E. G. Marshall

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E. G. Marshal as the President in Superman II

E. G. Marshall (June 18, 1914 - August 24, 1998) was a two time Emmy Award winner American actor who starred in the 1957 movie 12 Angry Men.

Marshall was born in Owatonna, Minnesota to Charles G. Grunz and Hazel Irene Cobb. He never divulged fully what 'E.G' stood for. It was thought mean ' Everett Eugene Grunz ' or ' Edda Gunnar Marshall '. Later reports after his death mentioned that it stood for ' Everett Gunnar '. (His social security card apparently read, "E.G. Marshall.") He is listed as "Everett E. Grunz" in the 1920 census.

From 1974 to 1981, Marshall hosted the nightly radio drama The CBS Radio Mystery Theater (or CBSRMT), which ran on CBS radio affiliate stations across the United States. CBSRMT was an ambitious and sustained attempt to revive the great drama of old-time radio. Each episode began with the ominous sound of a creaking door, slowly opening to invite listeners in for the evening's adventure. At the end of each show, the door would swing shut, with Marshall signing off, "Until next time, pleasant...dreams?" Marshall hosted the program every year but the final one, when actress Tammy Grimes took over.

Marshall also found fame playing in other television and film roles, usually as an authoritative figure. One of his best known television roles was as defense lawyer Lawrence Preston in series The Defenders, which lasted from 1961-1965. He and future Brady Bunch star Robert Reed portrayed a father and son who worked in law firm. This role garnered him two Emmy wins-one in 1962 and one in 1963. Marshall reprised the role of Lawrence Preston for a 1997 Showtime television movie based on The Defenders called The Defenders: Payback. It featured the elder Preston and his descendants taking on legal cases in the 1990s. (Reed did not appear in the revival since he died in 1992. The movie acknowledged this absence by mentioning that Reed's character had died.) There was a second movie and plans for a series. The series was aborted after his death.

Marshall was married three times. He had seven children in total, whose names include Sam, Jed, Sarah, Jill, and Degen.

He died of lung cancer in Bedford, New York. His grave is in the Middle Patent Rural Cemetery, located in the hamlet of Banksville, a part of the Town of North Castle, New York.