| Lyle Talbot | |
|---|---|
in the trailer for the film Havana Widows (1933) |
|
| Born | Lisle Henderson February 8, 1902 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | March 2, 1996 (aged 94) San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Years active | 1931–1987 |
| Spouse | Margaret Epple (1948-1989) (her death) 4 children Abigail Adams (1942-1942) (annulled) Marjorie Kramer (1937-?) (divorced) |
Lyle Talbot (February 8, 1902 – March 2, 1996) was an American actor on stage and screen, best known for his long career in movies from 1931 to 1960 and for his frequent appearances on TV in the 1950s and '60s, including his decade-long role as Joe Randolph on television's The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.
He began his movie career under contract to Warner Brothers in the early days of "talking pictures" and went on to appear in more than 150 films, first as a young matinée idol and later as a character actor and star of many B movies. He was a founding member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and later served on the board.
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Born Lisle Henderson in Pittsburgh, Talbot was raised in Brainard, Nebraska. He began his career as a magician's assistant and became a leading actor in traveling tent shows in the Midwest and briefly established his own theater company in Memphis. He went to Hollywood in 1931 when the film industry began producing movies with sound and needed "actors who could talk".
Most notable among his film work: his appearance in the classic pre-noir Three on a Match (1932) with Humphrey Bogart and Bette Davis, co-starring with Spencer Tracy in the prison movie 20,000 Years in Sing Sing, romancing opera singer Grace Moore in One Night of Love, and pursuing Mae West in Go West, Young Man. He appeared opposite many famous actresses including Carole Lombard, Barbara Stanwyck, Mary Astor, Ginger Rogers, and Shirley Temple.
Talbot's activism in union affairs affected his career path. Warner Bros. dropped him from its roster, and Talbot seldom received starring roles again. He became a capable character actor, playing affable neighbors or crafty villains with equal finesse. In countless low-budget B-movie work, Talbot's roles spanned the gamut. He played cowboys, pirates, detectives, cops, surgeons, psychiatrists, soldiers, judges, newspaper editors, storekeepers, and boxers. In later life he proudly claimed to have never rejected any role offered to him, which explains his participation in three infamous Edward D. Wood, Jr. films: Glen or Glenda, Jail Bait and Plan 9 from Outer Space. Talbot also worked with the Three Stooges in Gold Raiders, portrayed Lex Luthor in 1950's Atom Man vs. Superman, played villains in four comedies with The Bowery Boys, and took the role of Commissioner Gordon in the 1949 serial Batman and Robin. His last movie role was in the Franklin D. Roosevelt biography, Sunrise at Campobello, in 1960.
As his film career tapered off, Talbot became a familiar character actor on American television in the 1950s and 1960s as a regular on Ozzie and Harriet.
Talbot had a recurring role as Robert Cummings' United States Air Force buddy Paul Fonda on The Bob Cummings Show. Talbot also guest starred frequently on such classic TV series as It's a Great Life, The Public Defender, The Pride of the Family, The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, The Restless Gun, Leave It to Beaver, The Lone Ranger, The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok, Topper, The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, Perry Mason, Rawhide, Wagon Train, The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, Charlie's Angels, Newhart, The Dukes of Hazzard, St. Elsewhere, and Who's the Boss?.
He appeared three times as Colonel Billings on the syndicated western series, The Adventures of Kit Carson (1951–1955), starring Bill Williams. He appeared four times a judge on the syndicated western The Cisco Kid, starring Duncan Renaldo and Leo Carrillo. He appeared on Gene Autry's The Range Rider, starring Jock Mahoney and Dick Jones.
Having started his career in the theater and later co-starred on Broadway in 1940-41 in Separate Rooms, Talbot returned to the stage in the 1960s and 1970s, starring in national road company versions of Thornton Wilder's The Matchmaker, Gore Vidal's political drama The Best Man, Neil Simon's The Odd Couple and Barefoot in the Park, Arthur Sumner Long's "Never Too Late," and appearing as Capt. Braddock in a 1967 revival of South Pacific, at New York's Lincoln Center.
He continued to appear occasionally on TV shows well into his 80s, and narrated two PBS biographies, The Case of Dashiell Hammett and World Without Walls about pioneering pilot Beryl Markham, both produced and written by his son, Stephen Talbot.
Talbot was the first live action actor to play two prominent DC Comics characters on-screen: the aforementioned Commissioner Gordon in Batman and Robin, and supervillain Lex Luthor in Atom Man vs. Superman (who at the time was simply known as Luthor). Talbot began a longstanding tradition of actors in these roles that were most recently filled by Gary Oldman and Kevin Spacey, respectively.
Three of his four children became journalists: Stephen Talbot (who also played Gilbert Bates on Leave It to Beaver) was for many years a documentary producer for the PBS series Frontline and "Frontline World" and is now the executive producer of "Sound Tracks: Music Without Borders." David is an author ("Brothers" about John and Robert Kennedy) and the founder and editor of Salon.com, and Margaret is a staff writer for The New Yorker. His other daughter, Cynthia Talbot, is a family physician and residency director in Portland, Oregon. After several brief marriages and countless romantic entanglements, Talbot in 1948 married a young singer and actress, Margaret Epple, who often used the stage name, Paula. They had four children together and remained married for over 40 years until her death in 1989.
Talbot died in 1996 at his home in San Francisco, California, aged 94.
Talbot's granddaughter, Caitlin Talbot, is an actress based in Los Angeles.
| Year | Title | Role | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1932 | Love Is a Racket | Edw. Griswold 'Eddie' Shaw | Alternative title: Such Things Happen |
| No More Orchids | Tony Holt | ||
| 20,000 Years in Sing Sing | Bud Saunders | ||
| 1933 | The Life of Jimmy Dolan | Doc Woods | |
| A Shriek in the Night | Ted Kord | ||
| 1934 | Heat Lightning | Jeff | |
| Fog Over Frisco | Spencer Carlton | ||
| The Dragon Murder Case | Dale Leland | ||
| 1935 | Oil for the Lamps of China | Jim | |
| Page Miss Glory | Slattery of the Express | ||
| The Case of the Lucky Legs | Dr. Bob Doray | ||
| 1937 | Second Honeymoon | Robert "Bob" Benton | |
| 1939 | Second Fiddle | Willie Hogger | |
| 1940 | He Married His Wife | Paul Hunter | |
| 1944 | Gambler's Choice | Yellow Gloves Weldon | |
| Sensations of 1945 | Randall | ||
| 1946 | Chick Carter, Detective | Chick Carter | |
| 1949 | Batman and Robin | Commissioner Jim Gordon | |
| She Shoulda Said No! | Police Captain Hayes | ||
| 1950 | Dick Tracy | B.R. Ayne aka The Brain | TV, 7 episodes |
| Atom Man vs. Superman | Luthor/The Atom Man | ||
| Lucky Losers | Bruce McDermott | ||
| 1950–1954 | The Cisco Kid | Various roles | TV, 4 episodes |
| 1950–1956 | The Lone Ranger | Various roles | TV, 5 episodes |
| 1951 | Gold Raiders | Taggert | Alternative title: The Stooges Go West |
| 1951–1956 | The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok | Various roles | TV, 4 episodes |
| 1952 | Untamed Women | Col. Loring | |
| Death Valley Days | TV, 1 episode | ||
| 1953 | Glen or Glenda | Insp. Warren | |
| The Roy Rogers Show | John Zachary | TV, 1 episode | |
| 1954 | Gunfighters of the Northwest | Inspector Wheeler | |
| Tobor the Great | An Admiral | ||
| 1954–1958 | December Bride | Bill Monahan | TV, 6 episodes |
| 1955 | Hallmark Hall of Fame | TV, 1 episode | |
| Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe | Baylor | TV, 6 episodes | |
| 1955–1959 | The Bob Cummings Show | Paul Fonda | TV, 4 episodes |
| 1956 | Navy Log | Captain Morgan | TV, 1 episode |
| The Millionaire | Joe Price | TV, 1 episode | |
| 1956–1966 | The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet | Joe Randolph | TV, 45 episodes |
| 1957 | Science Fiction Theatre | General Dothan | TV, 1 episode |
| Tales of Wells Fargo | Reporter | TV, 1 episode | |
| 1958 | M Squad | Paul Crowley | TV, 1 episode |
| Leave It to Beaver | Charles "Chuck" Dennison | TV, 2 episodes | |
| 1958–1959 | The Restless Gun | Various roles | TV, 2 episodes |
| 1959 | Plan 9 from Outer Space | General Roberts | |
| The Ann Sothern Show | Finletter | TV, 1 episode | |
| 1960 | Surfside 6 | Alan Crandell | TV, 1 episode |
| Hawaiian Eye | George Wallace | TV, 1 episode | |
| 1960 | The DuPont Show with June Allyson | Mr. Anders | TV, 1 episode, "The Trench Coat" |
| 1961 | Mister Ed | George Hausner | TV, 1 episode |
| Lawman | Orville Luster | TV, 1 episode | |
| 1962 | Make Room for Daddy | TV, 1 episode | |
| Dennis the Menace | Mayor | TV, 1 episode | |
| 1962–1967 | The Beverly Hillbillies | Colonel Blake | TV, 4 episodes |
| 1963 | Arrest and Trial | Phil Paige | TV, 1 episode |
| The Lucy Show | TV, 1 episode | ||
| 1964 | 77 Sunset Strip | Tatum | TV, 1 episode |
| Petticoat Junction | Mr. Cheever | TV, 1 episode | |
| 1965 | Run for Your Life | Steven Blakely | TV, 1 episode |
| The Smothers Brothers Show | Marty Miller | TV, 1 episode | |
| 1965–1966 | Laredo | Various roles | TV, 2 episodes |
| 1968 | Dragnet | William Joseph Cornelius | TV, 1 episode |
| 1970 | Here's Lucy | Various roles | TV, 2 episodes |
| 1972 | O'Hara, U.S. Treasury | Art Prescott | TV, 1 episode |
| 1973 | Adam-12 | Avery Dawson | TV, 1 episode |
| 1979 | Charlie's Angels | Mills | TV, 1 episode |
| 1984 | The Dukes of Hazzard | Carter Stewart | TV, 1 episode |
| St. Elsewhere | Johnny Barnes | TV, 1 episode | |
| 1985 | 227 | Harold | TV, 1 episode |
| 1986 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Mr. Fletcher | TV, 1 episode |
| Who's the Boss? | Ralph | TV, 1 episode | |
| 1987 | Newhart | Cousin Ned | TV, 1 episode |
| Preceded by None |
Actors portraying Lex Luthor 1950 for Atom Man vs. Superman |
Succeeded by Gene Hackman for Superman, Superman II and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace |