Howard Duff
Howard Duff | |
---|---|
Born | Howard Green Duff November 24, 1913 Charleston, Washington, U.S. |
Died | July 8, 1990 | (aged 76)
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1943–1990 |
Spouses | |
Children | 1 |
Howard Green Duff (November 24, 1913 – July 8, 1990) was an American actor.
Early life
Duff was born in Charleston, Washington (today
Duff worked locally in Seattle-area theater until entering the United States Army Air Corps during World War II. He was eventually assigned to their radio service, and announced re-broadcasts prepared for the Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS). In this role, he served as the announcer for the drama Suspense, dated March 16, 1943.
Career
Sam Spade
Duff's most memorable radio role was as Dashiell Hammett's private eye Sam Spade in The Adventures of Sam Spade (1946–1950).[2] Due to accusations of Duff being a communist and with his TV and film career starting to take hold, he ultimately left the program in 1950 at the start of its final season; Stephen Dunne took over the voice role of Spade.[3][4]
Contract with Universal
Duff was signed to a long-term contract with Universal, and made his film debut alongside Burt Lancaster as an inmate in 1947's Brute Force. The movie was produced by Mark Hellinger and directed by Jules Dassin, who gave Duff a bigger role in their next film, The Naked City (1948).[5] He subsequently reunited with Lancaster for the family drama All My Sons (also 1948), based on the play of the same name by Arthur Miller.
More substantial roles soon followed, with Duff taking the lead in numerous Westerns and films noir including Illegal Entry, Red Canyon, Johnny Stool Pigeon, Calamity Jane and Sam Bass (all 1949);[6]Spy Hunt, Shakedown and Woman in Hiding (all 1950). The latter film saw Duff act alongside his future wife Ida Lupino; the couple would subsequently co-star in a further four films during the 1950s.
In 1951, Duff made a pilot for a new radio series, The McCoy.[7] Following his marriage to Lupino in October 1951, Duff was granted a release from his contract with Universal.[8]
Freelance actor
Duff appeared in the 1952 film
His other film appearances beside his wife; Don Siegel's Private Hell 36 (1954); Lewis Seiler's Women's Prison (1955), and Fritz Lang's While the City Sleeps (1956) continued Duff's successful run of movies during the 1950s.
Television
In addition to his movie roles, Duff also experienced success in television, with appearances in the 1950s series The Star and the Story, Climax! and Crossroads. From January 1957 to July 1958, he appeared with Lupino in the CBS sitcom Mr. Adams and Eve, which revolved around the private lives of two fictitious film stars, Howard Adams and Eve Drake, who were married to each other. They also served as producers.[10]
Other TV roles included an appearance in
Duff had the lead role in the short-lived TV series
Duff also directed seven episodes of the 1965–1966 television sitcom Camp Runamuck.
Later career
Duff continued to make guest appearances in TV series during the 1970s including The Streets of San Francisco, Police Story, The Rockford Files, and $weepstake$, amongst others, and also featured in the TV movies A Little Game (1971) and Snatched (1973). In 1971 Duff appeared as Stuart Masters in The Men from Shiloh (the retitled final season of the TV western The Virginian) in the episode titled "The Town Killer".
Duff was part of an
Duff portrayed villain Jules Edwards in Part 1 of the 1981 mini-series East of Eden, and was part of the main cast in the TV series Flamingo Road (1980–82), appearing in all 38 episodes of the show.[12]
He continued to make guest appearances in TV series during the 1980s, including Charlie's Angels (1980) (as bumbling private eye Harrigan in the episode "Harrigan's Angel"); Murder, She Wrote (1984); Magnum, P.I. (1988) (as Capt. Thomas Magnum, II, the grandfather of main character Thomas Magnum, played by Tom Selleck); and Dallas (also 1988).[13] Duff also had a recurring role as Paul Galveston during the sixth season of Knots Landing (1984–85), appearing in 10 episodes. He returned for one more episode in 1990.
Although Duff made few film appearances during the 1980s, he did have a prominent role in the 1987 thriller No Way Out, alongside Kevin Costner and Gene Hackman. In 1990, shortly before his death, Duff made his final acting appearances in the TV series Midnight Caller and The Golden Girls, and the film Too Much Sun.
Personal life
Duff had a tempestuous relationship with actress Ava Gardner in the late 1940s. In October 1951, he married Ida Lupino.[1][14][15]
After he was listed in Red Channels as a communist subversive in 1950, he lost his radio work and might have forfeited his entire career had it not been for his marriage. Duff and Lupino had a daughter, Bridget Duff (born April 23, 1952). The couple separated in 1966 but did not divorce until 1984. He subsequently married Judy Jenkinson. Like former wife Lupino, Duff was a staunch Democrat.[16]
Death
Duff died at age 76 of a heart attack on July 8, 1990, in Santa Barbara, California.[17]
Filmography
- Brute Force (1947) .... Robert "Soldier" Becker
- The Naked City (1948) .... Frank Niles
- All My Sons (1948) .... George Deever
- The Life of Riley (1949) .... Sam Spade on Radio Show (voice, uncredited)
- Red Canyon (1949) .... Lin Sloane
- Illegal Entry (1949) .... Bert Powers
- Calamity Jane and Sam Bass (1949) .... Sam Bass
- Johnny Stool Pigeon (1949) .... George Morton
- Woman in Hiding (1950, co-starring with Lupino) .... Keith Ramsey
- Spy Hunt (1950) .... Steve Quain
- Shakedown (1950) .... Jack Early
- The Lady from Texas (1951) .... Dan Mason
- Steel Town (1952) .... Jim Denko
- Models Inc.(1952) .... Lennie Stone
- Roar of the Crowd (1953) .... Johnny Tracy
- Spaceways (1953) .... Dr. Stephen Mitchell
- Jennifer (1953, co-starring with Lupino) .... Jim Hollis
- Tanganyika (1954) .... Dan Harder McCracken
- Private Hell 36 (1954, co-starring with Lupino) .... Jack Farnham
- The Yellow Mountain (1954) .... Pete Menlo
- Women's Prison (1955, starring Lupino) .... Dr. Crane
- Flame of the Islands (1956) .... Doug Duryea
- Blackjack Ketchum, Desperado (1956) .... Tom 'Blackjack' Ketchum
- While the City Sleeps (1956, starring Lupino) .... Lt. Burt Kaufman
- The Broken Star (1956) .... Deputy Marshal Frank Smeed
- Sierra Stranger (1957) .... Jess Collins
- Teenage Idol (1958 TV movie)
- The Twilight Zone (1960) "A World of Difference" Gerald Reagan & Arthur Curtis
- The Alfred Hitchcock Hour(1962) (Season 1 Episode 14: "The Tender Poisoner") .... Peter Harding
- Combat! (1962) (Season 1 Episode 6: “Missing in Action”)
- Boys' Night Out (1962) .... Doug Jackson
- War Gods of Babylon (1962) .... Sardanapalo
- Calhoun: County Agent (1964, TV Movie) .... Sid Rayner
- The Changing Geometry of Flight (1965, Short) .... Narrator (voice)
- Panic in the City (1968) .... Dave Pomeroy
- D.A.: Murder One (1969, TV Movie) .... Lynn D. Compton
- In Search of America (1971, TV Movie) .... Ray Chandler
- A Little Game (1971, TV Movie) .... Dunlap
- The Heist (1972, TV Movie) .... Lieutenant Nicholson
- Snatched (1973, TV Movie) .... Duncan Wood
- The Late Show (1977) .... Harry Regan
- In the Glitter Palace (1977, TV Movie) .... Raymond Dawson Travers
- Actor (1978, TV Movie)
- Ski Lift to Death (1978, TV Movie) .... Ben Forbes
- A Wedding (1978) .... Dr. Jules Meecham
- Battered (1978 TV movie) .... Bill Thompson
- Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) .... John Shaunessy
- Valentine Magic on Love Island (1980, TV Movie) .... A. J. Morgan
- Deadly Companion (1980) .... Lester Harlen
- Oh, God! Book II (1980) .... Dr. Benjamin Charles Whitley
- The Wild Women of Chastity Gulch (1982, TV Movie) .... Colonel Samuel Isaacs
- This Girl for Hire (1983, TV Movie) .... Wolfe Macready
- Murder, She Wrote (1984, Season 1 Episode 3) ....Ralph/Stephen Earl
- Love on the Run (1985, TV Movie) .... Lionel Rockland
- Scarecrow and Mrs. King (1985, 1987) (Season 3 Episode 4: "Tail of the Dancing Weasel"; season 4 episode 22: "The Khrushchev List") .... Harry Thornton
- Monster in the Closet (1986) .... Father Finnegan
- Roses Are for the Rich (1987, TV Movie) .... Denton
- No Way Out (1987) .... Senator Duvall
- The Ed Begley Jr. Show (1989, TV Movie) .... Councilman Slaney
- Settle the Score (1989, TV Movie) .... Cy Whately
- Too Much Sun (1990) .... O.M. (final film role)
References
- ^ a b "Actor Howard Duff, Radio's Sam Spade, Dies at 72". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. July 10, 1990.
- ^ Buxton, Frank and Owens, Bill (1972). The Big Broadcast – 1920–1950. The Viking Press.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ProQuest 166147950.
- ^ Dunning, John (1976). Tune in Yesterday. Prentice-Hall.
- ^ Maltin, Leonard (1980). TV Movies (1981–82 ed.). New American Library.
- ProQuest 165902216.
- ProQuest 166179601.
- ProQuest 166281180.
- ProQuest 178267712.
- ^ ISBN 9780345282484.
- ProQuest 143123554.
- ProQuest 152835761.
- ProQuest 140163634.
- ProQuest 111948214.
- ProQuest 166228206.
- ISBN 9780813143521. Retrieved January 7, 2015.
- ^ Folkart, Burt A. (July 10, 1990). "Howard Duff; Starred in Radio, TV, Films". Los Angeles Times.