Famous Faces on "Combat! (Season One) TV Series
Here are some of the stars I recognized on this WW2 classic series...
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- Actor
- Soundtrack
James T. Callahan was born on 4 October 1930 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA. He was an actor, known for Knight Rider (1982), The Governor & J.J. (1969) and Black Sheep Squadron (1976). He was married to Peggy Cannon. He died on 3 August 2007 in Fallbrook, California, USA.Combat!: Season 1, Episode 17
The Squad (29 Jan. 1963)
"Reischer" (as James Callahan)- One of Hollywood's greatest screen villains, Charles Henry Pywell Daniell was born in London, England, the son of Elinor Mary (Wookey) and Henry Pyweh Daniell, L.R.C.P. He had the profound misfortune to make his professional theatrical debut on the eve of World War I. His life thus interrupted, he served in the trenches on the Western Front with the 2nd Battalion of the British Army's Norfolk Regiment. Wounded in action, he was invalided out of service in 1915 and spent much of the next few years on the West End stage without rising to particular prominence. In 1921, he made his way to the U.S. and worked hard to establish himself as a character player on Broadway, beginning with his role as Prince Charles de Vaucluse in "Claire de Lune". He enjoyed critical acclaim in only his third performance on the 'Great White Way', co-starring with Ethel Barrymore in "The Second Mrs. Tanqueray" (1924). For the remainder of the decade, Daniell alternated touring on both sides of the Atlantic, before making his first appearance on screen in 1929. Daniell's lean physique, sardonic, almost reptilian features, cold voice and incisive manner made him ideally cast as icy, austere aristocrats or as insidious, manipulating evil masterminds in period drama.
His most famous role was as the duplicitous Lord Wolfingham in The Sea Hawk (1940), though Daniell's inexperience as a swordsman compelled Warner Brothers to use a stuntman for the climactic fight scene with Errol Flynn. The previous year, Daniell had essayed the conspiratorial Sir Robert Cecil, spy master to Elizabeth I, with equal verve in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939). Under contract to MGM (1936-37), he also excelled as the erstwhile mentor of Greta Garbo's Camille (1936), the Baron de Varville. Their vitriolic exchanges are a highlight of the film and belie the fact that Daniell was fretfully nervous acting opposite Garbo. His other, invariably unsympathetic, portrayals include the scheming La Motte in Marie Antoinette (1938), the hypocritical clergyman Henry Brocklehurst in Jane Eyre (1943) and the gleefully villainous Regent in The Bandit of Sherwood Forest (1946). By the 1940's, Daniell popped up more and more in lower budget productions, yet managed to deliver two of his finest performances to date: the first, as Professor Moriarty, arch nemesis of Sherlock Holmes (played by his real-life friend Basil Rathbone) in The Woman in Green (1945); the second, as Dr. Wolfe MacFarlane, a 19th century Edinburgh surgeon employing the grave-robbing services of Boris Karloff in The Body Snatcher (1945), a Faustian parable in which any semblance of morality and virtue is sacrificed to the pursuit of scientific knowledge. In the end, Gray (Karloff), the instrument of MacFarlane's machinations becomes "a canker in his body", but even his killing cannot assuage the surgeon's guilty conscience and he is eventually hounded to death by visions of the latter's corpse. This was a rare leading role for Daniell whose scenes with Karloff are among the most chilling of any in this genre. For a change of pace -- or, perhaps, to change his image -- Daniell did the occasional comedic turn, most notably in Charles Chaplin's Third Reich parody The Great Dictator (1940), as 'Garbitsch', a none too thinly disguised caricature of Joseph Goebbels.
On stage, he enjoyed his most successful run (344 performances) as the avaricious Henri Trochard in "My 3 Angels" at the Morosco Theatre in 1953. The play was filmed two years later as We're No Angels (1955), with, who else, but Basil Rathbone, in the part.
Daniell died after being stricken with a heart attack at his home, a few hours after filming a scene for his final film, My Fair Lady (1964).Combat!: Season 1, Episode 11
A Day in June (18 Dec. 1962)
"Minister" - Actor
- Additional Crew
On March 24th, 2020, Shecky Greene was inducted into the National Comedy Hall of Fame . He was voted in by 100 Hollywood luminaries in various areas of entertainment along with many members of the esteemed Friar's Club for his induction. His induction ceremony took place in Las Vegas, Nevada, where Greene received an engraved plaque and his profile may now be seen at the National Comedy Hall of Fame Museum located in Holiday, Florida."Braddock" (8 Episodes)
Combat!: Season 1, Episode 4
Any Second Now (23 Oct. 1962)
Combat!: Season 1, Episode 11
A Day in June (18 Dec. 1962)
Combat!: Season 1, Episode 17
The Squad (29 Jan. 1963)- Actor
- Director
The only child of a stockbroker and well-to-do mother, Richard Jacobson (who changed his surname to "Jason") described himself as "second-generation nouveau riche" and a born romantic. His behavior got him expelled from eight prep schools before he managed to graduate from the Rhodes School. His father bought him a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, but Jason sold the seat and enlisted in the Army Air Corps (1943-45). After the war, he attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA) on the GI Bill. While attending a New York play, he was spotted by actor-director Hume Cronyn, who immediately cast him in "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep" in 1950 as "Anselmo". Although the play closed after a month, the role earned Jason a Theater World Award and a Hollywood contract with Columbia Pictures. For the first year he was under contract, a frustrated Jason did not work. Meanwhile, MGM was searching for an actor to replace the departed Fernando Lamas in Sombrero (1953). Jason, now released from Columbia, landed the role. This success led to The Saracen Blade (1954) and RKO's This Is My Love (1954).
Twentieth Century-Fox then signed him for the male lead in The Lieutenant Wore Skirts (1956), after which he was signed to a multi-picture contract. His first project, an adaptation of John Steinbeck's "The Wayward Bus" (The Wayward Bus (1957)), earned him critical acclaim; a string of strong performances, both in films and TV, followed. In 1960, he starred as suave insurance investigator Robin Scott in The Case of the Dangerous Robin (1960). The series ran 38 episodes and made Jason the first actor seen using martial arts (karate) on television. In September 1962 he exploded onto prime-time screens as the cool, calm, and collected Lt. Gil Hanley in ABC's hit series Combat! (1962), Five seasons and 152 episodes later, Jason was a household name.
After "Combat!", Jason returned to the stage. He also made films in Japan and Israel. In 1970 he took the lead in the 1970 pilot Prudence and the Chief (1970). His TV career remained strong, and in the 1970s and 1980s he appeared in Matt Houston (1982), Police Woman (1974), Murder, She Wrote (1984), Wonder Woman (1975), Fantasy Island (1977), Airwolf (1984) and Dallas (1978). In 1973, he was a regular on the then-new soap opera The Young and the Restless (1973). After retirement, he kept busy doing voice-overs for commercials and ran the Wine Locker, a 4,000-square-foot facility used to store fine wines under optimal conditions. Sadly, he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at age 77 in October 2000."Lt. Hanley"
(152 episodes, 1962-1967)- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Vic Morrow was born in the Bronx, New York, to Jean (Kress) and Harry Morrow, an electrical engineer. His parents were Russian Jewish immigrants. Morrow dropped out of high school at 17 to join the U.S. Navy. When he left the Navy, he used the G.I. Bill to study pre-law at Florida State. While Morrow was working on his degree in Law, he also took part in a school play and found that he preferred stage acting to courtroom acting. When he went to New York, Morrow enrolled in the Actors' Workshop to improve his skills. After graduating, he was cast in the summer stock production of "A Streetcar Named Desire". His screen debut came when he was signed by MGM to play a tough-talking, surly street punk in Blackboard Jungle (1955). The good news was that he was now in the movies, but the bad news was that he became typecast as a heavy. Disappointed with this situation, Morrow left MGM after a few years and headed back to school to study directing at USC. He made some appearances on television and in 1962 found a role that brought him fame and made him the "hero": the TV series Combat! (1962), in which he played Sgt. Chip Saunders, veteran squad leader. Due to his demands, the show quickly went from an alternating showcase between platoon leader Lt. Hanley (Rick Jason) and Sgt. Saunders to one featuring mainly Saunders. With the success of the show, Morrow put to use what he had learned at USC and directed some episodes. In 1965 he and his wife divorced, and two years later the series ended. These two events put him into a personal and professional slide. By 1969 he began almost a decade of making made-for-TV movies, with an occasional foray into features. Most of his roles, though, put him back as a "heavy", although he did have a good part as a tough L.A. cop going up against out-of-town mobsters in a two-part episode of Police Story (1973) that was later released as a telefeature. While he worked in the theater and looked forward to the big screen, most of his roles were in "B" pictures such as Dirty Mary Crazy Larry (1974) and Treasure of Matecumbe (1976). He got good reviews playing Walter Matthau's nemesis in the hit comedy The Bad News Bears (1976), but was not involved in any of the following sequels, and he seemed to be stuck in a rut of "B" features and average made-for-TV films. With the failure of his second marriage, the death of his mother and the scarcity of good parts, Morrow hit the bottle, which did his career even less good. In 1982, however, he refocused his drive and made a comeback in Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), but was unfortunately killed on the early morning hours of July 23, 1982 in a tragic, freak accident on the set while filming a scene involving a helicopter which crashed right on top of him and two young children.
Vic was the father of Carrie Ann Morrow and actress Jennifer Jason Leigh."Sgt. Saunders"
(152 episodes, 1962-1967)- Actress
- Soundtrack
Elegant, dark-haired Parisian Micheline Presle (billed in the U.S. as Micheline Prelle) was the daughter of a businessman whose surname was Chassagne. Taking acting classes as a teen, she was discovered by Georg Wilhelm Pabst and cast in Jeunes filles en détresse (1939) (portraying Jacqueline Presle, whose last name she chose as her own marquee name). Very early into her film career, she was awarded the Prix Suzanne Bianchetti as the "most promising young actress" in French cinema.
While Micheline proceeded to make movies during the Occupation with such offerings as Four Flights to Love (1939) (dual role), La comédie du bonheur (1940), Foolish Husbands (1941), La nuit fantastique (1942), Twilight (1944), and Paris Frills (1945), she was regarded as an important young French star in the post-war years when she appeared in the classic films Angel and Sinner (1945) and, in particular, Devil in the Flesh (1947), both gaining her world-wide notice.
After a brief post-war marriage to Michel Lefort, Micheline's second marriage to US actor-turned-producer William Marshall in 1949 led her to attempt Hollywood pictures. Receiving a 20th Century-Fox contract, none of the those pictures, which included Under My Skin (1950), American Guerrilla in the Philippines (1950) and Adventures of Captain Fabian (1951), the last one produced and directed by husband Marshall, captured the hearts of American audiences despite co-starring opposite Hollywood's top male superstars stars at the time -- John Garfield, Tyrone Power and Errol Flynn.
Divorced in 1954, Micheline never truly adjusted to the Hollywood way of life and returned quite willingly to Paris with her daughter, the future actress/director Tonie Marshall. She would, however, return briefly to the US in the early 1960s to appear in the Dee/Darin comedy fluff If a Man Answers (1962) and the spy drama The Prize (1963).
The supremely talented Micheline continued to reign supreme back in Europe and appeared frequently on the stage as well. Some of her post-Hollywood films (mid-1950's on) included House of Ricordi (1954), Royal Affairs in Versailles (1954) (as Madame de Pompadour), Her Bridal Night (1956), Demoniac (1957), Mistress of the World (1960), Imperial Venus (1962) (as Napoleon's Josephine), Dark Purpose (1964), The Nun (1966), King of Hearts (1966), Donkey Skin (1970), The Legend of Frenchie King (1971), A Slightly Pregnant Man (1973), A Young Emmanuelle (1976), Démons de midi (1979), Thieves After Dark (1983), Good Weather, But Stormy Late This Afternoon (1986), High Finance Woman (1990), Fanfan (1993), Les Misérables (1995) and Diary of a Seducer (1996).
Into the millennium, Micheline graced a large number of French films such as Le coeur à l'ouvrage (2000), Charmant garçon (2001), Le diable dans la boîte (1977), Transfixed (2001), France Boutique (2003) (directed by daughter Tonie), Grabuge! (2005), Plein sud (2009), Just Like Brothers (2012) and her last, an unbilled part in Sex, Love & Therapy (2014).
Nominated for a supporting actress Cesar Award for her role as in the Venice Film Festival winner I Want to Go Home (1989), Micheline received an honorary César Award in 2004.Combat!: Season 1, Episode 15
Just for the Record (15 Jan. 1963)
"Annette"- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Lean, ruggedly handsome leading man and supporting actor whose "outdoor" looks have improved with age, Tom Skerritt attended Wayne State University and UCLA. He was first noticed in a UCLA production of "The Rainmaker" before making his movie debut in War Hunt (1962). However, he spent most of the next decade in television, regularly appearing in Combat! (1962), The Virginian (1962), Gunsmoke (1955) and 12 O'Clock High (1964). Skerritt's next big break was appearing alongside Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould in Robert Altman's biting satire M*A*S*H (1970). Several other film roles quickly followed, before he landed the plum role of Capt. Dallas of the ill-fated commercial towing vehicle Nostromo in the creepy sci-fi epic Alien (1979).
Skerritt turned up again in another thriller playing a cop hunting a serial killer in the eerie The Dead Zone (1983), as a Navy Officer Flight instructor in Top Gun (1986) , in the six-chick flick Steel Magnolias (1989), and then as the poster boy for a "Guess" Jeans ad campaign utilizing his mature, weather-beaten features. Skerritt didn't neglect his TV background and reappeared on the small screen in Cheers (1982), The China Lake Murders (1990) and picked up an Emmy in 1994 for his performance as Sheriff Brock in the superb series Picket Fences (1992).
Skerritt has remained continually busy for the past decade, contributing natural, entertaining and reliable performances in TV series, made-for-TV movies and major theatrical releases. He recreated the role of Will Kane in the TV production of High Noon (2000), and appeared alongside Bruce Willis in the mercenary war drama Tears of the Sun (2003).Combat!: Season 1, Episode 11
A Day in June (18 Dec. 1962)
"Soldier" (uncredited)- Actor
- Soundtrack
Stanton was born in West Irvine, Kentucky, to Ersel (Moberly), a cook, and Sheridan Harry Stanton, a barber and tobacco farmer. He lived in Lexington, Kentucky and graduated from Lafayette Senior High School with the class of 1944. Drafted into the Navy, he served as a cook in the U.S. Navy during World War II, and was on board an LST during the Battle of Okinawa. He then returned to the University of Kentucky to appear in a production of "Pygmalion", before heading out to California and honing his craft at the prestigious Pasadena Playhouse. Stanton then toured around the United States with a male choir, worked in children's theater, and then headed back to California.
His first role on screen was in the tepid movie Tomahawk Trail (1957), but he was quickly noticed and appeared regularly in minor roles as cowboys and soldiers through the late 1950s and early 1960s. His star continued to rise and he received better roles in which he could showcase his laid-back style, such as in Cool Hand Luke (1967), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Dillinger (1973), The Godfather Part II (1974), and in Alien (1979). It was around this time that Stanton came to the attention of director Wim Wenders, who cast him in his finest role yet as Travis in the moving Paris, Texas (1984). Next indie director Alex Cox gave Stanton a role that brought him to the forefront, in the quirky cult film Repo Man (1984).
Stanton was now heavily in demand, and his unique look got him cast as everything from a suburban father in the mainstream Pretty in Pink (1986) to a soft-hearted, but ill-fated, private investigator in Wild at Heart (1990) and a crazy yet cunning scientist in Escape from New York (1981). Apart from his film performances, he was also an accomplished musician, and "The Harry Dean Stanton Band" and their unique spin on mariachi music played together for well over a decade. They toured internationally. He became a cult figure of cinema and music and when Debbie Harry sang the lyric, "I want to dance with Harry Dean..." in her 1990s hit "I Want That Man", she was talking about him. Stanton remained consistently active on screen, lastly appearing in films including Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), The Green Mile (1999) and The Man Who Cried (2000).Combat!: Season 1, Episode 11
A Day in June (18 Dec. 1962)
"Beecham" (as Dean Stanton)- Writer
- Actor
Jonathan Bolt was born on 22 September 1934. He is a writer and actor, known for Ryan's Hope (1975), Eleanor: An American Love Story (1999) and The Twilight Zone (1959). He has been married to Donna English since 13 October 1990. They have one child.Combat!: Season 1, Episode 17
The Squad (29 Jan. 1963)
"Moseby Lovelace"- Alexander Davion was born on 31 March 1929 in Paris, France. He was an actor, known for Valley of the Dolls (1967), Thunderbirds Are GO (1966) and Paranoiac (1963). He was married to Anne Lawson and Ellen Caryl Klein. He died on 28 September 2019 in England, UK.Combat!: Season 1, Episode 4
Any Second Now (23 Oct. 1962)
"David Woodman" (as Alex Davion) - Actor
- Casting Department
- Casting Director
Jack Hogan was born and raised in North Carolina and studied architecture at the University of North Carolina. In 1948, bored by college life, he left U.N.C. and spent the next four years in the navy. During this time, he decided to become an actor and once discharged, he enrolled at the Pasadena (Calif.) Playhouse. In 1955, Jack headed to New York to study at the American Theatre Wing. A year later, he returned to Hollywood where a string of acting jobs, both in films and on TV, followed. In 1962, he signed to play the quick-tempered, troublesome, womanizer Pvt. Kirby, in ABC's hit series, Combat! (1962). After Combat! (1962) left the air in 1967, Jack's TV career included on-going appearances on Adam-12 (1968) and Sierra (1974). In the early 1980s, he moved to Hawaii where he supervised the operation of his building business. During his 10-year stay, he garnered a recurring role Jake and the Fatman (1987) and served as the casting director for Magnum, P.I. (1980). Recently, Jack, twice divorced and the father of two, returned to take up residence in Chapel Hill. Jack's favourite pursuits include painting, fishing, reading and poetry."Kirby"
(112 episodes)
Combat!: Season 1, Episode 11
A Day in June (18 Dec. 1962) (uncredited)- Actor
- Sound Department
- Editor
The son of a newspaperman, Canadian-born Pierre Jalbert graduated from Ouellet College and attended Laval University. A champion skier, he went to study art appreciation at the Sorbonne in Paris. In 1949 he visited Hollywood and later that year returned to Paris and joined a French film company as a production assistant. A stint as a ski instructor at Sun Valley in the early 1950s whetted his acting ambitions, and in 1952 he headed to Hollywood. In the beginning he worked at a variety of jobs before eventually finding steady employment as a film cutter and editor at MGM. He had been employed there for nearly ten years before signing to play the French-speaking Caje (short for Cajun) LeMay in ABC-TV's hit war series, Combat! (1962). Pierre's post-"Combat!" acting career included appearances in made-for-television movies and several hit series. Primarily though, he earned his reputation--and living--as a film editor."Caje"
(115 episodes)- Director
- Actor
- Writer
Although trained for the stage in his native Sweden, Alf Kjellin appeared in only a few stage productions before entering films. His work in Torment (1944) resulted in his being noticed by Hollywood, and he made his American film debut in 1949 under the name Christopher Kent. He soon went back to using his real name, and though he made several more Hollywood films, he worked mainly out of Sweden, both as an actor and director. In the early 1960s he finally settled in Hollywood. Although he acted in and directed a few feature films, the main body of his work consisted of directing made-for-TV movies (one of his better ones being the clever psychological thriller The Deadly Dream (1971)) and appearing as a guest star--often as a villain--in TV series.Combat!: Season 1, Episode 15
Just for the Record (15 Jan. 1963)
"Kurt"- Stalwart American actor Donald Adam May is best known to television viewers as dapper crime fighting District Attorney Adam Drake in the long-running mystery soap opera The Edge of Night (1956). Donald was born in Chicago, one of four siblings, to Texan oil businessman Harry S. May and his wife Leontine. He attended school in Houston, and, in 1949, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Oklahoma. His first professional acting gig was in a play with a stock company in Albany, New York. Donald subsequently appeared in a few promotional films for the Signal Corps and then enlisted in the U.S. Navy, eventually serving as a gunnery officer (ensign) on a destroyer during the Korean War. Following his demobilisation in 1955, he returned to New York to resume work on the repertory stage. The following year, he starred as a cadet in the CBS anthology TV series West Point (1956) (a show supposedly based on factual events). With a Warner Brothers contract in hand, Donald and his then wife (Yale graduate and former stage actress Ellen Cameron) relocated to Hollywood at the end of the decade. Henceforth, his rugged good looks were gainfully employed in essaying men of integrity, the 'white hat' wearers in westerns and crime dramas.
After appearing in an episode of Sugarfoot (1957), Donald played the lead in four segments of the western series Colt .45 (1957) (temporarily replacing Wayde Preston) and had further guest spots in 77 Sunset Strip (1958) and Cheyenne (1955). The next acting assignment -- his most prominent leading role to date -- was as New York reporter Pat Garrison, chronicling gangland crime in The Roaring 20's (1960). This prohibition era action series ran for two seasons and co-starred Dorothy Provine, Rex Reason and John Dehner. If it failed to do better in the ratings, it should be remembered that it was going up against and being compared to The Untouchables (1959) (which was being presented in a semi-documentary style and appeared to the viewing public as 'more authentic').
From the mid-60s, Donald May was probably one of the busiest actors in showbiz, dividing his time between the New York off-Broadway stage and acting on The Edge of Night, which was a New York-based live broadcast. By the time the series had run its course, Donald had managed to rack up an impressive 2840 episodes as Adam Drake over a period of ten years. Not finished with soaps yet, he later had further recurring roles in Falcon Crest (1981), and, as a romantic lead, in Texas (1980) (which starred his second wife, the actress Carla Borelli).
Donald retired from screen acting in 1993 and died at the age of 94 on January 28 2022.Combat!: Season 1, Episode 4
Any Second Now (23 Oct. 1962)
"Major Thompson" - Actress
- Soundtrack
Smoulderingly beautiful and a fetching, exotic-eyed vision on the American screen during the 1950s and early 1960s, dark-maned Lisa Montell impressed more, especially to male film-goers, as a lovely diversion midst all the rugged terrain and tropical South Sea hazards than as a formidable actress. Similar in beauty and allure to the stunning Debra Paget and France Nuyen, the "Starlet of Many Faces" had a strong knack for ethnic accents and managed to play a variety of foreign types over her relatively brief time before the camera (Peruvian, Mexican, French, Italian, Burmese, Polynesian). Her film resume, which would include such cult-oriented classics as Daughter of the Sun God (1962), World Without End (1956) and the Roger Corman cheapies Naked Paradise (1957) and She Gods of Shark Reef (1958) were nearly all "B" and "C" grade (or worse) in scope and she eventually tired of the lack of challenge. She abandoned her career at the height of her beauty (around 1962) but found immense personal rewards in later decades as a spiritual exponent of the Bahá'í faith.
Although Lisa was born Irena Ludmilla Vladimiovna Augustinovich in Warsaw, Poland, on July 5, 1933, she was not raised there and did not keep her given name for long. Of Russian-Polish descent, she was born to privilege. She and her family managed to flee safely to the United States just months before the Nazi invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939. Her father, a successful businessman, changed the family name to Montwill and Irena's name was adjusted to Irene. The family moved into a spacious Fifth Avenue apartment in New York City and generously took in Polish refugees (both friends and family) as needed during WWII.
Lisa studied art, voice and dance in Forest Hills and eventually was accepted into the High School of Music and Art in Manhattan. She later transferred to the High School for the Performing Arts where she developed an interest in acting. Following graduation, she attended the University of Miami (Florida) for a semester before her father, whose business involved iron mines in Peru, relocated the family to Lima. While there Lisa again studied drama in American-based acting workshops that were set up there. She received her first professional break in 1953 after being noticed and cast by Hollywood producers searching for local female leads for a film they were shooting in Peru.
The film was called Daughter of the Sun God (1962) and it was set in the Peruvian jungles. Lisa plays a young adventurous blonde explorer on an expedition who is not only threatened by raging waters, desert heat and native ritualistic practices, but by various wildlife as well (crocodiles, pumas and gigantic snakes, to name a few). The film had financial problems and was so poorly made that it was held up nearly a decade before it was finally bought and released to the American market in 1962.
While enjoying a South American jet-set life in Peru, Lisa went on to appear in a handful of other local films before learning of Hollywood's interest in her despite the unsuccessful marketing of her debut film. Following her father's untimely death, Lisa and her mother moved to Los Angeles where the ethnic-looking wannabe found work cast on TV as Eurasian, Latina and Native-American types.
Billed as Irene Montwill, Lisa's first Hollywood film was Warner Bros.' Jump Into Hell (1955), a French Indochina (pre-Vietnam) war picture in which she played a French love interest to European soldier Peter Van Eyck. The studio then put her under a temporary contract and she changed her name to the more exotic moniker of Lisa Montell. Despite more second-lead exposure in the RKO films, Escape to Burma (1955), a tea plantation drama starring Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Ryan, and Pearl of the South Pacific (1955), a tropical South Seas adventure with Virginia Mayo and Dennis Morgan, Lisa was not able to up her status in Hollywood.
After filming the minor western, The Wild Dakotas (1956), she appeared in one of her better-remembered pictures, the cult sci-fi film, World Without End (1956), with Hugh Marlowe and Rod Taylor, which takes place on Earth in the 26th century. She went on to play a small role as a ballet dancer in the Leslie Caron MGM drama, Gaby (1956), and was also one of the Italian Martelli sisters (the others being Anna Maria Alberghetti, Eva Bartok and Lisa Gaye) in the musical comedy, Ten Thousand Bedrooms (1957), starring Dean Martin. On the western front, she appeared, with Chuck Connors, as an Indian maiden in Tomahawk Trail (1957). Things moved in a cult-like direction for Lisa with her tropical female roles in Roger Corman's Naked Paradise (1957) and She Gods of Shark Reef (1958), both filmed in the same spot in Hawaii. If nothing else, she got to show off her great figure and underwater swimming skills. Over the years, scores of adventurous guest roles came Lisa's way on TV, notably westerns, including the popular series as The Gene Autry Show (1950), Broken Arrow (1956), Tales of Wells Fargo (1957), Colt .45 (1957), Have Gun - Will Travel (1957), Sugarfoot (1957), Cheyenne (1955), Bat Masterson (1958) and Maverick (1957). Outside the western genre, came a few varied performances in everything from comedy (The Ann Sothern Show (1958)) to hip action adventure (Surfside 6 (1960)).
Once wed to fellow actor David Janti, Lisa's last film was the minor "B" western, The Firebrand (1962), starring Kent Taylor. She retired soon after and devoted herself, exclusively, to educational pursuits as well as her Bahá'í religion. She was elected to the Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly of Los Angeles and served as Chairperson. Often a public speaker, she has been outspoken on such issues as poverty and discrimination. She was also quite active in the early stages of the civil rights movement and has spent active time with youth arts programs. She later wrote a book (as Lisa Janti) about her spiritual sojourn and, more recently, became the program director of the Center for Education at the Desert Rose Bahá'í Institute. In 2008, she was a guest attendee at the Western Legends Film Festival.Combat!: Season 1, Episode 11
A Day in June (18 Dec. 1962)
"Marcelle"- Actor
- Cinematographer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
He is best remembered for his role of 'Army Private Littlejohn' in the World War II television series, "Combat!" (1962 to 1967). Born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1942, during World War II, he joined the United States Navy, and was discharged in 1945 as an Electronic Technician. Using his GI Bill, he studied electrical engineering at the University of Kansas City, but switched to acting because he wanted fame and attention. After graduation, he held a series of jobs producing screen advertising and making television commercials, until he was noticed by director Robert Altman, who recommended he be hired to make educational and industrial films. He moved to Kansas City, where he worked as the news anchor, then moved to Denver, where he worked as a radio show host and later, as a television producer. Bored with what he was doing, despite being successful, he decided it was time to move to Hollywood, and quickly found work two days after arriving in Hollywood, when Director Robert Altman offered him a role in a new television series, "Combat!" (1962-1967), and he quickly signed on. After this role, he continued to act in a series of prime-time television shows and in six movies, including "MacKenna's Gold" (1969), "Support Your Local Sheriff" (1969), and "Your Money or Your Wife" (1972). At six feet, six inches tall, he enjoyed playing villains, and reported that leading actors liked having him as a villain because they would not look like bullies when they beat him up in a screen fight. In 1985, back pain ended his television career, and he moved to El Dorado County, California, where he resumed his writing career, writing a weekly column, "Peabody's Place," for the Placerville, California, Mountain Democrat newspaper. His columns would cover reminiscences of Hollywood, as well as various social and political topics. In 1996, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and continued to remain active until his death. He died in his home in Camino, California, from prostate cancer."Littlejohn"
(100 Episodes)
Combat!: Season 1, Episode 15
Just for the Record (15 Jan. 1963) (uncredited)- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Frank Ray Perilli had a colorful life, starting from a childhood in the mob-controlled ghettos of Chicago in the 20's and 30's, to a career as a nightclub comic and film character actor in the 40's and 50's, even making appearances on popular television shows of the time such as The Ed Sullivan Show, to being a staff writer for Shecky Greene and Dean Martin and Don Rickles and others, and ultimately becoming a prolific screenwriter and film producer of twenty films and four plays during the balance of his life. Perilli frequently collaborated with life-long friend William Karl Thomason on screenplays early in his career, and also collaborated on screenplays and comedy material with Lenny Bruce during the period that Perilli mentored and managed Lenny's career.
Perilli is known for such films as She Came to the Valley, End of the World, Laserblast, Mansion of the Doomed and Alligator.
Frank Ray Perilli's biography, "The Candy Butcher," was released days after his death from complications of the West Nile Virus on March 10, 2018. Written by William Karl Thomas.Combat!: Season 1, Episode 11
A Day in June (18 Dec. 1962)
"Gardello"- Steven Rogers was born on 18 April 1937. He is an actor, known for Combat! (1962), Angels from Hell (1968) and Ski Party (1965)."Doc" (22 Episodes)
Combat!: Season 1, Episode 11
A Day in June (18 Dec. 1962) - Gilchrist Stuart was born on 19 January 1919 in London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Sound of Music (1965), A Yank in the RAF (1941) and Assault on a Queen (1966). He was married to Sacha Berger. He died on 8 June 1977 in Hollywood, California, USA.Combat!: Season 1, Episode 15
Just for the Record (15 Jan. 1963)
"Maj. Curruthers" (uncredited) - Actress
- Soundtrack
Elen Willard was born on 15 November 1935 in New Haven, Connecticut, USA. She is an actress, known for The Twilight Zone (1959), One Step Beyond (1959) and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964).Combat!: Season 1, Episode 4
Any Second Now (23 Oct. 1962)
"Anne Farell"