Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries
Page 44
CAUSE: Cagney died of cardiac arrest at his home, Verney Farms, in Stanfordville, 30 miles west of Poughkeepsie, New York, aged 86.
FURTHER READING: Cagney: The Authorised Biography – Doug Warren with James Cagney (New York: St Martin’s Press, 1986).
Louis Calhern
(CARL HENRY VOGT)
Born February 19, 1895
Died May 12, 1956
Flexible fiend. Born in New York City, Calhern was a tall, romantic lead in the Twenties who blossomed into a moustachioed, masterful character actor. He was acclaimed for his portrayal of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes in The Magnificent Yankee (1950), for which he was nominated for an Oscar, the criminal mastermind Alonzo Emmerich in The Asphalt Jungle (1950) and Buffalo Bill in Annie Get Your Gun (1950). His other films included: What’s Worth While (1921) as ‘Squire’ Elton, his first film, Stolen Heaven (1931) as Steve, The Road To Singapore (1931) as Dr George March, Blonde Crazy (1931) as Dapper Dan Barker, They Call It Sin (1932) as Ford Humphries, 20,000 Years In Sing Sing (1933) as Joe Finn, Woman Accused (1933) as Leo Young, Strictly Personal (1933) as Magruder, Diplomaniacs (1933) as Winklereid, Duck Soup (1933) as Ambassador Trentino, Sweet Adeline (1934) as Major James Day, The Count Of Monte Cristo (1934) as Raymond de Villefort, Jr, Woman Wanted (1935) as Smiley, The Life Of Emile Zola (1937) as Major Dort, Fast Company (1938) as Elias Z. Bannerman, Dr Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet (1940) as Brockdorf, Heaven Can Wait (1943) as Randolph Van Cleve, The Bridge Of San Luis Rey (1944) as The Viceroy, Notorious (1946) as Paul Prescott, The Red Pony (1949) as Grandfather, Two Weeks With Love (1950) as Horatio Robinson, Nancy Goes To Rio (1950) as Gregory Elliott, We’re Not Married (1952) in which he played Freddie Melrose, The Prisoner Of Zenda (1952) as Colonel Zapt, The Bad And The Beautiful (1952) as the narrator, Julius Caesar (1953) in the title role, The Blackboard Jungle (1955) as Jim Murdock and Forever Darling (1956) as Charles Y. Bewell, his last film. He was married and divorced four times. His first wife was actress-writer Ilka Chase. They married in June 1926 but divorced in February 1927 on account of his adultery. On September 17, 1927, he married actress Julia Hoyt at Norton Presbyterian Church, Darien, Connecticut. They were divorced in Reno, Nevada, on August 6, 1932. On April 20, 1933, in Los Angeles, he married actress Natalie Schaefer. Following their divorce he married actress Marianne Stewart in Plainfield, New Jersey, on November 25, 1946. The couple was divorced in Juarez, Mexico, on July 19, 1955.
CAUSE: Calhern died of a heart attack in Tokyo while filming The Teahouse Of The August Moon. He was buried in Hollywood Memorial Park, 6000 Santa Monica Boulevard, Hollywood, California 90038.
Rory Calhoun
(FRANCIS TIMOTHY DURGIN)
Born August 8, 1922
Died April 28, 1999
The scapegoat. Rory Calhoun was born in Los Angeles and worked as a lumberjack, miner, cowboy and park ranger. An opportune meeting with Alan Ladd turned him on to acting and after changing his name from Frank McCown (his stepfather’s name) he quickly made a small name for himself as a tough guy in a number of Westerns. It looked as if major stardom beckoned Calhoun, but then it all went wrong. Various stories have done the rounds about Calhoun’s fall from grace and so myth has probably replaced fact by now. The story goes that scandal rag Confidential had become very successful at exposing the secrets of Hollywood stars and had discovered Hollywood’s best kept open secret: that Rock Hudson, the celluloid lady-killer was, in fact, a friend of Dorothy. The magazine threatened to run the story, which would have wrecked Hudson’s career. As a compromise, the studio offered a scapegoat to save the more valuable Hudson. That scapegoat, as the tale has it, was Calhoun. On April 23, 1940, Calhoun had been arrested in Salt Lake City, Utah, and charged with second-degree burglary and taking a stolen car across state lines. He was sent to juvenile hall in El Reno, Oklahoma. Some reference books give Calhoun’s birthday as 1918 but if that is correct he would have been 21 when arrested and too old for juvenile hall. In borstal a priest, Father Donald Kanaly, attempted to befriend the delinquent but was spurned and Calhoun tried to escape. He was put in solitary confinement for a fortnight. Father Kanaly didn’t give up hope and finally put him on the path to the straight and narrow. On August 8, 1943, Calhoun was released. It may have been coincidental that Calhoun’s record was released (in a May 1955 issue of Confidential) at the time of Hudson’s possible exposure, but it certainly wrecked Calhoun’s chance of major stardom. (Just to ‘confirm’ his heterosexuality, Hudson married his gay agent’s secretary four months later.) Among Calhoun’s films were: Sunday Dinner For A Soldier (1944), Something For The Boys (1944), That Hagen Girl (1947) as Ken Freneau, Miraculous Journey (1948) as Larry, Sand (1949) as Chick Palmer, A Ticket To Tomahawk (1950) as Dakota, With A Song In My Heart (1952) as John Burn, Way Of A Gaucho (1952) as Martin, How To Marry A Millionaire as Eben, River Of No Return as Harry Weston, Ain’t Misbehavin’ (1955) as Kenneth Post, Marco Polo (1961) as Marco Polo, Operación Dalila (1967) as Rory, Won Ton Ton, The Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976) as Philip Hart, Hell Comes To Frogtown (1987) as Looney Tunes and Roller Blade Warriors: Taken By Force (1989) as Old Turkel. On August 29, 1948, he married singer Lita Baron. They had three daughters: Cindy Frances (b. 1957), Tami Elizabeth (b. 1960) and Lorri Marie (b.1961). The couple was divorced in July 1970. On April 20, 1971, he married Australian journalist Sue Rhodes Boswell. A daughter, Rorye, was born that same year.
CAUSE: Calhoun died aged 76 from the effects of diabetes and emphysema in Los Angeles.
Phyllis Calvert
(PHYLLIS BICKLE)
Born February 18, 1915
Died October 8, 2002
‘Million pound girl’. Born in Chelsea, south-west London, she was the daughter of Frederick Bickle, a blacksmith, and Anne Williams. The young Phyllis Bickle trained as a dancer until an injury forced her to change to drama. She was educated in London at the Margaret Morris School (where her strong cockney accent was replaced by a more pleasing vocal attitude) and the French Institute. She made her stage début in Walter de la Mare’s Crossings on November 19, 1925 at the Lyric, Hammersmith, as Dame Ellen Terry was making her last appearance. She made her film début in a silent picture called The Land Of Heart’s Desire (1927) but never officially admitted to any film earlier than 1939. By then she had been in School For Stars (1935), Inspector Hornleigh (1938) as Mrs Wilkinson and Two Days To Live (1939). She made her West End début in 1939 in A Woman’s Privilege at Kingsway. Appearing in Max Catto’s Punch Without Judy at the Q Theatre, she met her future husband, Peter Murray-Hill, an actor, publisher and part-time police constable. At the outbreak of war she returned to Gainsborough Studios at Shepherd’s Bush and worked with Arthur Askey in Charley’s Big-Hearted Aunt (1940), a frolicsome version of the old standard Charley’s Aunt as Betty Forsythe and in films with Will Fyffe and George Formby in Let George Do It (1940) as Mary Wilson. She also appeared in Carol Reed’s Kipps (1941) as Anne Pornick and in Anthony Asquith’s The Young Mr Pitt (1942) as Eleanor Eden. Her tremulous lower lip and liquid brown eyes meant that the success of The Man In Grey (1943) as Clarissa Richmond, Fanny By Gaslight (1944) as Fanny, Madonna Of The Seven Moons (1944) as Maddalena Labardi (in the film she and co-star Stewart Granger broke censorship rules of the time by taking their feet off the floor during a love scene although she later rather ruined the image by revealing that his breath had “smelt of sardines”) and They Were Sisters (1945) as Lucy Moore gave her the box office pull of Greer Garson and Bette Davis. She won plaudits as Christine Garland, the mother of the deaf girl in Mandy (1952). By the Sixties she was making fewer films including Child In The House (1956) as Evelyn Acheson, The Young And The Guilty (1958) as Mrs Connor and Oscar Wilde (1960) as Constance Wilde and playing more regularly in the West End. Her many television appearances included Cover Her Face (1985), All Passion Spent (1986) and the plays Death Of A Heart (1985), Across The Lake (1988), The Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes (1994) and Midsomer Murders (1997). She came out of retirement to appear in the feature film
Mrs Dalloway (1997), starring Vanessa Redgrave. “Some people love sitting in a chair,” she said, reflecting on her long career. “That’s my idea of dull.” Her husband Peter Murray-Hill died in 1957; they had a son and a daughter. “My acting,” she said in 1995, “has improved with age. I can’t look at any of my old films – I was frightful.”
CAUSE: She died aged 87 of natural causes.
Rod Cameron
(NATHAN RODERICK COX)
Born December 7, 1910
Died December 21, 1983
Rangy puncher. Born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 6́ 5˝ Cameron worked on a building site and then as a lorry driver and skin diving instructor before making the move to films in 1939. He worked as a stand-in for Fred MacMurray. His first film was Heritage Of The Desert (1939) and although he never achieved A-list stardom he was a regular in B pictures. In 1943 he appeared as secret service agent Rex Bennett for Republic Pictures in Secret Service In Darkest Africa (1943) and G-men Vs. The Black Dragon (1943) before reprising the role on television more than 20 years later in Black Dragon Of Manzanar (1966) and The Baron’s African War (1966). In 1944 and 1945 he appeared in six Westerns for Universal. They were Boss Of Boomtown (1944) as Steve Hazard, Trigger Trail (1944) as Clint Farrel, Riders Of The Santa Fe (1944) as Matt Conway, The Old Texas Trail (1944) as Jim Wiley, Beyond The Pecos (1945) as Lew Remington and Renegades Of The Rio Grande (1945) as Buck Emerson. In 1945 he landed the starring role as Jim Steed opposite Yvonne De Carlo in Salome, Where She Danced (1945) but it never led anywhere and soon Cameron was back in B Westerns. His films included The Old Maid (1939) as a man, The Quarterback (1940) as Tex, Rangers Of Fortune (1940) as Shelby henchman, Christmas In July (1940) as Dick, North West Mounted Police (1940) as Corporal Underhill, Life With Henry (1941) as Bill Van Dusen, The Monster And The Girl (1941) as Sam Daniels, I Wanted Wings (1941) as the voice on the loudspeaker, The Parson Of Panamint (1941) as Porter, Buy Me That Town (1941) as Gerard, a sailor in Nothing But The Truth (1941), Henry Aldrich For President (1941) as Ed Calkins, Night Of January 16th (1941) as District Attorney’s Assistant, No Hands On The Clock (1941) as Tom Reed, Among The Living (1941) as Eddie, a pilot in Pacific Blackout (1941), a sailor in The Fleet’s In (1942), The Remarkable Andrew (1942) as Jesse James, True To The Army (1942) as Private O’Toole, Priorities On Parade (1942) as the stage manager, Wake Island (1942) as Captain Pete Lewis, The Forest Rangers (1942) as Jim Lawrence, Star Spangled Rhythm as Petty Officer, Commandos Strike At Dawn (1942) as Pastor, No Time For Love (1943) as Taylor, Honeymoon Lodge (1943) as Big Boy Carson, The Good Fellows (1943), The Kansan (1943) as Kelso, Riding High as Sam Welch, Gung Ho! (1943) as Rube Tedrow, Mrs Parkington (1944) as Al Swann, Swing Out, Sister (1945) as Geoffrey, Frontier Gal (1945) as Johnny Hart, The Runaround (1946) as Eddie J. Kildane, Pirates Of Monterey (1947) as Phillip Kent, River Lady (1948) as Dan Corrigan, Panhandle (1948) as John Sands, The Plunderers (1948) as John Drum, Belle Starr’s Daughter (1948) as Bob ‘Bitter Creek’ Yauntis, Strike It Rich (1949) as Duke Massey, Stampede (1949) as Mike McCall, Brimstone (1949) as Johnny Tremaine, Stage To Tucson (1950) as Grif Holbrook, Dakota Lil (1950) as Harve Logan a.k.a. Kid Curry, Short Grass (1950) as Steve Lewellyn, Oh! Susanna (1951) as Captain Webb Calhoun, Cavalry Scout (1951) as Kirby Frye, The Sea Hornet as Gunner McNeil, Fort Osage as Tom Clay, Wagons West (1952) as Jeff Curtis, The Jungle (1952) as Steve Bentley, Woman Of The North Country (1952) as Kyle Ramlo, Ride The Man Down (1952) as Will Ballard, San Antone (1953) as Carl Miller, The Steel Lady (1953) as Mike Monahan, Southwest Passage (1954) as Edward Beale, Hell’s Outpost (1954) as Tully Gibbs, Passport To Treason (1955) as Mike O’Kelly, Santa Fe Passage (1955) as Jess Griswold, Double Jeopardy (1955) as Marc Hill, Headline Hunters (1955) as Hugh Woodruff, The Fighting Chance (1955) as Bill Binyon, Yaqui Drums (1956) as Webb Dunham, Spoilers Of The Forest (1957) as Boyd Caldwell, Escapement (1958) as Jeff Keenan, The Man Who Died Twice (1958) as William ‘Bill’ Brennon, The Gun Hawk (1963) as Sheriff Ben Corey, Le Pistole Non Discutono (1964) as Pat Garrett, Il Piombo E La Carne (1965) as Nathaniel Masters, Requiem For A Gunfighter (1965) as Dave McCloud, The Bounty Killer (1965) as Johnny Liam, Winnetou Und Sein Freund Old Firehand (1966) as Old Firehand, Evel Knievel (1971) as Charlie Knesson, The Last Movie (1971) as Pat Garrett, Psychic Killer (1975) as Dr Commanger, Jessi’s Girls (1975) as Rufe and Love And The Midnight Auto Supply (1977) as Sheriff Dawson. He also starred in three television series. City Detective was syndicated from the autumn of 1953 until 1955 and starred Cameron as Detective Lieutenant Bart Grant. The show was not actually set in one city and Grant travelled widely solving crimes wherever he went. Not everyone was impressed. TV Guide once commented, “Most of his acting is in his fists.” Produced from 1956 until 1959 with the first of 104 episodes released in January 1957 Cameron’s second syndicated television series, State Trooper, had him playing Rod Blake, the chief investigator for the Nevada State Police. The pilot, Killer On Horseback, had been broadcast by NBC in February 1956 but was not considered saleable enough so the show was released only in syndication. Cameron’s third show was Coronado 9, syndicated in 1959, in which he played Dan Adams. Oddly, in 1960, he divorced his wife of 10 years, Angela, and married her mother, Dorothy.