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1-7 of 7
- Director
- Producer
- Actor
In 1959, Emmy Award-winning television director Ralph Nelson directed a 90-minute adaptation of Shakespeare's "Hamlet," with John Neville as the Dane, for the DuPont Show of the Month. Nelson himself adapted the 1601 Quatro (the "pirated" version considered corrupt) in order to make a coherent production of a play that uncut, runs four hours. The video-taped presentation essentially is a recording of the Old Vic Company's "Hamlet." The truncated version makes for an effective stage performance of "Hamlet," as Tony Richardson's version with Nicol Williamson ten year later proves. As part of the broadcasting of the play, the CBS network published the TV script in a richly printed, illustrated volume that included a foreword by CBS President Louis G. Cowan.
In the early days of commercial television, executives sought to balance their offerings of such drivel as "Queen for a Day" and "The $64,000 Question" with high culture. In that era, the so-called Golden Age of Television that was soon to expire, quality drama was featured on other omnibus showcases, including "Playhouse 90," the "Armstrong Circle Theatre," and the "United States Steel Hour." It couldn't last, as TV audiences eschewed Toscanini for Liberace and "Romeo & Juliet" for "I Love Lucy," but it proved an excellent training ground for directors.
Nelson won his Emmy the previous year for directing a teleplay for "Playhouse 90" that arguably is the most famous product of the Golden Age of Television after Paddy Chayefsky's "Marty" - Rod Serling's "Requiem for a Heavyweight." Serling won one of his five Emmy awards for "Requiem," and other Nelson collaborators also would taste the sweetest fruits of success: both Sidney Poitier and Cliff Robertson won Best Actor Oscars in Ralph Nelson-directed motion pictures, "Lilies of the Field" (1963) and "Charly" (1968), while E.G. Marshall won two Emmys appearing on "The Defenders," a television drama on which Nelson was one of the directors.
Ralph Nelson was born into a Norwegian-American family in New York City in 1916. He became interested in the theater while attending high school, and won an oratory contest sponsored by the "New York Times" in 1932. His interest in the theater lead him to Broadway, where he worked as an errand boy before making it onto the stage. He made his Broadway debut on January 15, 1934 in "False Dreams, Farewell," and followed it up with parts in "Romeo & Juliet," "Othello," "Macbeth," and "The Taming of the Shrew" through 1940. His last Broadway play before the outbreak of World War II was "There Shall Be No Night," also in 1940, for which he also served as stage manager. During this pre-war period, Nelson worked with such legendary performers as Katharine Cornell, Leslie Howard, and the Lunts.
In World War II, Nelson joined the Army as an air cadet. He was assigned to the stage company that put on Irving Berlin's "This Is the Army" on Broadway, and his award-winning one-act play "Mail Call" was part of a Broadway showcase "Army Play by Play" in 1943, while he was serving with the Air Corps. He eventually was promoted to captain while serving as a flight instructor, and on June 14, 1945, his first full-length play, "The Wind Is Ninety," was presented on Broadway while he was still attached to what was now called the Army Army Air Force. The play won an award from the National Theater Conference. Although Nelson appeared on Broadway again as an actor in the musicals "Cabaret" and "Follies," staged the comedy The Man in the Dog Suit" in 1958, and produced the musical "Look to the Lilies" in 1970, it was the visual media that beckoned. He entered the nascent television industry as an actor, but made the transition to director.
As a director and producer, Nelson had a hand in as many as 1,000 TV presentations in the late 1940s, the 1950s, and the early '60s. He directed the first broadcast of "Playhouse 90" and was a regular contributor to the "General Electric Theater," the "Lux Theater," and the "Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse," among other omnibus showcases in TV's Golden Age. He even directed an episode of Serling's "The Twilight Zone."
When he moved from the little to the Big Screen, his films typically tackled topical subjects such as racism. His most successful and best-remembered film was Lilies of the Field (1963) for which he received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture as producer. Sidney Poitier became the first African American male and only second black person overall to win a competitive acting Oscar. His other major films that have endured were the 1964 Cary Grant comedy Father Goose (1964) and Charly (1968), for which Cliff Robertson won an Oscar. Eventually, Nelson returned to TV, finishing his directing career with Christmas Lilies of the Field (1979), a sequel to his 1963 hit.
Ralph Nelson died in 1987. His son by Celeste Holm, Dr. Theodor "Ted" Holm Nelson' (born 1937) is a pioneer of information technology who invented the term "hypertext" in 1965.- Actor
- Producer
- Additional Crew
A "B" Hollywood leading man who had the requisite tall, dark and handsome features (plus an excellent singing voice) that Hollywood often relied upon, Robert Paige was an extremely capable player worthy of stronger dramatics but was too often trapped in staid and standard leading man roles that prevented him from showcasing properly and moving squarely into the "A" romantic ranks. Born John Arthur Paige on December 21, 1910 in Indiana to English parents, Robert attended West Point but eventually left the Academy and moved to the Los Angeles area to focus on an entertainment career. Initially an usher for the Fox West Coast Theatres, he started using the moniker David Carlyle while singing on a Long Beach radio station and moved into announcing work at radio station KMTR in Hollywood.
He entered short films in 1931 and progressed to feature status within a few years. A studio scout had the hopeful player screen-tested at Columbia, and he was put under contract. In the course of his career he was also a studio player for Warner Bros., Paramount and, more notably, Universal. His first prime second-lead role occurred crooning to Marion Davies in Cain and Mabel (1936). He went on to give a solid performance (still as David Carlyle) in Smart Blonde (1937), which introduced the "Torchy Blane" series, and finally top-lined his own romantic comedy Meet the Boy Friend (1937) opposite Carol Hughes.
In 1938 he returned to his given last name and billed himself as Robert Paige. There he fronted such standard programmers as Highway Patrol (1938), The Main Event (1938) and the serial cliffhanger Flying G-Men (1939). Over at Paramount things went about the same, continuing consistently but without a lot of fanfare, in such films as Emergency Squad (1940) Women Without Names (1940), Golden Gloves (1940) and The Monster and the Girl (1941). He earned his first singing lead with the mini-musical Dancing on a Dime (1940) in which he and co-star Grace McDonald sang the title song. The musical introduced the songs of Burton Lane and Frank Loesser, including "Mañana" (which Peggy Lee later made a signature hit) and the certified hit "I Hear Music."
Paige had his big chance at stardom at Universal in Can't Help Singing (1944) in which he sang "Californ-i-ay" in a duet with the studio's reigning warbler Deanna Durbin. The Gable-esque, often mustachioed baritone co-starred in other Universal musicals where he had plenty of opportunities to display his rich voice such as Hellzapoppin' (1941), Pardon My Sarong (1942), What's Cookin' (1942) and How's About It? (1943) but too often his listless romantic roles were overshadowed by the zany antics of the comic headliners (Abbott & Costello, The Ritz Brothers), the swinging harmonies and steps of The Andrews Sisters, guest musical artists, or the sheer magnetism of his lady co-star such as Durbin and Frances Langford. He fared better in rugged adventures, sprightly comedies, crime yarns and horror opuses, including Son of Dracula (1943) with Lon Chaney Jr. and Fired Wife (1943) with frequent co-star Louise Allbritton.
From 1946 on Paige freelanced. While on tour to promote the movie The Red Stallion (1947), Paige met oil millionaire Glenn McCarthy, who financed the picture The Green Promise (1949) in which Paige produced and starred. By the early 50s, he abandoned films for the most part and sought out TV roles. His well-modulated voice was ideal for hosting/emcee duties and went on to include Bride and Groom (1951) and The Big Payoff (1951) with former "Miss America" Bess Myerson, among his jobs. His last two roles on films were minor bits in The Marriage-Go-Round (1961) and Bye Bye Birdie (1963). From 1966 to 1970 he went full circle, returning to his radio roots as an ABC newscaster in Los Angeles. From there he moved into public relations. Married three times in all, the durable leading man died in 1987.- Simmy Bow was born on 7 June 1921 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for Beetlejuice (1988), Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985) and Rocky (1976). He died on 21 December 1987 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Warren McCollum was born on 30 November 1918 in Manhattan, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Reefer Madness (1936), The Great Commandment (1939) and Naval Academy (1941). He died on 21 December 1987 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Ted Fish was born on 20 December 1919 in Holyoke, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for The Sand Pebbles (1966), The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964) and The Silent Service (1957). He died on 21 December 1987 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Editor
- Editorial Department
- Director
Fred R. Feitshans Jr. was born on 10 September 1909 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an editor and director, known for Wild in the Streets (1968), Arctic Fury (1951) and The Man from Planet X (1951). He died on 21 December 1987 in Studio City, California, USA.- Writer
- Actor
Jacques Sigurd was born on 15 June 1920 in Paris, France. He was a writer and actor, known for Lucrèce Borgia (1953), Hendes store aften (1954) and Secrets of a French Nurse (1958). He died on 21 December 1987 in New York City, New York, USA.