Pasadena Playhouse and in 1941 signed for Warner Brothers. His first feature film was Dive Bomber, in which he played one of Errol Flynn’s co-pilots.
The film’s leading lady was Alexis Smith, and later that year Stevens was given the romantic lead opposite her as a bridge-builder in Steel Against the Sky. They married three years later. Alexis Smith went on to become a star, while Stevens languished as a dependable support. Nevertheless, the marriage endured happily until her death in 1993.
Stevens’s other credits during the 1940s included God is My Co-Pilot (1945) and Humoresque (1946), in which he was one of the gigolos buzzing around a socialite, Joan Crawford. After The Blues Busters (1950) and Abbott and Costello Meet Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1953), he played the boyfriend of Jane Russell in The French Line (1954), and then the trusty sidekick of a town tyrant in the light-hearted western Buchanan Rides Alone (1958).
Although he had by then appeared in 13 films, his casting on television as Peter Gunn was his big break. After that, he played the globe-trotting photo-journalist Mike Strait in 20 episodes of the ATV series Man of the World (1962-63). Also featuring a score by Mancini, the series took Stevens to many colourful corners of the world – from south-east Asia to the Amazon – usually assisted by his svelte sidekick Maggie.
Thereafter, Stevens worked mainly in theatre, often opposite his wife, who had retired from the screen in 1959. He did, however, team up again with Blake Edwards in 1967 to make the film Gunn, and he appeared in Killer Bees (1974). His last film role was in Blake Edwards’s Hollywood satire SOB (1981). From time to time, he appeared on television shows such as Dallas.
Murder Without Tears, poster, US poster art,top left: Joyce Holden; top, second left; Craig Stevens, 1953. (Photo by LMPC via Getty Images)THE DEADLY MANTIS, bottom from left: Alix Talton, Craig Stevens, 1957
Connie Stevens is an actress, singer and successful business women. She was born in 1938 in Brooklyn, New York. She won a contract with Warner Brothers. She was wonderful in her films with Troy Donahue, “Parrish” and “Susan Slade” in 1961 and “Palm Springs Weekend” in 1963. They also co-starred in the television series “Hawaiian Eye”. She had a U.S. Top Ten hit with “Sixteen Candles”.
Gary Brumburgh’s entry:
Born in Brooklyn of Italian, Irish, and Native-American parentage with the unlikely name of Concetta Anna Ingolia, Connie Stevens was raised by grandparents when her parents (both jazz musicians) filed for divorced. She attended Catholic boarding schools in her formative years and a distinct interest in music led to her forming a vocal quartet called “The Foremost” which was comprised of Connie and three men. Those men later became part of The Lettermen. In Hollywood from 1953, Connie formed yet another vocal group “The Three Debs” while trying to break into films as an extra. Although she managed to co-star in a few mediocre teen dramas such as Young and Dangerous (1957), Eighteen and Anxious (1957), The Party Crashers (1958), and Dragstrip Riot (1958), it was comedian Jerry Lewis who set things in motion by casting the unknown starlet in his comedy Rock-a-Bye Baby (1958). Warner Bros. signed her up for their hot detective series Hawaiian Eye (1959) and she was off. As pert and pretty “Cricket Blake”, a slightly flaky and tomboyish singer/photographer, Connie became an instant teen idol — trendy and undeniably appealing. A couple of record hits came her way including “Sixteen Reasons” and the novelty song “Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb”. Connie’s acting talent was light and limited, however, and some attempts at adult film drama, including the title role in Susan Slade (1961), Parrish (1961), Palm Springs Weekend (1963) andTwo on a Guillotine (1965) came and went. In the 1970s, she refocused on her voice and started lining up singing commercials (Ace Hardware) while subsisting in nightclubs and hotels. Connie eventually built herself up as a Las Vegas headlining act. She also starred on Broadway with “The Star-Spangled Girl” and won a Theatre World Award for her performance in 1967. Comedian Bob Hope‘s made her one of his regular entertainers on his USO tours. Sporadic films came her way every now and then. A TV-movie The Sex Symbol (1974) had her playing a tragic Marilyn Monroe type goddess. There was also innocuous fun with Grease 2 (1982) and Back to the Beach (1987) with Frankie Avalonand Annette Funicello. Episodics on Murder, She Wrote (1984), The Love Boat (1977) andBaywatch (1989) also kept her afloat — but barely. Once wed to actor James Stacy, she later married and divorced singer Eddie Fisher. From her union with Fisher came two daughters, Joely Fisher and Tricia Leigh Fisher, both of whom became actors. Single with two daughters, and completely out of sync with Hollywood, Connie started experiencing severe financial woes. In the 1990s, the never-say-die personality began a new lucrative career in the infomercial game with skin-care and make-up products. She was unbelievably successful in turning her finances around. Now a self-made tycoon with her own successful beauty line to boot, Connie is living proof that anything can happen in that wild and wacky world called show biz.
– IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net
TCM overview:
Actress and singer Connie Stevens was a vivacious presence on television and the pop charts in the early 1960s, thanks to her popularity as Cricket Blake on the hit detective show “Hawaiian Eye” (ABC, 1959-1963) and singles like “Sixteen Reasons.” Stevens’ perky turn as Cricket, a singer and sometime photographer who aided a pair of Honolulu hotel detectives in solving crimes, granted her a brief time as an idol for younger viewers, but after the show’s cancellation, she struggled to maintain her presence in the entertainment business. After her divorce from singer Eddie Fisher in 1969, which gave her daughters Joely and Tricia Leigh Fisher, Stevens doggedly pursued her career as an actress and nightclub crooner throughout the 1970s and 1980s. A reversal of fortune came in the 1990s when she launched a successful line of cosmetics. Throughout the ups and downs of her life, Stevens maintained the same sparkle she showed as Cricket Blake, which endeared her to several generations of fans.
Born Concetta Rosalie Ann Ingoglia in Brooklyn, NY on Aug. 8, 1938, Connie Stevens was the daughter of jazz drummer Peter Ingoglia, who performed under the stage name of Teddy Stevens, and singer Eleanor McGinley. After her parents’ divorce, she was raised largely by grandparents or by the staff of various Catholic boarding schools. Blessed with a pleasant singing voice, she was performing professionally at an early age, first with three male vocalists in a group called the Foremost, and later, in an all-girl group called The Three Debs. At 15, she relocated to Los Angeles with her father, where she adopted his surname and worked as an extra and bit player in various teen-oriented films. 1958 proved to be her breakout year, with the release of her debut album, Conchetta, as well as her first major role as Jerry Lewis’ love interest in “Rock-A-Bye Baby,” a loose remake of “The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek” (1944). The following year, she was signed to a contract with Warner Bros., who placed her in their new detective series, “Hawaiian Eye.”
Cast as Cricket Blake, a singer and amateur photographer who helped series’ leads Anthony Eisley and Robert Conrad solve cases on the big island of Honolulu, Stevens quickly rose in popularity among the show’s audience of young viewers. A cross-over appearance on ABC’s other hip crime show, “77 Sunset Strip” (1958-1963) led to a Top 10 single, “Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb,” which featured “Sunset” star Edd Byrnes in his series role as suave beatnik Kookie. It was soon followed by “Sixteen Reasons (Why I Love You),” a Top Five hit that stayed on theBillboard charts for over two months. Bigger roles in feature films were the next step in her natural progression, and in 1961, she starred in two films by Delmer Daves: “Parrish” was a potboiler with Troy Donahue – Stevens’ co-star on “Hawaiian Eye” in its final season – as a young man pitted against his stepfather (Karl Malden), an unscrupulous tobacco tycoon, while “Susan Slade” was an outrageous camp fest about an innocent (Stevens) whose unwanted pregnancy leads to a near-Biblical series of tragedies as well as the attention of two competing suitors (Donahue and Bert Convy). When Stevens began dating Elvis Presley offscreen, she essentially assured herself pop culture sainthood.
However, a series of clashes with Warner Bros., including contract disputes regarding “Hawaiian Eye” and a well-publicized outburst over losing the chance to audition for “My Fair Lady” (1962), led to the studio dropping her contract. Stevens was soon adrift in a string of misfires, including the sitcom “Wendy and Me” (ABC, 1964-65), produced by George Burns, who co-starred as her landlord who observes her misadventures through his closed circuit television. Her recording career dried up in the middle of the decade, so she adjusted her focus to stage and screen projects, including a stint on Broadway in 1967’s “The Star-Spangled Girl,” which earned her a Theatre World Award. She was also a regular performer in Bob Hope’s jaunts to Southeast Asia for the USO, which would later influence her documentary, “The Healing” (1997), about Red Cross nurses in Vietnam. After the dissolution of her marriage to actor James Stacy in 1967, she married singer Eddie Fisher, who was coming off the embarrassment of his wife Elizabeth Taylor leaving him for Richard Burton. The Philadelphia-born crooner fathered her daughters, Joely and Tricia Leigh Fisher, both of whom followed in their parents’ footsteps as performers. Stevens and Fisher were divorced in 1969, just two years after being married.
Stevens raised both of her daughters as a single mother, which required her to work constantly in order to make ends meet. There was a steady stream of singing jobs, including headlining stints in Las Vegas and guest starring roles on episodic television and in TV features. With her ingénue days long behind her, Stevens began to play more adult, sexually forthright roles, most notably in 1971’s cult favorite “The Grissom Gang,” as a vampish Depression Era singer, and “Scorchy” (1976), a low-budget crime picture with Stevens as a gun-toting, bed-hopping private eye. She also served as the spokesperson for Ace Hardware in the 1970s, and sang the company’s jingle in numerous television commercials.
The 1980s saw Stevens back on screen in several minor features, most notably “Grease 2” (1982) and “Back to the Beach” (1987), both as vixenish older women who served as temptation for the respective, much younger male leads. She experienced greater success with a line of cosmetic products called Forever Spring, which she launched in 1986 and pitched via informercials. She also became a tireless supporter of various charities, including the Windfeather Project, which the part-Mohican Stevens launched to provide scholarships to Native American students. In 1994, she re-launched her recording career with the LP, Tradition: A Family at Christmas, on which she was joined by her daughters. Three years later, she made her directorial debut with the aforementioned “The Healing,” on which she also served as writer, editor and cinematographer. The documentary was well received at a variety of film festivals, and earned a Best Film award at the 1998 Santa Clarita International Fest. In her sixth decade, Stevens had finally achieved a degree of respect that had eluded her career for so many years.
Her proficiency as a businesswoman, as well as the longevity of her time in the spotlight, contributed to her 2005 election as secretary-treasurer of the Screen Actors’ Guild, the second highest elected position in the governing body. She concluded her tenure with the Guild in 2007, then made her debut as a feature film director with “Saving Grace” (2009), a period drama about a Missouri family whose life was turned upside down by the arrival of a relative (Tatum O’Neal) who was discharged from an asylum
The above TCM overview can also be accessed online here.
