John Dehner
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| John Dehner | |
|---|---|
| Born | John Forkum November 23, 1915 Staten Island, New York, USA |
| Died | February 4, 1992 Santa Barbara, California |
| Years active | 1941 - 1988 |
John Dehner (November 23, 1915 - February 4, 1992) was an American actor in radio, television and films, playing countless roles, often as a droll villain. Between 1941 and 1988, he appeared in over 260 films and TV shows.
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[edit] Radio
Dehner had an extensive career as a radio actor, appearing as a lead or supporting player in such series as Gunsmoke and Philip Marlowe. He played Paladin in a radio version of Have Gun — Will Travel, one of the few times a show started on TV and was later adapted for radio, instead of the other way around. On CBS radio in 1958, he starred in Frontier Gentleman, a radio Western series that opened with a trumpet theme by Jerry Goldsmith and this introduction:
- Herewith, an Englishman's account of life and death in the West. As a reporter for the London Times, he writes his colorful and unusual accounts. But as a man with a gun, he lives and becomes a part of the violent years in the new territories. Now, starring John Dehner, this is the story of J. B. Kendall, Frontier Gentleman...
Written and directed by Antony Ellis, the short-lived series followed the adventures of journalist Kendall as he roamed the Western United States in search of stories for the Times.
[edit] Television and films
Dehner delivered two memorable performances on the television series Maverick (1957) opposite James Garner in the episodes "Shady Deal at Sunny Acres" ("...if you can't trust your banker, whom can you trust?") and "Greenbacks, Unlimited." Dehner also played Pat Garrett in Gore Vidal's The Left Handed Gun, opposite Paul Newman as Billy the Kid. Dehner appeared in 1952's Scaramouche as Doutreval of Dijon and also played the non-singing role of Mr. Bascombe, the mill owner and intended robbery victim, in the 1956 film version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel.
Dehner appeared in three episodes of The Twilight Zone: as Captain Allenby in the famous 1959 episode "The Lonely"; a 1961 episode called "The Jungle" as an engineer who has had an African curse placed on him in which he refuses to believe - until the end; and the episode "Mr. Garrity and the Graves" in the series' fifth and final season.
Dehner also appeared in a number of Rifleman episodes as various characters.
From 1971-73 he played the part of Cy Bennett, Doris Martin's boss on The Doris Day Show. One of his last appearances was as the sympathetic judge in the Glenn Close - Jeff Bridges courtroom thriller Jagged Edge.
In 1983, he starred in the short-lived NBC prime time soap opera Bare Essence as "Hadden Marshall".
[edit] Partial filmography
- Ten Tall Men (1951)
- Scaramouche (1952)
- Plymouth Adventure (1952)
- Apache (1954)
- The Scarlet Coat (1955)
- Carousel (1956)
- The Fastest Gun Alive (1956)
- The Left Handed Gun (1958)
- Man of the West (1958)
- Critic's Choice (1963)
- Youngblood Hawke (1964)
- Dirty Dingus Magee (1970)
- Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971)
- Slaughterhouse-Five (1972)
- The Day of the Dolphin (1973)
- The Missiles of October (1974)
- Fun with Dick and Jane (1977)
- The Lincoln Conspiracy (1977)
- The Boys from Brazil (1978)
- Airplane II: The Sequel (1982)
- The Right Stuff (1983)
- Jagged Edge (1985)
