Mort Mills

Mort Mills
Born Mortimer Morris Kaplan
(1919-01-11)January 11, 1919
New York City, U.S.
Died June 6, 1993(1993-06-06) (aged 74)
Ventura, California, U.S.
Occupation Actor
Years active 1952–1973
Spouse(s) Betty (1956–1992; 1 child)
Mary (?–?) (divorced; 2 children)

Mort Mills (born Mortimer Morris Kaplan) (January 11, 1919 June 6, 1993) was an American film and television actor who had roles in over 200 movies and television episodes. He was often the town lawman or the local bad guy in many popular westerns of the 1950s and 1960s. From 19571959 he had a recurring co-starring role as Marshal Frank Tallman in Man Without a Gun. Other recurring roles were as Sergeant Ben Landro in the Perry Mason series and Sheriff Fred Madden in The Big Valley. In 1958, he guest starred as a particularly greedy bounty hunter who clashes with Steve McQueen's character of Josh Randall in the CBS western series, Wanted: Dead or Alive.

Biography

Though Mills did much television work, he also found regular work in motion pictures. He is probably best known as the suspicious highway patrolman who follows Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) in Alfred Hitchcock's classic thriller Psycho (1960). A few years later, he worked again with Hitchcock, playing a spy in East Germany under the cover of being a farmer in Torn Curtain (1966).[1][2] Mills also appeared with Charlton Heston in Orson Welles's Touch of Evil (1958).[3]

In 1955, he appeared as Samuel Mason on ABC's Disneyland miniseries Davy Crockett, starring Fess Parker. From 19571959, Mills co-starred with Rex Reason in the syndicated western series Man Without a Gun.[4] He portrayed Marshal Frank Tillman. Reason played his friend, Adam MacLean, editor of the Yellowstone Sentinel newspaper. In the 1965 Three Stooges film, The Outlaws Is Coming, Mills played Trigger Mortis.[5]

Mills was a regular as police Lieutenant Bob Malone in Howard Duff's NBC-Four Star Television series, Dante (1960–1961), set at a San Francisco, California, nightclub called "Dante's Inferno". He appeared in eight episodes of Perry Mason, seven of them as Police Sgt. Ben Landro between 1961 and 1965.

His cousin, Mary Treen, was a film actress.

Acting roles

Starring in his own TV series

Recurring role in a series

"The Case of the Difficult Detour" (1961)
"The Case of the Pathetic Patient" (1961)
"The Case of the Brazen Bequest" (1961)
"The Case of the Crippled Cougar" (1962)
"The Case of the Playboy Pugilist" (1962)
"The Case of the Fickle Filly" (1962)
"The Case of the Golden Venom" (1965)
also "The Case of the Slandered Submarine" (1960) as Barry Scott

"The Murdered Party" (1965)
"Earthquake!" (1965)
"My Son, My Son" (1965)
"The Odyssey of Jubal Tanner" (1965)
"The Young Marauders" (1965)
"Hazard" (1966)

Multiple appearances on a television series

"Crossed and Double Crossed" (1952) as Barfly
"Sudden Silence" (1956) The Deputy
"Sky Sign" (1954) as Carver
"Marriage by Mail" (1954) as Professor
"Arroyo Millionaire's Castle" (1955) as Sheriff Tom Roscoe
"Cisco and the Tappers" (1955) as Bart Stevens
"Davy Crockett and the River Pirates" (1955) as Samuel Mason
"Davy Crockett's Keelboat Race" (1955) as Samuel Mason
Texas John Slaughter: "Ambush in Laredo" (1958)
"Star in the Dust" (1956) as Mike
"Johnny Bravo" (1956) as Ben Taggart
"Incident at Dawson Flats" (1961) as Sherriff Graves
  • The Hardy Boys: The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure
"Never Say Die" (1956) as Policeman
"The Tower's Secret" (1956) as Policeman
"The Final Search" (1956) as Policeman
"Gun in His Hand" (1956) as Joe Kirby
"End of a Gun" (1957) as 1st Brother
"No Handcuffs" (1956) as August Brake
"How to Die for Nothing" (1956) as Howard Bulow
"Born to Hang" (1957) as Robie
"Murder Warrant" (1959) as Jake Harbin
"Take Her, She's Cheap" (1964) as Loren Billings
"Death Train" (1967) as Jack Maple
"Black Moment" (1957) as Halley
"Legacy of a Hero" (1957) as Connell
"Time of Decision" (1957) as Bart Miller
"Man on the Run" (1957) as Pete Bostwick
"The Scar" (1961) as Foreman
"The San Saba Incident" (1957) as Ike Collins
"Bad Judgment" (1959) as Rafe Borden
"The Vultures" (1957) as Sam Watts
"The Fanatic" (1960) as Odie Cairns
"The Bounty" (1958) as Clark Daimler
"Eight Cent Reward" (1958) as Harmon Stone
"Railroaded" (1959) as Ed Bruner
"The Healing Woman" (1959) as Tom Summers
"Most Beautiful Woman" (1960) as Frank
"The Jesse Cowan Story" (1958) as Bob Cowan
"The Clay Shelby Story" (1964) as Sgt. Bragan
"The Jarbo Pierce Story" (1965) as Grant
"The Sister" (1958) as Joshua Snipe
"Jealous Man" (1962) as Owens

"Day of Reckoning" (1958) as Red Scanlon
"Benefit of the Doubt" (1961) as McGaven
"The Long Ride Back" (1958) as Jacob Stint
"Apache Treasure" (1960) as Hickins
"Man Wanted" (1958) as Smiley
"Journey to Provision" (1960) as Sheriff Len Gogarty
"Vendetta" (1959) as Carl Morgan
"Day of the Dragon" (1961) as Gordon
"The Miracle Maker" (1962) as Thorne
"Song in the Dark" (1963) as Deputy Sheriff Jeff Sykes
"Joe Cartwright, Detective" (1967) as Perkins
"The Dutch Schultz Story" (1959) as Lulu Rosenkrantz
"Takeover" (1962) as Woody O'Mara
"The Bounty Hunter" (1959) as Jeff Briscoe
"The Trading Post" (1960) as Robson
"Men of Defiance" (1960)
"Rimrock" (1961) as Rink Banners
"The Last Journey" (1961) as Damon Johntry
"War Hero" (1962) as Obie Loomis
"By the Deep Six" (1960) as Martin
"The Remounts" (1961) as Griz
"The Marker" (1961) as Mingo
"In Darkness, Waiting: Part 1 and Part 2" (1965) as Victor Prelling
"Smoke Screen" (1963) as Ranger Ritter
"Moon Child" (1965) as George Mangus
"Conspiracy of Silence" (1965) as Murchison
"Duel at Shiloh" (1963) as Deputy Bender
"Another's Footsteps" (1964) as Garrett
"Show Me a Hero" (1965) as Bert Devlin
"The King's Shilling" (1967) as Andrew Hubbard
"Flag of Truce" (1968) as General Grosscup
"The Frame" (1967) as Al Souchek
"The Seal" (1967) as William Conway
"Two Thousand" (1972) as Marshall
"Girl in the Night" (1967) as Mike Hennessey
"The Machismo Bag" (1969) as Lieutenant Rambau
"A Town in Terror: Pt 1 & Pt 2" (1969) as Ben Adams
"You Can Get Killed Out There" (1968) as Al
"War of Nerves" (1970) as Hijacker

Single episode television appearances

Theatrical films

References

  1. Spoto, Donald (1999). The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock. Da Capo Press. p. 577. ISBN 978-0-306-80932-3.
  2. Walker, Michael (2006). Hitchcock's Motifs. Amsterdam University Press. p. 455. ISBN 978-90-5356-772-2.
  3. Silver, Alain; Ward, Elizabeth; Ursini, James; Porfirio, Robert (2010). The Film Noir Encyclopedia. Overlook Hardcover. p. 190. ISBN 978-1-59020-144-2.
  4. Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle F (2007). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present. Ballantine Books. p. 733. ISBN 978-0-345-49773-4.
  5. Cox, Stephen; Terry, Jim (2006). One Fine Stooge: Larry Fine's Frizzy Life In Pictures. Cumberland House Publishing. p. 110. ISBN 978-1-58182-363-9.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.