A Natural Talent

Frank Overton (1918-1967) was an American actor of stage, film and television. He had the ability to project an air of authority into his diverse roles with a countenance and pointed vocal delivery. He is well known for the roles as Sheriff Heck Tate in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) and General Bogan in Fail Safe (1964).

But Overton is best known for his many television roles from the early 1950s through the 1960s, from Westerns to contemporary dramas. In a standout episode, he appeared in an episode of The Twilight Zone with Gig Young, called "Walking Distance" in 1959 (pictured above with Gig Young). His sensitive and compassionate portrayal anchored his character in reality. Other work included The Fugitive, 1963, and two guest appearances on the drama series Perry Mason playing a priest and a deputy. Overton appeared six times on The United States Steel Hour and in four episodes of Route 66. In ideal casting, he played Major Harvey Stovall in the series Twelve O'Clock High. One of his last television roles was on a Star Trek episode in 1967. The entertainment world lost a great talent much too soon.

Well-hidden Professional

 

Philip Coolidge (1908-1967) was an American film and stage actor almost exclusively as a supporting player. His first film was Boomerang (1947). In his later films, he was a small-town mayor in Inherit the Wind (1960), Dr. Cross in North by Northwest (1959), and Mr. Porter in The Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming (1966). His final role, as Fingers Nelson, was in the gangster comedy, Never A Dull Moment (1968). Yet it was television that kept him most busy.

The physically lean Coolidge, whose balding, and severe angular facial profile made him look older than his years, could appear as an angry citizen, an insurance agent, a clerk, or a sly criminal. He could also play victimized roles, exacerbated by his crestfallen demeanor. As the trained professional he was, Coolidge was adept with comedic scripts as well. Some of his best were his three of six appearances on, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Perfect Murder (1956), De Mortuis (1956), and The Dusty Drawer (1959). The latter, in which Coolidge's character, Mr. Tritt, an uppity bank teller, is suspected of stealing money from the bank by Dick York, his boarding house roommate. Around this time Coolidge made two appearances on Have Gun - Will Travel, three appearances on The Gertrude Berg Show as Professor Burke, and he played Throckmorton, the shopkeeper in an episode of The Twilight Zone (1962), "A Piano in the House." He was a cast member in 1964 on The Farmer's Daughter series as Chester Cooper.

Baby, You Can't Drive My Car

 

On this day in 1967, John Lennon took delivery of his one-of-a-kind psychedelically-painted 1965 Rolls Royce Phantom V from JP Fallon Coachworks. The inspiration for the design came from Marijke Koger, one of the design collective who was responsible for numerous seminal pieces of the period and was very influential in the psychedelic art movement. Lennon sold the anti-establishment Rolls in July of 1968. In 1985 it sold for a record sum of over 3 million at a Sotheby's auction in New York to Canadian, Jim Pattison. Later, as an act of kindness, he offered the car to the queen of England. Today, it can be found on display at the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria.

Note: Though technically owned by all of The Beatles, the 1956 Bentley S1 paint scheme by student artists was much better executed than the rather tacky side panels of the Rolls.

Seven-Month Lifespan of a Phantom II

 

On this date in 1967, McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, St. Louis, Missouri, delivered the 2,000th F-4 Phantom II to the United States Air Force. It was assigned to the 40th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 33rd Tactical Fighter Wing, at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. 

By mid-September, the Phantom II was being flown by Major Lloyd Warren Boothby and 1st Lieutenant George H. McKinney, Jr., of the 435th Tactical Fighter Squadron. Following a Rolling Thunder attack on railroad sidings at Trung Quang, the plane's wing was hit by anti-aircraft cannon shell. Boothby fought to keep it under control for as long as possible, but ultimately both pilots were forced to eject some 35 miles from their base. For their airmanship in trying to save their airplane, Boothby and McKinney were each presented with the Distinguished Flying Cross in a pre-dawn ceremony at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base by President Johnson.