Dick Foran
Encyclopedia
John Nicholas 'Dick' Foran (June 18, 1910 – August 10, 1979) was an American
actor
, known for his performances in western
musicals and for playing supporting roles in dramatic pictures.
, the first of five sons to Arthur F. and Elizabeth Foran. His father Arthur F. Foran
would go on to serve in the New Jersey Senate
, as would his younger brother, Walter E. Foran
. Foran was a bright student while growing up, a good athlete in high school with a fine singing voice and often sang in the church choir
. After graduation he attended the Hun School, a college preparatory school in nearby Princeton
, and then enrolled at Princeton University
pursuing a degree in geology
. He played on the football
team while taking courses in the arts where he develop an interest in the theater.
Foran studied music at the Leibling Studio in New York
before singing on radio. After becoming a lead singer in a band and later forming his own orchestra, Foran was hired by Warner Bros.
as a supporting actor (he was six feet two, with red hair). He would also croon when called upon in film
s such as Change of Heart
(1934) with Janet Gaynor
made for Fox Film Corporation. His handsome appearance and good natured personality made him a natural choice for the supporting cast. He first appeared as a singing cowboy
in his first starring role in Moonlight on the Prairie (1935). Other singing cowboy features included Song of the Saddle
(1936), Guns of the Pecos (1937), Empty Holsters (1937) and Cowboy from Brooklyn
(1938).
In 1938, Foran moved to Universal Studios
and acted in many different genre
s of film from horror
to comedies
with Abbott and Costello
such as Ride 'Em Cowboy
(1942).
In 1943, Foran starred on Broadway
in the Rodgers and Hart
musical comedy A Connecticut Yankee, based on Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
.
He appeared in at least four episodes of Science Fiction Theatre
(1955). One of these, "The Miracle Hour" (aired December 22, 1956), is about a man who never gives up hope that his fiancee's blind
six-year-old son won't have to spend the holidays in darkness. The show featured Jean Byron
as the fiancee and Charles Herbert
as the child. He appeared three times (1955–1956) as Father Brophy on the ABC
anthology series, Crossroads
. He also guest starred as a lawman
in the episode "The Third Rider" in the first season (1957) of the ABC western series Maverick
, with Jack Kelly
.
Throughout his career, he starred in The Petrified Forest
(1936), The Sisters
(1938), Rangers of Fortune (1940), The Mummy's Hand
(1940), and Keep 'Em Flying
(1941). In 1954, Foran guest starred on NBC
's Justice
, a legal drama
starring Dane Clark
and Gary Merrill
, on CBS
's The Public Defender
starring Reed Hadley
and Hugh Beaumont, and on NBC's The Martha Raye Show
, a comedy
/variety show
starring comedienne Martha Raye
.
One of his last movie roles was a small one in Donovan's Reef
(1963), starring his long-time friend John Wayne
. His final film appearance was as the prospector
"Old Timer" in the sentimental film, Brighty of the Grand Canyon
(1967) with Joseph Cotten
, Pat Conway
, and Karl Swenson
.
Foran has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
. He is buried in San Fernando Mission Cemetery
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, known for his performances in western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
musicals and for playing supporting roles in dramatic pictures.
Life and career
Foran was born in Flemington, New JerseyFlemington, New Jersey
Flemington is a borough in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the borough population was 4,581. It is the county seat of Hunterdon County....
, the first of five sons to Arthur F. and Elizabeth Foran. His father Arthur F. Foran
Arthur F. Foran
Arthur Francis Foran was an American Republican Party politician from New Jersey. He served in the New Jersey Senate where he was Senate President.-Biography:...
would go on to serve in the New Jersey Senate
New Jersey Senate
The New Jersey Senate was established as the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature by the Constitution of 1844, replacing the Legislative Council. From 1844 until 1965 New Jersey's counties elected one Senator, each. Under the 1844 Constitution the term of office was three years. The 1947...
, as would his younger brother, Walter E. Foran
Walter E. Foran
Walter Edge "Moose" Foran was an American Republican Party politician from New Jersey, who served in both houses of the New Jersey Legislature. He followed in the footsteps of his father, Arthur F. Foran, who served in the New Jersey Senate.-Biography:Foran was born in Flemington, New Jersey, the...
. Foran was a bright student while growing up, a good athlete in high school with a fine singing voice and often sang in the church choir
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
. After graduation he attended the Hun School, a college preparatory school in nearby Princeton
Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton is a community located in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It is best known as the location of Princeton University, which has been sited in the community since 1756...
, and then enrolled at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
pursuing a degree in geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
. He played on the football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
team while taking courses in the arts where he develop an interest in the theater.
Foran studied music at the Leibling Studio in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
before singing on radio. After becoming a lead singer in a band and later forming his own orchestra, Foran was hired by Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
as a supporting actor (he was six feet two, with red hair). He would also croon when called upon in film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s such as Change of Heart
Change of Heart (1934 film)
Change of Heart is a 1934 American drama film starring Janet Gaynor, Charles Farrell, James Dunn, and Ginger Rogers. The movie, about a quartet of college chums who all move to 1934 New York City, was written by James Gleason and Sonya Levien from Kathleen Norris's novel, Manhattan Love Song and...
(1934) with Janet Gaynor
Janet Gaynor
Janet Gaynor was an American actress and painter.One of the most popular actresses of the silent film era, in 1928 Gaynor became the first winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performances in three films: Seventh Heaven , Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans and Street Angel...
made for Fox Film Corporation. His handsome appearance and good natured personality made him a natural choice for the supporting cast. He first appeared as a singing cowboy
Singing cowboy
A singing cowboy was a subtype of the archetypal cowboy hero of early Western films, popularized by many of the B-movies of the 1930s and 1940s...
in his first starring role in Moonlight on the Prairie (1935). Other singing cowboy features included Song of the Saddle
Song of the Saddle
Song of the Saddle is a 1936 American film starring Dick Foran, Alma Lloyd, Charles Middleton, and featuring an uncredited Sons of the Pioneers with Roy Rogers....
(1936), Guns of the Pecos (1937), Empty Holsters (1937) and Cowboy from Brooklyn
Cowboy from Brooklyn
Cowboy from Brooklyn is a 1938 American musical comedy film starring Pat O'Brien, Dick Powell, Priscilla Lane, Ann Sheridan, and future US President Ronald Reagan.-Plot:...
(1938).
In 1938, Foran moved to Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
and acted in many different genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
s of film from horror
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
to comedies
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
with Abbott and Costello
Abbott and Costello
William "Bud" Abbott and Lou Costello performed together as Abbott and Costello, an American comedy duo whose work on stage, radio, film and television made them the most popular comedy team during the 1940s and 1950s...
such as Ride 'Em Cowboy
Ride 'Em Cowboy
Ride 'Em Cowboy is a 1942 film starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello.-Plot:The author of best-selling western novels, Bronco Bob Mitchell , has never set foot in the west. A newspaper article has exposed this fact to his fans, and his image is suffering because of it. He decides to make...
(1942).
In 1943, Foran starred on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
in the Rodgers and Hart
Rodgers and Hart
Rodgers and Hart were an American songwriting partnership of composer Richard Rodgers and the lyricist Lorenz Hart...
musical comedy A Connecticut Yankee, based on Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is an 1889 novel by American humorist and writer Mark Twain. The book was originally titled A Yankee in King Arthur's Court...
.
He appeared in at least four episodes of Science Fiction Theatre
Science Fiction Theatre
Science Fiction Theatre is an American science fiction anthology series that aired in syndication from April 1955 to April 1957. It was produced by Ivan Tors and Maurice Ziv.-Overview:...
(1955). One of these, "The Miracle Hour" (aired December 22, 1956), is about a man who never gives up hope that his fiancee's blind
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
six-year-old son won't have to spend the holidays in darkness. The show featured Jean Byron
Jean Byron
Jean Byron was an American film, television, and stage actress. She is best known for the role of Natalie Lane, Patty Lane's mother in The Patty Duke Show.-Early life and career:...
as the fiancee and Charles Herbert
Charles Herbert
Charles Herbert is a former American child actor of the 1950s and 1960s. Before reaching his teens, Herbert was renowned by a generation of moviegoers for an on-screen broody, mature style and wit that enabled him to go one-on-one with some of the biggest names in the industry, and his appearances...
as the child. He appeared three times (1955–1956) as Father Brophy on the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
anthology series, Crossroads
Crossroads (1955 TV series)
Crossroads is the title of a 30-minute American television religion drama series which aired from 1955–1957, the first season on ABC and the second via syndication....
. He also guest starred as a lawman
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
in the episode "The Third Rider" in the first season (1957) of the ABC western series Maverick
Maverick (TV series)
Maverick is a western television series with comedic overtones created by Roy Huggins. The show ran from September 22, 1957 to July 8, 1962 on ABC and stars James Garner as Bret Maverick, a cagey, articulate cardsharp. Eight episodes into the first season, he was joined by Jack Kelly as his brother...
, with Jack Kelly
Jack Kelly (actor)
Jack Kelly was an American film and television actor most noted for the role of "Bart Maverick" in the TV series Maverick, which ran on ABC from 1957 to 1962...
.
Throughout his career, he starred in The Petrified Forest
The Petrified Forest
The Petrified Forest is a 1936 American film, starring Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, and Humphrey Bogart. A precursor of film noir, it was adapted from Robert E. Sherwood's 1936 stage play of the same name...
(1936), The Sisters
The Sisters (1938 film)
The Sisters is a 1938 American drama film produced and directed by Anatole Litvak. The screenplay by Milton Krims is based on the 1937 novel of the same title by Myron Brinig.-Plot:...
(1938), Rangers of Fortune (1940), The Mummy's Hand
The Mummy's Hand
The Mummy's Hand is a black-and-white horror film, produced by Ben Pivar for Universal Studios. Although it is sometimes claimed by fans as a sequel or follow-up to the 1932 film The Mummy, it does not continue the 1932 film's storyline, or feature any of the same characters, and its plot...
(1940), and Keep 'Em Flying
Keep 'Em Flying
-Plot:Jinx Roberts is a stunt pilot and his assistants are Blackie and Heathcliffe . All three are fired from the carnival and air show that they work for after a disagreement. Jinx decides that he should join the Army Air Force, so they go to a nightclub to party one last time. While there...
(1941). In 1954, Foran guest starred on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's Justice
Justice (1954 TV series)
Justice is an NBC half-hour drama television series about attorneys of the Legal Aid Society of New York, which aired from April 8, 1954 to March 25, 1956. In the 1954-1955 season, Justice starred Dane Clark as Richard Adams and Gary Merrill as Jason Tyler. In the 1955-1956 season, William Prince...
, a legal drama
Legal drama
A legal drama is a work of dramatic fiction about crime and civil litigation. Subtypes of legal dramas include courtroom dramas and legal thrillers, and come in all forms, including novels, television shows, and films. Legal drama sometimes overlap with crime drama, most notably in the case of Law...
starring Dane Clark
Dane Clark
Dane Clark was an American film actor who was known for playing, as he labeled himself, "Joe Average".-Early life:...
and Gary Merrill
Gary Merrill
Gary Fred Merrill was an American film and television character actor whose credits included more than fifty feature films, a half-dozen mostly short-lived TV series, and dozens of television guest appearances....
, on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
's The Public Defender
The Public Defender (TV series)
The Public Defender is a half-hour 69-episode television dramatic series starring Reed Hadley as Bart Matthews, an attorney for the indigent. The series aired on CBS from March 11, 1954 to June 23, 1955, a season and a half.-Premise:...
starring Reed Hadley
Reed Hadley
Reed Hadley was an American movie, television and radio actor.Reed Hadley was born Reed Herring in Petrolia in Clay County near Wichita Falls, Texas, to Bert Herring, an oil well driller, and his wife Minnie. Hadley had one sister, Bess Brenner. He was reared in Buffalo, New York...
and Hugh Beaumont, and on NBC's The Martha Raye Show
The Martha Raye Show
The Martha Raye Show is an hour-long comedy/variety show which aired live on NBC from January 23, 1954, to May 29, 1956. The series was hosted by the late Martha Raye, a Montana native, who often called herself "The Big Mouth." Her boyfriend on the program and a foil for her humor was portrayed by...
, a comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
/variety show
Variety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
starring comedienne Martha Raye
Martha Raye
Martha Raye was an American comic actress and standards singer who performed in movies, and later on television....
.
One of his last movie roles was a small one in Donovan's Reef
Donovan's Reef
Donovan's Reef is a 1963 American film starring John Wayne. It was directed John Ford and filmed on location on Kauai, Hawaii.The cast included Elizabeth Allen, Lee Marvin, Dorothy Lamour, and Cesar Romero. The film marked the last time Ford and Wayne ever worked together on a...
(1963), starring his long-time friend John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
. His final film appearance was as the prospector
Prospecting
Prospecting is the physical search for minerals, fossils, precious metals or mineral specimens, and is also known as fossicking.Prospecting is a small-scale form of mineral exploration which is an organised, large scale effort undertaken by mineral resource companies to find commercially viable ore...
"Old Timer" in the sentimental film, Brighty of the Grand Canyon
Brighty of the Grand Canyon
Brighty of the Grand Canyon is a 1967 film based on a 1953 children's novel of the same name by Marguerite Henry, a fictionalized account of a real-life burro named "Brighty", who lived in the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River from about 1892-1922....
(1967) with Joseph Cotten
Joseph Cotten
Joseph Cheshire Cotten was an American actor of stage and film. Cotten achieved prominence on Broadway, starring in the original productions of The Philadelphia Story and Sabrina Fair...
, Pat Conway
Pat Conway
Patrick Douglas Conway, known as Pat Conway , was an American actor best known for his role as young but tough Sheriff Clay Hollister on the ABC and then syndicated western television series Tombstone Territory . He was a maternal grandson of silent film star Francis X...
, and Karl Swenson
Karl Swenson
Karl Swenson was an American theatre, radio, film, and television actor.-Biography:Born in Brooklyn, New York of Swedish parentage, Swenson made several appearances with Pierre-Luc Michaud on Broadway in the 1930s and 40s, including the title role in Arthur Miller's first production, The Man Who...
.
Foran has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
. He is buried in San Fernando Mission Cemetery
San Fernando Mission Cemetery
The San Fernando Mission Cemetery is a Catholic cemetery located at 11160 Stranwood Avenue in the Mission Hills community of the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California, near the San Fernando Mission....
.