Richard Carlson

Richard Carlson
Richard Carlson in 1952.
Born	Richard Dutoit Carlson (1912-04-29)April 29, 1912 Albert Lea, Minnesota, U.S.
Died	November 25, 1977(1977-11-25) (aged 65) Encino, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Cerebral hemorrhage
Resting place	Los Angeles National Cemetery
Alma mater	University of Minnesota summa cum laude
Occupation	Actor, director, screenwriter
Years active	1937–75
Spouse(s)	Mona Carlson (1939–1977, his death)
Children	Richard Henry Carlson Christopher Hugh Carlson
Parents	Mabel Du Toit Henry Carlson

Richard Dutoit Carlson (April 29, 1912 – November 25, 1977) was an American actor, television and film director, and screenwriter.

Career

Carlson was born in Albert Lea, Minnesota. His father was a lawyer.

He graduated from the University of Minnesota with an Master of Arts degree, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. He appeared on the Broadway stage in the 1930s after studying and teaching drama in Minnesota. His first film role was in the 1938 David O. Selznick comedy The Young in Heart. He worked as a freelance actor, appearing in many different film studio works, beginning in 1939 when he moved to California. Before the war, he appeared mostly in comedies and dramas, including The Little Foxes and Too Many Girls with Lucille Ball in 1940.

Like many actors, Carlson served in World War II, interrupting his acting career. After returning he found it difficult to procure new roles, and his future in Hollywood remained in doubt until 1948. In that year, Carlson was cast in two low-budget film noir releases, Behind Locked Doors and The Amazing Mr. X. Despite this, real success in Hollywood eluded him until 1950, when he co-starred with Deborah Kerr and Stewart Granger in the highly successful jungle adventure film King Solomon's Mines, shot on location in Africa. Other films followed, including the World War II naval action film Flat Top.

Carlson slowly began to rebuild his career, finding work in the newly emergent science fiction and horror B films of the 1950s. He appeared in a number of horror and science fiction films, including three 3-D films: The Maze (1953) and the classics It Came from Outer Space (1953) with Barbara Rush, Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) with Julia Adams, and The Magnetic Monster. His success in the genre led him to the director's chair for the 1954 science fiction film Riders to the Stars, in which he also starred.

In addition to science fiction work, he had a recurring role as a writer of "science fact" in The Bell Laboratory Science Series.

On July 14, 1951, Carlson and then U.S. Senator Hubert Humphrey were the guests on the CBS live variety show, Faye Emerson's Wonderful Town, in which hostess Faye Emerson visited Minneapolis to accent the kinds of music popular in the city.^[1]

In addition to writing and directing various film and television projects, Carlson was also was the star of the Cold War drama television series I Led Three Lives from 1953 to 1956.

He was featured in 1957 in The Helen Morgan Story. That same year, he was cast as two different ministers, Rabbi Avraham Soltes and Father William Wendt, in the episodes "The Happy Gift" and "Call for Help", respectively, of the syndicated religion anthology series, Crossroads.

In the 1958-1959 television season, Carlson portrayed Colonel Ranald Mackenzie in the syndicated western series, Mackenzie's Raiders, with Morris Ankrum and Brett King among those cast as "Raiders".

In 1959, Carlson was cast as Paul Drake in "The Faithless" of the NBC western series, Riverboat. In the story line, Drake is an escaped prisoner with medical training being transported on the river vessel, the Enterprise, back to jail. Having lost his religious faith, Drake refuses to render medical assistance to a two-year-old girl stricken with a communicable disease which threatens the entire vessel. William Phipps and Jeanne Bates play the parents of the child. Bethel Leslie portrays Cathy Norris.^[2]

In the final two seasons of CBS's Perry Mason, Carlson made two guest appearances, both times as the murder victim. In 1964 he played Anthony Fry in "The Case of the Tragic Trophy;" in 1966, he played Clete Hawley in "The Case of the Avenging Angel."

Carlson's last movie role was in the 1969 Elvis Presley/Mary Tyler Moore film, Change of Habit. His last acting role was in a 1975 episode of the television series, Khan!.

He is sometimes compared to Hugh Marlowe, who is one year older and starred in the science fiction classics The Day the Earth Stood Still and Earth vs. the Flying Saucers.

Death

Carlson died of a cerebral hemorrhage on November 25, 1977 in Encino, California.^[3] He was buried in Los Angeles National Cemetery, in West Los Angeles. For his contribution to the television industry, Richard Carlson has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6333 Hollywood Blvd.

Selected filmography

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Richard Carlson (actor).

• Richard Carlson at the Internet Broadway Database
• Richard Carlson at the Internet Movie Database
• Richard Carlson at Find a Grave