Robert Shayne

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Robert Shayne
Hollywood Hills, California
OccupationActor
Years active1929–1991
Spouses
Mary Crouch
​
​
(m. 1925; div. 1933)​
Mary Sheffield
​
​
(m. 1933; div. 1943)​
Elizabeth (Bette) McDonald
​
​
(m. 1943)​
Children4

Robert Shayne (born Robert Shaen Dawe, October 4, 1900 – November 29, 1992) was an American actor whose career lasted for over 60 years.[1][2] He was best known for portraying Inspector Bill Henderson in the American television series Adventures of Superman.[3]

Early years

Shayne was born in Yonkers, New York.[3] He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Grosvenor Dawe, and he had a brother, Allen Shaen Dawe.[4] His father was one of the founders of the United States Chamber of Commerce.[5]

Shayne left Boston University in his senior year so that his brother could go to college.[5] For a time, he lived in Birmingham, Alabama, writing advertising copy for a women's clothing store by day and acting in a stock theater company at night. When the store went out of business, he began acting full-time.[6]

Career

Shayne became an actor after having worked as a reporter at the Illustrated Daily Tab in Miami, Florida.[7] His initial acting experience came with repertory companies in Alabama,[8] including the Birmingham Players.[5]

Stage

Shayne's first

Broadway appearance came by 1931 in The Rap.[8] His other Broadway shows include Yellow Jack (1934), The Cat and the Canary (1935), Whiteoaks (1938), with Ethel Barrymore, and Without Love (1942), with Katharine Hepburn.[2][9]

Film

Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman
(1947)

Shayne began his film career in 1934, appearing in two features. In 1942, he became a contract actor with Warner Bros.[10] He played many character roles in movies and television, including a film series of Warner Bros. featurettes called the "Santa Fe Trail" series such as Wagon Wheels West,[11] and as a mad scientist in the 1953 horror film The Neanderthal Man.

From Indestructible Man (1956), L-R: Lon Chaney Jr., Joe Flynn, and Robert Shayne

He appears briefly in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest, seated at a booth in a hotel bar, where his character meets Cary Grant's character, just as the latter is about to be kidnapped.[12] He also had a small but pivotal role in the 1953 sci-fi classic Invaders From Mars as a scientist.[13] Shayne enjoyed a brief rebirth in his career when he was cast as the blind newspaper vendor in The Flash television show;[14] he was by this time actually blind and learned his lines by having his wife read them to him and then rehearse until he memorized them.[citation needed]

Television

Shayne portrayed

HUAC scrutiny and was briefly blacklisted on unproven and unspecific charges of association with Communism.[16][17] As the program evolved, especially in the color episodes, he was brought into more and more of them, to the point where he was a regular on the series.[18][19]

Personal life

Shayne married Mary Crouch in 1925.[20] They divorced in 1933 and had one daughter.[5]

In 1933, he married Mary Sheffield. They divorced in 1943[21] and had one daughter.[5]

In 1943, he married Elizabeth McDonald, with whom he had 2 more children. They remained married until his death in 1992.

Death

Shayne died in 1992 of lung cancer at the

Woodland Hills, California.[9] He was 92 years old. Shayne was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills, California.[22]

Selected filmography

References

  1. ^ "Robert Shayne". BFI. Archived from the original on July 11, 2012.
  2. ^ a b "Overview for Robert Shayne". Turner Classic Movies.
  3. ^
    ISBN 9780786450190
    . Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  4. Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  5. ^ a b c d e Laura, Wagner (November 2017). "Robert Shayne". Classic Images (509): 72–74.
  6. Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  7. Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  8. ^
    Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  9. ^ a b "Robert Shayne Actor, 92". The New York Times. December 3, 1992. Archived from the original on December 20, 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  10. ISBN 9780786407552
    . Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  11. ^ "Warner Bros. Featurettes "Santa Fe Trail" series". The Old Corral. b-westerns.com. Archived from the original on December 20, 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  12. ^ "Robert Shayne". hitchcock.zone.
  13. ^ Alan Jones. "Invaders from Mars". RadioTimes. Archived from the original on May 2, 2016. Retrieved February 12, 2015.
  14. ^ "Robert Shayne movies, photos, movie reviews, filmography, and biography - AllMovie". AllMovie.
  15. ^ Wagner, Laura (October 11, 2017). "Robert Shayne". Quad-City Times. Iowa, Davenport. Archived from the original on July 8, 2020. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
  16. ISBN 9780879100810
    .
  17. ISBN 9780786428571
    .
  18. ^ "Superman Homepage - Superman on Television". supermanhomepage.com.
  19. ^ Hal Erickson (2013). "Robert Shayne - Biography - Movies & TV - NYTimes.com". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 16, 2013.
  20. ^ see the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, NY 12/19/1925, page 7
  21. Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  22. ISBN 9781476625997
    . Retrieved December 20, 2017.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Robert Shayne.
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