Walter Coy

Walter Darwin Coy
Coy in Frontier, 1955.
Born	(1909-01-31)January 31, 1909 Great Falls, Cascade County Montana, U.S.
Died	December 11, 1974(1974-12-11) (aged 65) Santa Maria Santa Barbara County California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1936-1974
Spouse(s)	Anne Burr (1942-?) (divorced) Ruth E. Harburger (1969-1971) (divorced)

Walter Darwin Coy (January 31, 1909–December 11, 1974) was an American stage, radio, film, and, principally, television actor, originally from Great Falls, Montana.^[1] He was best known for narrating the NBC western anthology series, Frontier, which aired early Sunday evenings in the 1955–1956 season.

Career

Coy performed on Broadway from 1930–1948. He appeared in several early Group Theatre productions. He was the first actor to play Lone Wolf on the radio series of the same name.^[2]

Broadway roles

• House of Connelly (1931) as Charlie and as Seranader

• Night Over Taos (1932) as Felipe

• Men in White (1933) as Dr. Bradley

• Gold Eagle Guy (1934) as Adam Keane

• Till the Day I Die (1935) as Karl Taussig

• Waiting For Lefty (1935) as Irv

• Paradise Lost (1935) as Ben

• Case of Clyde Griffiths (1936) as Gilbert Griffiths

• Many Mansions (1937) as George Graham

• Lady in the Dark (1941) as Charley Johnson (replacement)

• Hamlet (1945) as Horatio

Western programs

Of the 31 Frontier episodes, 16 are narrated by Coy:^[2]

1. "Paper Gunman" (September 25, 1955)
2. "Tomas and the Widow" (October 2)
3. "A Stillness in Wyoming" (October 16)
4. "The Shame of a Nation" (October 23)
5. "In Nebraska" (October 30)
6. "The Suspects" (November 6)
7. "King of the Dakotas" (2 parts, November 8 and 20)
8. "Cattle Drive to Casper" (November 27)
9. "The Texicans" (January 8, 1956)
10. "Mother of the Brave" (January 15)
11. "The Ten Days of John Leslie" (January 22)
12. "The Devil and Dr. O'Hara" (February 5)
13. "Assassin" (March 4)
14. "The Hanging at Thunder Butte Creek (March 18)
15. "The Hostage" (September 9, 1956).

Coy begins each Frontier episode with the line: "This is the way it happened ... movin' west", and he closed with the refrain: "That's the way it happened ... movin' west." Frontier is similar in scope to its predecessor and longer-lasting syndicated anthology series Death Valley Days, which went through a series of hosts, including The Old Ranger, Ronald W. Reagan, Robert Taylor, and Dale Robertson.^[2]

Coy also appeared on Jim Davis' western anthology series, Stories of the Century in the role of Sam Clayton in the 1954 episode entitled "Tom Horn," an account of the western lawman-turned outlaw Tom Horn. He appeared on many other western television programs, including Cheyenne, Bronco, Cimarron City, The Lone Ranger, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (one episode as Ben Thompson), Shotgun Slade, The Deputy, Bonanza, Bat Masterson, The Adventures of Jim Bowie, Trackdown, Tales of Wells Fargo, Yancy Derringer, Laramie, Two Faces West, Lawman, Wanted: Dead or Alive, The Restless Gun, The Rough Riders, Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater, Pony Express, Rawhide, Mackenzie's Raiders, Have Gun - Will Travel, The Texan, The Man From Blackhawk, Hotel de Paree, Overland Trail, Maverick, The Virginian, The Big Valley, Laredo, The Outcasts, Wagon Train (five times), and Robert Conrad's The Wild Wild West.^[2]

Film roles

Coy appeared as John Wayne's doomed brother in the early sequences of the 1956 film The Searchers. In 1957, Coy portrayed. Dr. Joseph Warren in the Walt Disney film Johnny Tremain,^[3] based on the 1943 Esther Forbes historical novel of the American Revolution. Warren was the physician who operates successfully on the accidentally burned hand of title character Johnny Tremain,^[4] an apprentice silversmith, played by Hal Stalmaster, who one day had expected to own his own shop and become wealthy.^[5] Dr. Warren, a spy for the Patriots, was thereafter killed six days after his 34th birthday fighting as a common soldier in the Battle of Bunker Hill in Boston, Massachusetts.^[6]

Coy's other film appearances were in The Lusty Men (1952), Gunmen from Laredo and The Gunfight at Dodge City (both 1959), and as Ike Garvey in Five Guns to Tombstone (1960).^[2]

Other television roles

He appeared in the anthology series, Schlitz Playhouse of Stars and Four Star Playhouse (four times each) and The Loretta Young Show (three times). He played a Confederate States of America general in the 1959 episode entitled "Corporal Hardy" of another anthology series, Alcoa Theatre. He played Dr. Steele in the 1960 episode "The House in Order" on NBC's The Barbara Stanwyck Show.^[1] Coy also appeared in all three of Rod Cameron's 1950s syndicated series, City Detective, State Trooper, and COronado 9.^[2]

Coy played future U.S. President Thomas Jefferson in the 1955 episode "Eli Whitney Invents the Cotton Gin (May 27, 1793)" on the CBS anthology You Are There, a look at the inventor Eli Whitney and the cotton gin, which greatly enhanced the cultivation of cotton. He portrayed U.S. Senator and 1860 Democratic presidential nominee Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois in the 1957 episode "Springfield Incident" of CBS's The 20th Century Fox Hour. He also played a prosecutor on the same series in 1956 in the episode "The Last Patriarch."^[2] Coy made four guest appearances on Perry Mason, including the role of murder victim Denver Leonard in the 1960 episode, "The Case of the Prudent Prosecutor."

Other guest-starring roles in drama include Reed Hadley's The Public Defender, Brian Keith's Crusader, The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse, Crossroads, Whirlybirds, U.S. Marshal, Jim Davis's Rescue 8, The Lineup, George C. Scott's East Side/West Side, Mike Hammer, The Defenders, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Navy Log, Tightrope, Lock Up, Lassie, Ironside, M Squad, and I Spy. Coy also appeared in two comedies, McKeever and the Colonel and Shirley Booth's Hazel.^[2]

Coy's last television role was as Chief Blackfish in the 1970 episode "How to Become a Goddess" on the NBC series Daniel Boone, starring Fess Parker as Kentucky frontiersman Daniel Boone. Coy died of congestive heart failure at the age of 65 in Santa Maria, California.^[2]

References

• Walter Coy at the Internet Broadway Database