Director Leslie Goodwins' 1941 military drama, about various men who become buddies when they join the paratroopers, stars Robert Preston, Edmond O'Brien and Buddy Ebsen.
09-12-1941
1h 15m
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Main Cast
Movie Details
Production Info
Director:
Leslie Goodwins
Production:
RKO Radio Pictures
Key Crew
Producer:
Howard Benedict
Screenplay:
John Twist
Editor:
Theron Warth
Locations and Languages
Country:
US
Filming:
US
Languages:
en
Main Cast
Robert Preston
Robert Preston (June 8, 1918 – March 21, 1987) was an American stage and film actor and singer, best known for his collaboration with composer Meredith Willson and originating the role of Professor Harold Hill in the 1957 musical The Music Man and the 1962 film adaptation; the film earned him his first of two Golden Globe Award nominations. Preston collaborated twice with filmmaker Blake Edwards, first in S.O.B. (1981) and again in Victor/Victoria (1982). For portraying Carroll "Toddy" Todd in the latter, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor at the 55th Academy Awards.
Preston was born Robert Preston Meservey in Newton, Massachusetts, the son of a garment worker and a record store clerk. He attended Abraham Lincoln High School, training as a musician and playing several instruments, but quit at age sixteen to study acting at the Pasadena Community Playhouse.
Preston made his Broadway debut in 1940 in the play The Philadelphia Story. He went on to star in a number of successful Broadway musicals, including The Pajama Game (1954), Damn Yankees (1955), and I Do! I Do! (1966). He also appeared in a number of films, including The Music Man (1962), The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960), and Victor/Victoria (1982).
Preston was a versatile actor who could play a wide range of roles. He was known for his charisma, his singing voice, and his comic timing. He was a two-time Tony Award winner and was nominated for an Academy Award. He was also a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame.
Preston died of cancer in 1987 at the age of 68. He was survived by his wife, Catherine Craig; the couple had no children.
A biography of the actor, @Robert Preston - Forever The Music Man”, was published in 2022.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Edmond O'Brien (September 10, 1915 – May 9, 1985) was an Academy Award-winning American film actor who is perhaps best remembered for his role in D.O.A. (1950). His many memorable films included The Killers, White Heat, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and The Wild Bunch.
He also co-starred with Richard Rust in the NBC legal drama Sam Benedict, which aired during the 1962-1963 television season.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Edmond O'Brien, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Christian Ludolf "Buddy" Ebsen Jr. (April 2, 1908 – July 6, 2003) was an American actor and dancer, whose career spanned seven decades, including the role of Jed Clampett in the CBS television sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–1971) and the title character in the television detective drama Barnaby Jones (1973–1980), also on CBS.[3] The SAG-AFTRA records also show him as Frank "Buddy" Ebsen.
A performer for seven decades, he had starring roles as Jed Clampett in the long-running television series "The Beverly Hillbillies" and as the title character in the 1970s detective series "Barnaby Jones".
Ebsen was cast as the original Tin Man in 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz", but fell ill, reacting to the aluminum dust in his makeup, and was forced to drop out of the film.
Ebsen made his television debut on an episode of The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre in 1949. This led to television appearances in: Stars Over Hollywood, Gruen Guild Playhouse, four episodes of Broadway Television Theatre, Schlitz Playhouse of Stars, Corky and White Shadow, the H.J. Heinz Company's Studio 57, Screen Directors Playhouse, two episodes of Climax!, Tales of Wells Fargo, The Martha Raye Show, Playhouse 90, Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse, Johnny Ringo, two episodes of Bonanza, three episodes of Maverick (in which he portrayed assorted homicidal villains), and 77 Sunset Strip. Ebsen received wide television exposure when he played Georgie Russel, a role based on a historical person and companion to frontiersman Davy Crockett, in the Disneyland television miniseries Davy Crockett (1954–1955).
In the 1958–1959 season, Ebsen co-starred in the 26-episode half-hour NBC television adventure series Northwest Passage. This series was a fictionalized account of Major Robert Rogers, a colonial American fighter for the British in the French and Indian War. Ebsen played the role of Sergeant Hunk Marriner; Keith Larsen played Rogers.
In 1960, Ebsen appeared in episodes of the television series Rawhide, in the episodes "The Pitchwagon" and Tales of Wells Fargo, which he reprised in episodes of both series during 1962 in the roles of different characters. Also in 1960, Ebsen played in season 4 episode 30 of Have Gun, Will Travel called "El Paso Stage", as a corrupt marshal.
From 1961 to 1962, Ebsen had a recurring role as Virge Blessing in the ABC drama series Bus Stop, the story of travelers passing through the bus station and diner in the fictitious town of Sunrise, Colorado. Robert Altman directed several episodes. Arthur O'Connell had played Virge Blessing in the earlier film version on which the series was loosely based. Ebsen also appeared as "Mr. Dave" Browne, a homeless hobo, on The Andy Griffith Show opposite Ron Howard, and as Jimbo Cobb in The Twilight Zone episode "The Prime Mover" (season 2, episode 21) in 1961.
Nancy Kelly (March 25, 1921 – January 2, 1995) was an American actress. A child actress and model, she was a repertory cast member of CBS Radio's The March of Time and appeared in several films in the late 1920s. She became a leading lady upon returning to the screen in the late 1930s, while still in her teens, and made two dozen movies between 1938 and 1946, including portraying Tyrone Power's love interest in the classic Jesse James (1939), and playing opposite Spencer Tracy in Stanley and Livingstone later that same year.
After turning to the stage in the late 1940s, she had her greatest success in a character role, the distraught mother in The Bad Seed, receiving a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for the 1955 stage production and an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress for the 1956 film adaptation, her last film role. Kelly then worked regularly in television until 1963, then took over the role of Martha in the original Broadway production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? for several months. She returned to television for a handful of appearances in the mid-1970s.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Nancy Kelly, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Henry DeWitt Carey II (January 16, 1878 - September 21, 1947) was an American actor and one of silent film's earliest superstars, usually cast as a Western hero. One of his best known performances is as the president of the United States Senate in the drama film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
He was the father of Harry Carey Jr., who was also a prominent actor. Born in New York City to a Judge of Special Sessions who was also president of a sewing machine company. Grew up on City Island, New York. Attended Hamilton Military Academy and turned down an appointment to West Point to attend New York University, where his law school classmates included future New York City mayor James J. Walker. After a boating accident which led to pneumonia, Carey wrote a play while recuperating and toured the country in it for three years, earning a great deal of money, all of which evaporated after his next play was a failure.
In 1911, his friend Henry B. Walthall introduced him to director D.W. Griffith, for whom Carey was to make many films. Carey married twice, the second time to actress Olive Fuller Golden (aka Olive Carey, who introduced him to future director John Ford. Carey influenced Universal Studios head Carl Laemmle to use Ford as a director, and a partnership was born that lasted until a rift in the friendship in 1921. During this time, Carey grew into one of the most popular Western stars of the early motion picture, occasionally writing and directing films as well. In the '30s he moved slowly into character roles and was nominated for an Oscar for one of them, the President of the Senate in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939). He worked once more with Ford, in The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936), and appeared once with his son, Harry Carey Jr., in Howard Hawks' Red River (1948). He died after a protracted bout with emphysema and cancer. Ford dedicated his remake of 3 Godfathers (1948) "To Harry Carey--Bright Star Of The Early Western Sky."
From Wikipedia
Erville Alderson (September 11, 1882, Kansas City, Missouri – August 4, 1957, Glendale, California) was an American film actor. He appeared in nearly 200 films between 1918 and 1957.
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Grant Withers (January 17, 1905, Pueblo, Colorado – March 27, 1959, North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California), born Granville G. Withers, was a prolific American film actor with a sizeable body of work.
With early beginnings in the silent era, Withers moved into talkies establishing himself with an impressive list of headlined features as a young and handsome male lead.
As his career progressed, his importance diminished, but he did manage a 10-year contract at Republic Pictures. His friendships with both John Ford and John Wayne secured him a spot in nine of Wayne's films, but later roles dwindled to supporting parts, mainly as villains in B-movies, serials, and finally television. He appeared in the late 1950s in two episodes of the syndicated western series 26 Men, set in Arizona, where he had earlier eloped with Loretta Young.
His life in film, five unsuccessful marriages, and a tragic end had all the makings of its own Hollywood drama.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Grant Withers, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Gayne Whitman (born Alfred D. Vosburgh; March 19, 1890 – August 31, 1958) was an American radio and film actor. He appeared in 213 films between 1904 and 1957. In some early films he was credited under his birth name. He was born in Chicago, Illinois.
As Alfred Vosburgh, he was the leading man in the film Princess of the Dark (1917). Soon after that, he changed his screen name to Alfred Whitman because "1917 was not a good time to have a German sounding name."
Beginning in 1921, Whitman acted at the Morosco Theater in Los Angeles. He returned to films in 1925 when he received a contract with Warner Bros.
On radio, Whitman played the title role in Chandu the Magician, was the narrator on Lassie and Strange as It Seems, and was an announcer on Paducah Plantation and other programs.
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Edward Frank Dunn (March 31, 1896 – May 5, 1951) was an American actor best known for his roles in comedy films, supporting many comedians such as Charley Chase (with whom he co-directed several short films), Charlie Chaplin, W.C. Fields, and Laurel and Hardy. Dunn also appeared as Detective Grimes in several of The Falcon series of films in the 1940s which starred George Sanders and later on Sanders' brother Tom Conway, and in many small and uncredited parts in many feature films until his death in 1951 aged 55.