Lang Jeffries
Encyclopedia
Lang Jeffries was a Canadian
-American
actor
of television
and film
who was married to actress Rhonda Fleming
(born 1923) from 1960-1962.
Jeffries was born in Ontario, Canada
. He was living in Michigan
at the time he procured his Social Security number
. Jeffries served in the United States Army
during the Korean War
and was among only three survivors of his 177-man unit that landed in Inchon, South Korea
, in the fall of 1950, in a mass landing conducted by general Douglas MacArthur
.
From 1958-1960, Jeffries procured his first and most successful acting role, that of Skip Johnson, in all seventy-three episodes of the syndicated
adventure
series Rescue 8
, with co-star Jim Davis
(1909-1981) as Wes Cameron. The Screen Gems
program offered heart-warming accounts of difficult rescues completed by the Los Angeles County Fire Department
. Davis was later cast as the indomitable Jock Ewing
of CBS's prime time
soap opera
Dallas
.
In 1960, Jeffries and John McIntire
, later of Wagon Train
, guest starred in the episode "The Most Dangerous Gentleman" in the short-lived NBC
western
series, Overland Trail
starring William Bendix
(1906-1964) and Doug McClure
(1935-1995).
On October 9, 1961, only three months before their divorce
, Jeffries and wife Rhonda Fleming appeared as themselves, married for sixteen months, with Helen O'Connell
in the interview program, Here's Hollywood
. Jeffries, seven years Fleming's junior, was the third of her six husbands.
Jeffries starred as Vibio in the foreign film, La Rivolta degli schiavi, or The Revolt of the Slaves, with Rhonda Fleming cast as Fabiola. In the film, Fabiola gives the order that Vibio be whipped on the back. In a 1962 film, Solo contro Roma, or Vengeance of the Gladiator
, Jeffries, in the role of Brenno, was again whipped on the back.
In 1962, after the breakup of his marriage, Jeffries guest starred in the episode "Elegy of a Hero" in the syndicated series Ripcord
starring Larry Pennell
and Ken Curtis
, who was later cast as Festus Haggen
on CBS's Gunsmoke
.
From 1964-1971, Jeffries appeared in nearly twenty films in France
, Spain
, West Germany
, Italy, and Romania
. He played science fiction hero Perry Rhodan
in Mission Stardust
. His last three American film appearances were in Mean Mother (1974), as Arthur Wheeler in The Junkman
(1982), and as Lieutenant Arthur in Deadline Auto Theft
(1983).
Beginning in the mid-'70s Jeffries managed an art gallery in Huntington Beach owned with his wife Mary. He died at the age of fifty-six in Huntington Beach
in Orange County
, California
.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
-American
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...
of television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
and 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...
who was married to actress Rhonda Fleming
Rhonda Fleming
Rhonda Fleming , is an American film and television actress.She acted in more than 40 films, mostly in the 1940s and 1950s, and became renowned as one of the most beautiful and glamorous actresses of her day...
(born 1923) from 1960-1962.
Jeffries was born in Ontario, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. He was living in Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
at the time he procured his Social Security number
Social Security number
In the United States, a Social Security number is a nine-digit number issued to U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and temporary residents under section 205 of the Social Security Act, codified as . The number is issued to an individual by the Social Security Administration, an independent...
. Jeffries served in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
during the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
and was among only three survivors of his 177-man unit that landed in Inchon, South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
, in the fall of 1950, in a mass landing conducted by general Douglas MacArthur
Douglas MacArthur
General of the Army Douglas MacArthur was an American general and field marshal of the Philippine Army. He was a Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the...
.
From 1958-1960, Jeffries procured his first and most successful acting role, that of Skip Johnson, in all seventy-three episodes of the syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
adventure
Adventure
An adventure is defined as an exciting or unusual experience; it may also be a bold, usually risky undertaking, with an uncertain outcome. The term is often used to refer to activities with some potential for physical danger, such as skydiving, mountain climbing and or participating in extreme sports...
series Rescue 8
Rescue 8
Rescue 8 is a syndicated American action drama series about Los Angeles County Fire Department Rescue Squad Number 8. It premiered in 1958, and originally ran for two seasons with syndicated reruns continuing for almost a decade after. It starred Jim Davis as fireman Wes Cameron, and Lang Jeffries...
, with co-star Jim Davis
Jim Davis (actor)
Jim Davis was an American actor, best known for his role as Jock Ewing in the CBS prime-time soap Dallas, a role which he held up until his death in April 1981.-Biography:...
(1909-1981) as Wes Cameron. The Screen Gems
Screen Gems
Screen Gems is an American movie production company and subsidiary company of Sony Pictures Entertainment's Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group that has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the decades since its incorporation....
program offered heart-warming accounts of difficult rescues completed by the Los Angeles County Fire Department
Los Angeles County Fire Department
The Los Angeles County Fire Department , serves unincorporated parts of Los Angeles County, as well as 58 cities and towns that choose to have the county provide fire and EMS services, including La Habra. It should not be confused with the Los Angeles City Fire Department, which serves the city of...
. Davis was later cast as the indomitable Jock Ewing
Jock Ewing
John Ross Ewing, Sr., better known as Jock Ewing, is a character in the popular American television series Dallas, played by Jim Davis and Dale Midkiff in Dallas: The Early Years...
of CBS's prime time
Prime time
Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast programming during the middle of the evening for television programing.The term prime time is often defined in terms of a fixed time period—for example, from 19:00 to 22:00 or 20:00 to 23:00 Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast...
soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
Dallas
Dallas (TV series)
Dallas is an American serial drama/prime time soap opera that revolves around the Ewings, a wealthy Texas family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries. Throughout the series, Larry Hagman stars as greedy, scheming oil baron J. R. Ewing...
.
In 1960, Jeffries and John McIntire
John McIntire
John McIntire was an American character actor.-Career:The craggy-faced film actor was born in Spokane in eastern Washington State but reared in Montana, growing up around ranchers and cowboys, an experience that would later inspire his performances in dozens of westerns.A graduate of USC, McIntire...
, later of Wagon Train
Wagon Train
Wagon Train is an American Western series that ran on NBC from 1957–62 and then on ABC from 1962–65...
, guest starred in the episode "The Most Dangerous Gentleman" in the short-lived 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...
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...
series, Overland Trail
Overland Trail (TV series)
Overland Trail is a short-lived American Western series which aired on NBC from February 7 to June 6, 1960. The series starred William Bendix and Doug McClure,-Synopsis:...
starring William Bendix
William Bendix
William Bendix was an American film, radio, and television actor, best remembered in movies for the title role in the movie The Babe Ruth Story and for portraying clumsily earnest aircraft plant worker Chester A. Riley in radio and television's The Life of Riley...
(1906-1964) and Doug McClure
Doug McClure
Douglas Osborne "Doug" McClure was an American actor whose career in film and television extended from the 1950s to the 1990s...
(1935-1995).
On October 9, 1961, only three months before their divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
, Jeffries and wife Rhonda Fleming appeared as themselves, married for sixteen months, with Helen O'Connell
Helen O'Connell
Helen O'Connell was an American singer, actress, and dancer.Born in Lima, Ohio, O'Connell joined the Jimmy Dorsey band in 1939 and achieved her best selling records in the early 1940s with "Green Eyes", "Amapola," "Tangerine" and "Yours"...
in the interview program, Here's Hollywood
Here's Hollywood
Here's Hollywood is an American celebrity interview program which aired on weekday afternoons on NBC at 4:30 Eastern time from September 26, 1960, to December 28, 1962.-Overview:...
. Jeffries, seven years Fleming's junior, was the third of her six husbands.
Jeffries starred as Vibio in the foreign film, La Rivolta degli schiavi, or The Revolt of the Slaves, with Rhonda Fleming cast as Fabiola. In the film, Fabiola gives the order that Vibio be whipped on the back. In a 1962 film, Solo contro Roma, or Vengeance of the Gladiator
Gladiator
A gladiator was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their legal and social standing and their lives by appearing in the...
, Jeffries, in the role of Brenno, was again whipped on the back.
In 1962, after the breakup of his marriage, Jeffries guest starred in the episode "Elegy of a Hero" in the syndicated series Ripcord
Ripcord (TV series)
Ripcord is an American syndicated television series that ran for 76 episodes from 1961 to 1963 about the exploits of a skydiving operation by the same name.-Overview:...
starring Larry Pennell
Larry Pennell
Larry "Bud" Pennell , aka Alessandro Pennelli, is an American television and film actor.Born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, he is mainly a supporting actor, best known for his role as "Dash Riprock," the conceited, image-conscious, and macho Hollywood movie star courting "Elly May Clampett" in the...
and Ken Curtis
Ken Curtis
Ken Curtis was an American singer and actor best known for his role as Festus Haggen on the long-running CBS western television series Gunsmoke.-Early years:...
, who was later cast as Festus Haggen
Festus Haggen
Festus Haggen was Marshal Matt Dillon's only official deputy on the CBS television series Gunsmoke. He came to Dodge City in an episode titled "Us Haggens" to avenge the death of his twin brother, Fergus. Played by Ken Curtis, he first appeared in 1962 and was showcased full-time from 1964 until 1975...
on CBS's Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
.
From 1964-1971, Jeffries appeared in nearly twenty films in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
, Italy, and Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
. He played science fiction hero Perry Rhodan
Perry Rhodan
Perry Rhodan is the name of a science fiction series published since 1961 in Germany, as well as the name of the main character. It is a space opera, dealing with several themes of science fiction. Having sold over one billion copies worldwide, it is the most successful science fiction book series...
in Mission Stardust
Mission Stardust
Mission Stardust is a 1967 Italian science fiction film.. It was based on the Perry Rhodan universe, and is considered so appallingly bad that fans of the series playfully deny its very existence.-Plot:...
. His last three American film appearances were in Mean Mother (1974), as Arthur Wheeler in The Junkman
The Junkman
The Junkman is a 1982 independent film which spent two years in production. To make the film, H. B. Halicki used his own personal collection of over 200 cars, toys, and guns - including Eleanor, the star of his 1974 cult classic Gone in 60 Seconds....
(1982), and as Lieutenant Arthur in Deadline Auto Theft
Deadline Auto Theft
Deadline Auto Theft is a 1983 independent film written and directed by H.B 'Toby' Halicki, made up of scenes from Gone in 60 Seconds and The Junkman, as well as new material featuring Hoyt Axton.- Plot :...
(1983).
Beginning in the mid-'70s Jeffries managed an art gallery in Huntington Beach owned with his wife Mary. He died at the age of fifty-six in Huntington Beach
Huntington Beach, California
Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County in Southern California. According to the 2010 census, the city population was 189,992; making it the largest beach city in Orange County in terms of population...
in Orange County
Orange County, California
Orange County is a county in the U.S. state of California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,010,232, up from 2,846,293 at the 2000 census, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and San Diego County...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.