Reel Character Series

 

Allison Hayes (Mary Jane Hayes 1930-1977) was an American film and television actress often cast either in good or bad women roles. The statuesque brunette was an obvious model candidate and competed in the Miss America pageant in 1949. Like many attractive actresses wanting to get at least a toe through the acting door, her "exposure" led her to Hollywood and Universal Pictures by 1954. She had a small role in the comedy, Francis Joins the WACS, then, via a contract dispute, signed with Columbia Pictures in 1955 with a more significant role in, Chicago Syndicate opposite Dennis O'Keefe. That same year, she was the fiancé of Rod Cameron in, Double Jeopardy She appeared in the 1956 films, Steel Jungle, and Mohawk. That same year she suffered a broken arm after a riding accident during the filming of Gunslinger. After recovering, she began appearing more on television.

In 1958, Hayes' most infamous role—being a blonde notwithstanding—was the female out for revenge in the first woman's lib film, The Attack of The 50 Foot Woman. That same year she was a Communist operative duped by secret agent, Gene Barry, in Hong Kong Confidential and teamed with Barry again for seven episodes of his television series, Bat Masterson. The following year she was the female lead in Counterplot opposite Forest Tucker. It was back to television for five appearances on Perry Mason from 1960-65. She continued her occasional movie bit parts in the 1963 comedy, Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed, and the Elvis Presley musical-comedy, Tickle Me, in 1965. She ended her career with two appearances on, Gomer Pyle: USMC, in 1967.

In spite of the low-budget projects and many secondary roles, she accounted for herself surprisingly well as a professional actress. By the 1970s, Hayes became terminally ill from lead poisoning and was later diagnosed with leukemia. She died at the age of forty-six.

Reel Character Series

 

Frank Lovejoy (1912-1962) was an American actor in radio, film, and television, best known for his supporting roles as the “everyman” caught up in challenging circumstances. He was one actor not needing to change his last name just to stand out from the Hollywood crowd. Whether in military uniform, as a detective, or common laborer, he handled a variety of roles with near-flawless performances, from tough cop to sensitive husband. Lovejoy had the voice of someone who spent the day in the stands yelling for his NFL playoff team and has not yet recovered. A smokey, nasal sound like few others, it lent intrigue to his radio characters or the narrator for his radio crime show, Night Beat. Somewhat surprisingly, the 1950s was his only full decade of work, starting out that decade with a strong leading role in the chilling, Try and Get Me! aka The Sound of Fury, as a struggling out-of-work family man spiraling into a life of crime with an arrogant instigator, Lloyd Bridges. In 1951, he had the title role and narrator for I Was a Communist for the FBI, going undercover to expose Communism. He was notable as a supporting player in The Hitch-hiker, the classic film noir of 1953. He crammed down a lot of scripts in 1955, his busiest year, with seven films and seven television appearances. Oddly or not, the nearest I can figure he had a total of fifty-five acting roles as well. Though he completed three more films in the late Fifties, he spent the balance of his career in television. Had he lived longer, he might have provided some interesting characters well into his seventies. 

On The Precipice of Stardom

Marsha Hunt (Marcia Virginia Hunt 1917-) is an American actress with a career spanning over seventy-five years. As of this writing, she is the oldest living and one of the last surviving actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood. She is also the oldest living member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Unable to find a suitable college for her drama training, the Chicago-born native found work modeling for the John Powers Agency and began taking stage acting classes at the Theodora Irvine Studio. She was one of the highest-earning models by 1935. She appeared in popular films including Pride and Prejudice (1940), in which she was quite amusing, Cry 'Havoc' (1943), The Human Comedy (1943), and one of her last noted films before the advent of television was, Raw Deal (1948). Hunt's 1941 contract with MGM kept her busy for six years, providing strong supporting characters.

Television offered mostly dramatic guest-starring roles from the Fifties through the Eighties. She played everything from grandmas to judges. Notable early performances were for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, two anthology series, Climax! and Zane Grey Theater, and numerous, well-hidden roles on detective or drama series during the Sixties and Seventies. She was a cast member for the fourteen-episode, Peck's Bad Girl (1959). The versatile actress never found superstardom yet her longevity proved valuable to many casting directors. Semi-retiring in the early Sixties, television and the stage remained her focal points.

Transition to Television

There were solid performances by numerous B-movie actors but they never became major film stars. The new medium of television offered a career shift and kept them busy. Some became a household face if not a name.

Stacy (Stanley) Harris (1918-1973) 

Harris was a Canadian-born actor with hundreds of television appearances. Prior to his acting career, he was a newspaper reporter, boxer, sailor, and a staff cartoonist for the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Before television, Harris was best known for his role as an FBI agent on ABC Radio's This is Your FBI. His reserved vocal interpretation gave the special agent a calm authority. The radio series Dragnet also benefited from his vocal work. It is speculated that he met Jack Webb during those radio days. The two would become close personal friends.

He hit the ground running in his first film, Appointment with Danger (1950) with fellow co-stars, Harry Morgan, Paul Stewart, and Jack Webb. Alan Ladd headlined the film. In between numerous television appearances, he starred in The Mountain (1956) with Spencer Tracy. However hard he tried, his acting ability could not save the sleazy, low-budget New Orleans After Dark (1958). 

Television kept him busy with roles from westerns to crime dramas with appearances on Have Gun - Will Travel, Zane Grey Theatre, and a mayor on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp for twenty-three episodes. Away from the Old West were The Untouchables, 77 Sunset Strip with multiple roles on Dragnet 1967 to name a few. His life was cut short by an apparent heart attack at age 54.

Note: My TV TRANSITION series moved to this blog, now on Thursdays. Check out this first set of Monday posts below from my other site:

Harry Townes    Rudolpho Acosta    Harry Lauter     

Patricia Blair   Myron Healey    Richard Denning