A Leap-Year Bonus

REEL CHARACTER SERIES

Clinton Sundberg (1903-1987) was an American character actor of stage and supporting roles in film. He was most visible from the mid-forties through the mid-fifties before turning primarily to television appearances throughout the Sixties. The soft-spoken, raspy tenor portrayed various desk clerks, waiters, butlers, and menservants with subtle comedic results, often with decidedly snippy or sarcastic opinions. On the small screen, he got bigger, with assertive roles in the likes of doctors or professors.

In his humorous initial scenes, Sundberg is shown with Gary Cooper in the film, Good Sam (1948).

An Epilogue

Quinn Martin was a highly regarded American television producer with at least one television series running in prime time every year for twenty-one straight years, from 1959 to 1980. As QM Productions, Martin established a distinct format for his series—filmed as mini-movies—that was broken into four sections called “Acts." It was essentially a clever device to resume the story after commercial breaks. Each episode wrapped up the story with a short "Epilogue." They were parodies of this format, none better than the six-episode comedy, Police Squad starring Leslie Nielsen. After selling QM Productions, Martin continued developing motion pictures for Warner Bros. with a new company, QM Communications, until his death. 

My highlights of his most noted television-producing career:

1958: "Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse" anthology TV series for Desilu Productions. 

1959: The landmark series "The Untouchables" (1959-63) for Desilu Productions. Emmy winner. Famous theme by Nelson Riddle.

1960: Established QM Productions. Sold the company in 1978 to become an adjunct professor at the University of California's Earl Warren College, San Diego.

1961: 36 episodes of the ABC police crime drama, "The New Breed," starring Leslie Nielsen and John Beradino. Theme composed by Dominic Frontiere. 1st series under his QM Production company. 

1963: "The Fugitive" drama series. The QM Productions logo became known worldwide. His use of narration was a signature element of the series.

1964: "12 O'Clock High" TV series. Ratings nose-dived after charismatic star, Robert Lansing, was unceremoniously "killed off" at the beginning of 2nd season. Replaced by Paul Burke. Lansing was understandably puzzled by the decision.

1965: "The F.B.I." was his longest-running series based around the James Stewart film, "The F.B.I. Story."

1967: "The Invaders" starring Roy Thinnes as architect, David Vincent, in his 1 year career swap to become an expert on sneaky interplanetary aliens.

 
1970: "Dan August" crime drama series with Burt Reynolds as a police lieutenant. Not unique enough to survive beyond 26 episodes. Innovative theme by Dave Grusin. Reynolds' film stardom made reruns popular.

1971: "Cannon" was a five-year Private Detective series about a rotund investigator who drove a Lincoln Mark IV equipped with a telephone.

1972: "The Streets of San Francisco" ran for five years and made a star of Michael Douglas.

1973-1980: "Barnaby Jones," an unlikely popular detective series about a 65-year-old investigator ran for seven years.

One of The Three Kings

I can readily think of only three classic Hollywood notables using the first name of King: director King Vidor, B-movie and television actor, King Caulder, and the subject of this overview, King Donovan. After a long string of uncredited film roles, typically as a reporter, a buddy, salesman, clerk, or manager, Francis King Donovan (1918-1987) was primarily seen on television screens across America in a variety of occupational roles or as a neighbor. Even blindfolded, he was instantly recognizable by his distinctive, upper-register voice that seemed fitting for an animated character or perhaps better described by a somewhat raspy tone as if he needed to clear his throat for a more clear projection. Whether drama or comedy he each role with self-confidence. With a few years of television roles already in the can midst of the budding new medium, he had a leading role in the sleeper hit film, The Invasion of The Body Snatchers, 1956 (above). Always a slot for him in any film, he continued working on the occasional film throughout his career, usually uncredited, for such 1963 classics as The Thrill of It All, as a television executive, and for the blockbuster, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, as an airport official.

Notable recurring television roles include the deadbeat relative, Jake Clampett, on two episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies, as Roger Baker for eight episodes of The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, and as Harvey Helm in a seventeen-episode run on The Bob Cummings Show. He then played the inquisitive neighbor on Please Don't Eat the Daisies. His singular roles are too numerous to mention but Donovan was visible on several notable series like Richard Diamond, Private Detective, as Joe Baker on the western Cheyenne, a petty thief on Shotgun Slade, a western detective series with an unusual jazz score theme. He played Mark Dawson on Maverick and as a gun dealer, Sheridan Appleby, on Wanted: Dead or Alive, and Rod Serling's, Night Gallery.

Note: Donovan married comedienne Imogene Coca in 1960 and they remained together until his death.

Reel Character Series

 

Starring in many significant or low-budget films, Richard Egan (1921-1987) was a strong lead and supporting actor during the 1950s and 1960s. Though many of those early films may have been forgotten, Egan always treated his role as the lead actor he was. He was churning out decent pictures for Universal, RKO and MGM in supporting roles from 1950 to 1954 becoming quite the hunk sans shirt after Demetrius and The Gladiators (1954). Egan won Golden Globes for his supporting performances in the films The Glory Brigade (1953) and The Kid from Left Field (1953). Twentieth Century Fox brought stardom to Egan with a mix of good and bad guys roles in adventure, western and drama films. Beginning in the 1960s, television was the next medium to conquer and he did so through the mid-Eighties.

 
After graduating from St. Ignatius College Preparatory, the San Francisco-born actor enlisted in the Army in 1943 serving as a judo and knife fighting instructor for one year, then discharged with the rank of captain. He eventually earned a master's degree in theater history from Stanford University. He went on to teach public speaking at Northwestern University. Egan's single, nearly thirty-year marriage lasted until his death.