Lyle Talbot
Encyclopedia
Lyle Talbot born Lisle Henderson, was an American
actor on stage and screen, best known for his long career in movies from 1931 to 1960 and for his frequent appearances on TV in the 1950s and '60s, including his decade-long role as Joe Randolph on television's The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
.
He began his movie career under contract to Warner Brothers in the early days of "talking pictures"
and went on to appear in more than 150 films, first as a young matinée idol and later as a character actor and star of many B movies. He was a founding member of the Screen Actors Guild
(SAG) and later served on the board.
. He first began his career as a magician's assistant and became a leading actor in traveling tent shows in the Midwest and established his own theater company in Memphis. He then went to Hollywood when the film industry began producing movies with sound and needed "actors who could talk".
(1932) with Humphrey Bogart
and Bette Davis
, co-starring with Spencer Tracy
in the prison movie 20,000 Years in Sing Sing
, romancing opera singer Grace Moore
in One Night of Love, and pursuing Mae West
in Go West, Young Man. He appeared opposite many famous actresses including Carole Lombard
, Barbara Stanwyck
, Mary Astor
, Ginger Rogers
, and Shirley Temple
.
Talbot's activism in union affairs affected his career path. Warner Bros. dropped him from its roster, and Talbot seldom received starring roles again. He became a capable character actor, playing affable neighbors or crafty villains with equal finesse. In countless low-budget B-movie work, Talbot's roles spanned the gamut. He played cowboys, pirates, detectives, cops, surgeons, psychiatrists, soldiers, judges, newspaper editors, storekeepers, and boxers. In later life he proudly claimed to have never rejected any role offered to him, which explains his participation in three infamous Edward D. Wood, Jr. films: Glen or Glenda, Jail Bait and Plan 9 from Outer Space
. Talbot also worked with the Three Stooges
in Gold Raiders
, portrayed Lex Luthor
in 1950's Atom Man vs. Superman
, played villains in four comedies with The Bowery Boys
, and took the role of Commissioner Gordon
in the 1949 serial Batman and Robin
. His last movie role was in the Franklin D. Roosevelt
biography, Sunrise at Campobello
, in 1960.
As his film career tapered off, Talbot became a familiar character actor on American television in the 1950s and 1960s as a regular on Ozzie and Harriet.
Talbot had a recurring role as Robert Cummings
' United States Air Force
buddy Paul Fonda on The Bob Cummings Show
. Talbot also guest starred frequently on such classic TV series as It's a Great Life
, The Public Defender
, The Pride of the Family
, The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, The Restless Gun
, Leave It to Beaver
, The Lone Ranger
, The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
, Topper
, The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin
, Perry Mason
, Rawhide
, Wagon Train
, The Beverly Hillbillies
, Green Acres
, Charlie's Angels
, Newhart
, The Dukes of Hazzard
, St. Elsewhere
, and Who's the Boss?
.
He appeared three times as Colonel Billings on the syndicated
western
series, The Adventures of Kit Carson
(1951–1955), starring Bill Williams
. He appeared four times a judge on the syndicated western The Cisco Kid
, starring Duncan Renaldo
and Leo Carrillo
. He appeared on Gene Autry
's The Range Rider
, starring Jock Mahoney
and Dick Jones.
Having started his career in the theater and later co-starred on Broadway
in 1940-41 in Separate Rooms, Talbot returned to the stage in the 1960s and 1970s, starring in national road company versions of Thornton Wilder
's The Matchmaker
, Gore Vidal
's political drama The Best Man
, Neil Simon
's The Odd Couple
and Barefoot in the Park
, Arthur Sumner Long's "Never Too Late," and appearing as Capt. Braddock in a 1967 revival of South Pacific
, at New York's Lincoln Center
.
He continued to appear occasionally on TV shows well into his 80s, and narrated two PBS biographies, The Case of Dashiell Hammett and World Without Walls about pioneering pilot Beryl Markham
, both produced and written by his son, Stephen Talbot
.
Talbot was the first live action actor to play two prominent DC Comics
characters on-screen: the aforementioned Commissioner Gordon in Batman and Robin
, and supervillain
Lex Luthor
in Atom Man vs. Superman
(who at the time was simply known as Luthor). Talbot began a longstanding tradition of actors in these roles that were most recently filled by Gary Oldman
and Kevin Spacey
, respectively.
s: Stephen Talbot
(who also played Gilbert Bates on Leave It to Beaver
) was for many years a documentary
producer for the PBS series Frontline and "Frontline World" and is now the executive producer of "Sound Tracks: Music Without Borders." David
is an author ("Brothers" about John and Robert Kennedy) and the founder and editor of Salon.com
, and Margaret is a staff writer for The New Yorker
. His other daughter, Cynthia Talbot, is a family physician and residency director in Portland, Oregon. After several brief marriages and countless romantic entanglements, Talbot in 1948 married a young singer and actress, Margaret Epple, who often used the stage name, Paula. They had four children together and remained married for over 40 years until her death in 1989.
Into his nineties he remained sharp and alert, and was a delightful raconteur, regaling fans at conventions with anecdotes about friends and colleagues in the movie industry. He died in 1996 at his home in San Francisco, California
, aged 94.
Talbot's granddaughter, Caitlin Talbot, is an actress based in Los Angeles.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor on stage and screen, best known for his long career in movies from 1931 to 1960 and for his frequent appearances on TV in the 1950s and '60s, including his decade-long role as Joe Randolph on television's The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet is an American sitcom, airing on ABC from October 3, 1952 to September 3, 1966, starring the real life Nelson family. After a long run on radio, the show was brought to television where it continued its success, running on both radio and TV for a couple of years...
.
He began his movie career under contract to Warner Brothers in the early days of "talking pictures"
Sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades would pass before sound motion pictures were made commercially...
and went on to appear in more than 150 films, first as a young matinée idol and later as a character actor and star of many B movies. He was a founding member of the Screen Actors Guild
Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide...
(SAG) and later served on the board.
Early career
Born in Pittsburgh, Lyle Talbot was raised in NebraskaNebraska
Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
. He first began his career as a magician's assistant and became a leading actor in traveling tent shows in the Midwest and established his own theater company in Memphis. He then went to Hollywood when the film industry began producing movies with sound and needed "actors who could talk".
Career
Most notable among his film work: his appearance in the classic pre-noir Three on a MatchThree on a Match
Three on a Match is a Warner Bros. drama film directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starring Joan Blondell, Ann Dvorak and Bette Davis. The film also features Warren William, Lyle Talbot, Humphrey Bogart , Allen Jenkins and Edward Arnold.-Plot:Three friends from childhood, Mary , Ruth , and Vivian , meet...
(1932) with Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
and Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
, co-starring with Spencer Tracy
Spencer Tracy
Spencer Bonaventure Tracy was an American theatrical and film actor, who appeared in 75 films from 1930 to 1967. Tracy was one of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, ranking among the top ten box office draws for almost every year from 1938 to 1951...
in the prison movie 20,000 Years in Sing Sing
20,000 Years in Sing Sing
20,000 Years in Sing Sing is a 1932 American black-and-white drama film set in Sing Sing Penitentary, the notorious maximum security prison in New York State. This movie was directed by Michael Curtiz, and it starred the noted actors Spencer Tracy as the main convict, and Bette Davis as his...
, romancing opera singer Grace Moore
Grace Moore
Grace Moore was an American operatic soprano and actress in musical theatre and film. She was nicknamed the "Tennessee Nightingale." Her films helped to popularize opera by bringing it to a larger audience.-Early life:...
in One Night of Love, and pursuing Mae West
Mae West
Mae West was an American actress, playwright, screenwriter and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned seven decades....
in Go West, Young Man. He appeared opposite many famous actresses including Carole Lombard
Carole Lombard
Carole Lombard was an American actress. She was particularly noted for her comedic roles in the screwball comedies of the 1930s...
, Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck was an American actress. She was a film and television star, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra...
, Mary Astor
Mary Astor
Mary Astor was an American actress. Most remembered for her role as Brigid O'Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon with Humphrey Bogart, Astor began her long motion picture career as a teenager in the silent movies of the early 1920s.She eventually made a successful transition to talkies, but almost...
, Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the 20th century....
, and Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple Black , born Shirley Jane Temple, is an American film and television actress, singer, dancer, autobiographer, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia...
.
Talbot's activism in union affairs affected his career path. Warner Bros. dropped him from its roster, and Talbot seldom received starring roles again. He became a capable character actor, playing affable neighbors or crafty villains with equal finesse. In countless low-budget B-movie work, Talbot's roles spanned the gamut. He played cowboys, pirates, detectives, cops, surgeons, psychiatrists, soldiers, judges, newspaper editors, storekeepers, and boxers. In later life he proudly claimed to have never rejected any role offered to him, which explains his participation in three infamous Edward D. Wood, Jr. films: Glen or Glenda, Jail Bait and Plan 9 from Outer Space
Plan 9 from Outer Space
Plan 9 from Outer Space is a 1959 science fiction film written and directed by Edward D. Wood, Jr. The film features Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Tor Johnson and Maila "Vampira" Nurmi...
. Talbot also worked with the Three Stooges
Three Stooges
The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy act of the early to mid–20th century best known for their numerous short subject films. Their hallmark was physical farce and extreme slapstick. In films, the Stooges were commonly known by their first names: "Moe, Larry, and Curly" and "Moe,...
in Gold Raiders
Gold Raiders
Gold Raiders is a comedy Western film, directed by Edward Bernds with a script by B-movie writer William Lively and veteran comedy writer Elwood Ullman. The film was an attempt by independent producer Bernard Glasser to inaugurate a new western series starring George O'Brien, the lead in F. W....
, portrayed Lex Luthor
Lex Luthor
Lex Luthor is a fictional character, a supervillain who appears in comic books published by DC Comics, and the archenemy of Superman, although given his high status as a supervillain, he has also come into conflict with Batman and other superheroes in the DC Universe. Created by Jerry Siegel and...
in 1950's Atom Man vs. Superman
Atom Man vs. Superman
Atom Man vs. Superman , Columbia's 43rd serial, finds Lex Luthor , secretly the Atom Man, blackmailing the city of Metropolis by threatening to destroy the entire community...
, played villains in four comedies with The Bowery Boys
The Bowery Boys
The Bowery Boys were fictional New York City characters who were the subject of feature films released by Monogram Pictures from 1946 through 1958....
, and took the role of Commissioner Gordon
James Gordon (comics)
James Worthington Gordon, Sr. is a fictional character, an ally of Batman that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane...
in the 1949 serial Batman and Robin
Batman and Robin (serial)
Batman and Robin is a 15-chapter serial released in 1949 by Columbia Pictures. Robert Lowery played Batman, while Johnny Duncan played Robin...
. His last movie role was in the Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
biography, Sunrise at Campobello
Sunrise at Campobello
Sunrise at Campobello is a 1960 American biographical film made by Dore Schary Productions and Warner Bros. It tells the story of the initial struggle by future President of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his family when he was stricken with paralysis at the age of 39 in August...
, in 1960.
As his film career tapered off, Talbot became a familiar character actor on American television in the 1950s and 1960s as a regular on Ozzie and Harriet.
Talbot had a recurring role as Robert Cummings
Robert Cummings
Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings , mostly known professionally as Robert Cummings but sometimes as Bob Cummings, was an American film and television actor....
' United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
buddy Paul Fonda on The Bob Cummings Show
The Bob Cummings Show
The Bob Cummings Show is an American sitcom starring Robert "Bob" Cummings which was produced from January 2, 1955 to September 15, 1959, and originally sponsored by R.J. Reynolds' Winston cigarettes...
. Talbot also guest starred frequently on such classic TV series as It's a Great Life
It's a Great Life
It's a Great Life is an American situation comedy which aired on NBC from 1954 to 1956...
, 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:...
, The Pride of the Family
The Pride of the Family
The Pride of the Family was a half-hour situation comedy starring Paul Hartman, Fay Wray, Natalie Wood, and Robert Hyatt, which aired for forty episodes on ABC in the 1953–1954 season....
, The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, The Restless Gun
The Restless Gun
The Restless Gun is a western television series that appeared on NBC between 1957 and 1959, with John Payne in the role of Vint Bonner, a wandering cowboy in the era after the American Civil War. A skilled gunfighter, Bonner is an idealistic person who prefers peaceful resolutions of conflict...
, Leave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver is an American television situation comedy about an inquisitive but often naïve boy named Theodore "The Beaver" Cleaver and his adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood...
, The Lone Ranger
The Lone Ranger
The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked Texas Ranger who, with his Native American companion Tonto, fights injustice in the American Old West. The character has become an enduring icon of American culture....
, The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok is an American Western television series which ran for eight seasons from 1951 through 1958. The Screen Gems series began in syndication, but ran on CBS from 1955 through 1958, and, at the same time, on ABC from 1957 through 1958.-Synopsis:The Adventures of Wild...
, Topper
Topper (TV series)
Topper is an American fantasy sitcom based on the 1937 film of the same name. The series was broadcast on CBS from October 9, 1953 to July 15, 1955, and stars Leo G. Carroll in the title role.-Synopsis:...
, The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin
The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin
The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin is an American children's television program which originally aired in 166 episodes on ABC from October 1954 until August 1959. It starred child actor Lee Aaker as Rusty, a boy orphaned in an Indian raid, who was being raised by the soldiers at a US Cavalry post known...
, Perry Mason
Perry Mason (TV series)
Perry Mason is an American legal drama produced by Paisano Productions that ran from September 1957 to May 1966 on CBS. The title character, portrayed by Raymond Burr, is a fictional Los Angeles defense attorney who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner...
, Rawhide
Rawhide (TV series)
Rawhide is an American Western series that aired for eight seasons on the CBS network on Friday nights, from January 9, 1959 to September 3, 1965, before moving to Tuesday nights from September 14, 1965 until January 4, 1966, with a total of 217 black-and-white episodes...
, 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...
, The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for nine seasons on CBS from 1962 to 1971, starring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer, Jr....
, Green Acres
Green Acres
Green Acres is an American television series starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a couple who move from New York City to a country farm...
, Charlie's Angels
Charlie's Angels
Charlie's Angels is a television series about three women who work for a private investigation agency, and is one of the first shows to showcase women in roles traditionally reserved for men...
, Newhart
Newhart
Newhart is a television situation comedy starring comedian Bob Newhart and actress Mary Frann as an author and wife who owned and operated an inn located in a small, rural Vermont town that was home to many eccentric characters. The show aired on the CBS network from October 25, 1982 to May 21, 1990...
, The Dukes of Hazzard
The Dukes of Hazzard
The Dukes of Hazzard is an American television series that aired on the CBS television network from 1979 to 1985.The series was inspired by the 1975 film Moonrunners, which was also created by Gy Waldron and had many identical or similar character names and concepts.- Overview :The Dukes of Hazzard...
, St. Elsewhere
St. Elsewhere
St. Elsewhere is an American medical drama television series that originally ran on NBC from October 26, 1982 to May 25, 1988. The series is set at fictional St. Eligius, a decaying urban teaching hospital in Boston's South End neighborhood...
, and Who's the Boss?
Who's the Boss?
Who's the Boss? is an American sitcom created by Martin Cohan and Blake Hunter, which aired on ABC from September 20, 1984 to April 25, 1992...
.
He appeared three times as Colonel Billings on 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...
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, The Adventures of Kit Carson
The Adventures of Kit Carson
The Adventures of Kit Carson is an American Western series that aired in syndication from August 1951 to November 1955, originally sponsored by Coca-Cola. It stars Bill Williams in the title role as frontier scout Christopher "Kit" Carson...
(1951–1955), starring Bill Williams
Bill Williams (actor)
Bill Williams was an American television and film actor. He is best known for his starring role in the early 1950 television show The Adventures of Kit Carson.-Career:...
. He appeared four times a judge on the syndicated western The Cisco Kid
The Cisco Kid (TV series)
The Cisco Kid is a half-hour American Western television series starring Duncan Renaldo in the title role, The Cisco Kid, and Leo Carrillo as the jovial sidekick, Pancho...
, starring Duncan Renaldo
Duncan Renaldo
Renault Renaldo Duncan , better known as Duncan Renaldo, was an American actor who portrayed The Cisco Kid in films and on the 1950-1956 American TV series, The Cisco Kid.-Early years:...
and Leo Carrillo
Leo Carrillo
Leopoldo Antonio Carrillo , was an American actor, vaudevillian, political cartoonist, and conservationist.-Family roots:...
. He appeared on Gene Autry
Gene Autry
Orvon Grover Autry , better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s...
's The Range Rider
The Range Rider
The Range Rider is an American Western television series that aired in syndication from 1951-1953. A single lost episode was first shown in 1959...
, starring Jock Mahoney
Jock Mahoney
Jock Mahoney was an American actor and stuntman of Irish, French, and Cherokee ancestry. Born Jacques O'Mahoney, he was credited variously as Jock Mahoney, Jack O'Mahoney or Jock O'Mahoney. He starred in two television series, both westerns...
and Dick Jones.
Having started his career in the theater and later co-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 1940-41 in Separate Rooms, Talbot returned to the stage in the 1960s and 1970s, starring in national road company versions of Thornton Wilder
Thornton Wilder
Thornton Niven Wilder was an American playwright and novelist. He received three Pulitzer Prizes, one for his novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey and two for his plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth, and a National Book Award for his novel The Eighth Day.-Early years:Wilder was born in Madison,...
's The Matchmaker
The Matchmaker
The Matchmaker is a play by Thornton Wilder.The play has a long and colorful history. John Oxenford's 1835 one-act farce A Day Well Spent had been extended into a full-length play entitled Einen Jux will er sich machen by Austrian playwright Johann Nestroy in 1842...
, Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal is an American author, playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and political activist. His third novel, The City and the Pillar , outraged mainstream critics as one of the first major American novels to feature unambiguous homosexuality...
's political drama The Best Man
The Best Man (1964 film)
The Best Man is a 1964 film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner with a screenplay by Gore Vidal based on his play of the same title. Starring Henry Fonda, Cliff Robertson, and Lee Tracy, the film details the seamy political maneuverings behind the nomination of a presidential candidate...
, Neil Simon
Neil Simon
Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...
's The Odd Couple
The Odd Couple
The Odd Couple is a 1965 Broadway play by Neil Simon, followed by a successful film and television series, as well as other derivative works and spin offs, many featuring one or more of the same actors. The plot concerns two mismatched roommates, one neat and uptight, the other more easygoing and...
and Barefoot in the Park
Barefoot in the Park
This article is about the Broadway production. For the film adaptation see Barefoot in the Park .Barefoot in the Park is a romantic comedy by Neil Simon. The original Broadway production, directed by Mike Nichols, opened October 23, 1963, with the four lead roles taken by actors Elizabeth Ashley ,...
, Arthur Sumner Long's "Never Too Late," and appearing as Capt. Braddock in a 1967 revival of South Pacific
South Pacific (musical)
South Pacific is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. The story draws from James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1947 book Tales of the South Pacific, weaving together characters and elements from several of its...
, at New York's Lincoln Center
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of New York City's Upper West Side. Reynold Levy has been its president since 2002.-History and facilities:...
.
He continued to appear occasionally on TV shows well into his 80s, and narrated two PBS biographies, The Case of Dashiell Hammett and World Without Walls about pioneering pilot Beryl Markham
Beryl Markham
Beryl Markham was a British-born Kenyan aviatrix, adventurer, and racehorse trainer. During the pioneer days of aviation, she became the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic from east to west...
, both produced and written by his son, Stephen Talbot
Stephen Talbot
Stephen Henderson Talbot is an award-winning TV reporter, writer, and producer who began his career as a television child actor of the late 1950s and early 1960s...
.
Talbot was the first live action actor to play two prominent DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
characters on-screen: the aforementioned Commissioner Gordon in Batman and Robin
Batman and Robin (serial)
Batman and Robin is a 15-chapter serial released in 1949 by Columbia Pictures. Robert Lowery played Batman, while Johnny Duncan played Robin...
, and supervillain
Supervillain
A supervillain or supervillainess is a variant of the villain character type, commonly found in comic books, action movies and science fiction in various media.They are sometimes used as foils to superheroes and other fictional heroes...
Lex Luthor
Lex Luthor
Lex Luthor is a fictional character, a supervillain who appears in comic books published by DC Comics, and the archenemy of Superman, although given his high status as a supervillain, he has also come into conflict with Batman and other superheroes in the DC Universe. Created by Jerry Siegel and...
in Atom Man vs. Superman
Atom Man vs. Superman
Atom Man vs. Superman , Columbia's 43rd serial, finds Lex Luthor , secretly the Atom Man, blackmailing the city of Metropolis by threatening to destroy the entire community...
(who at the time was simply known as Luthor). Talbot began a longstanding tradition of actors in these roles that were most recently filled by Gary Oldman
Gary Oldman
Gary Leonard Oldman is an English actor, voice actor, filmmaker and musician.A member of the 1980s Brit Pack, Oldman came to prominence via starring roles in British films Meantime , Sid and Nancy and Prick Up Your Ears , with his performance in the latter bringing him his first BAFTA Award...
and Kevin Spacey
Kevin Spacey
Kevin Spacey, CBE is an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and crooner. He grew up in California, and began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s, before being cast in supporting roles in film and television...
, respectively.
Personal life
Three of his four children became journalistJournalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
s: Stephen Talbot
Stephen Talbot
Stephen Henderson Talbot is an award-winning TV reporter, writer, and producer who began his career as a television child actor of the late 1950s and early 1960s...
(who also played Gilbert Bates on Leave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver is an American television situation comedy about an inquisitive but often naïve boy named Theodore "The Beaver" Cleaver and his adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood...
) was for many years a documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
producer for the PBS series Frontline and "Frontline World" and is now the executive producer of "Sound Tracks: Music Without Borders." David
David Talbot
David Talbot is a progressive journalist, bestselling author and media entrepreneur. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of one of the first web magazines, Salon.com...
is an author ("Brothers" about John and Robert Kennedy) and the founder and editor of Salon.com
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
, and Margaret is a staff writer for The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
. His other daughter, Cynthia Talbot, is a family physician and residency director in Portland, Oregon. After several brief marriages and countless romantic entanglements, Talbot in 1948 married a young singer and actress, Margaret Epple, who often used the stage name, Paula. They had four children together and remained married for over 40 years until her death in 1989.
Into his nineties he remained sharp and alert, and was a delightful raconteur, regaling fans at conventions with anecdotes about friends and colleagues in the movie industry. He died in 1996 at his home in San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, aged 94.
Talbot's granddaughter, Caitlin Talbot, is an actress based in Los Angeles.
Partial filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Other notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1932 | Love Is a Racket Love Is a Racket Love Is a Racket is a romantic comedy drama 1932 film starring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Ann Dvorak. The movie was written by Courtney Terrett from the novel by Rian James, and directed by William A. Wellman.... |
Edw. Griswold 'Eddie' Shaw | Alternative title: Such Things Happen | |
| No More Orchids No More Orchids No More Orchids is a 1932 drama film starring Carole Lombard and Lyle Talbot as mismatched lovers, based on the novel of the same name by Grace Perkins.-Plot:... |
Tony Holt | |||
| 20,000 Years in Sing Sing 20,000 Years in Sing Sing 20,000 Years in Sing Sing is a 1932 American black-and-white drama film set in Sing Sing Penitentary, the notorious maximum security prison in New York State. This movie was directed by Michael Curtiz, and it starred the noted actors Spencer Tracy as the main convict, and Bette Davis as his... |
Bud Saunders | |||
| 1933 | The Life of Jimmy Dolan The Life of Jimmy Dolan The Life of Jimmy Dolan is a 1933 starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Loretta Young. It features John Wayne in a small supporting role as a frightened boxer. It was remade in 1939 as They Made Me a Criminal.-Cast:* Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as Jimmy Dolan* Loretta Young as Peggy* Aline MacMahon as... |
Doc Woods | ||
| A Shriek in the Night A Shriek in the Night A Shriek in the Night is a 1933 American comedy horror film starring Ginger Rogers, Lyle Talbot, and Harvey Clark.-Plot Outline:Rival newspaper reporters Pat Morgan and Ted Kord find themselves unravelling the mystery behind the death of a millionaire philanthropist who fell from his penthouse... |
Ted Kord | |||
| 1934 | Heat Lightning Heat Lightning (film) Heat Lightning is a 1934 drama film starring Aline MacMahon, Ann Dvorak, and Preston Foster. It is based on the play of the same name by Leon Abrams and George Abbott.... |
Jeff | ||
| Fog Over Frisco Fog Over Frisco Fog Over Frisco is a 1934 American drama film directed by William Dieterle. The screenplay by Robert N. Lee and Eugene Solow was based on the short story The Five Fragments by George Dyer.-Plot:... |
Spencer Carlton | |||
| The Dragon Murder Case | Dale Leland | |||
| 1935 | Oil for the Lamps of China Oil for the Lamps of China (film) Oil for the Lamps of China is a 1935 drama film starring Pat O'Brien and Josephine Hutchinson. It is based on the novel of the same name by Alice Tisdale Hobart. A man blindly puts his faith in his employer.-Plot:... |
Jim | ||
| Page Miss Glory | Slattery of the Express | |||
| The Case of the Lucky Legs The Case of the Lucky Legs The Case of the Lucky Legs is a 1935 mystery film, the third in a series of Perry Mason films starring Warren William as the famed lawyer.-Plot:A woman wins a contest, but has trouble collecting her prize when the promoter turns up dead.-Cast:... |
Dr. Bob Doray | |||
| 1937 | Second Honeymoon Second Honeymoon (film) Second Honeymoon is a 1937 romantic comedy film starring Tyrone Power and Loretta Young.... |
Robert "Bob" Benton | ||
| 1939 | Second Fiddle Second Fiddle (1939 film) Second Fiddle is a 1939 American musical romance film directed by Sidney Lanfield and starring Sonja Henie, Tyrone Power, Rudy Vallee and Lyle Talbot. The score was composed by Irving Berlin. A Hollywood publicity agent falls in love with a new actress he helped to discover. The film parodies the... |
Willie Hogger | ||
| 1940 | He Married His Wife He Married His Wife He Married His Wife is a 1940 film about a race horse owner who wants his ex-wife to remarry so he'll no longer have to pay alimony... |
Paul Hunter | ||
| 1944 | Gambler's Choice Gambler's Choice Gambler's Choice is a 1944 film starring Chester Morris and Nancy Kelly. The movie was directed by Frank McDonald.- Plot summary :Two men and a woman who were close friends as children meet again as adults and an unforeseen rivalry for the woman's attentions ensues.-Cast:*Chester Morris as Ross... |
Yellow Gloves Weldon | ||
| Sensations of 1945 Sensations of 1945 Sensations of 1945 is a 1944 American musical-comedy film which was released by United Artists.This film was an attempt to recapture the ensemble style of films such as Broadway Melody of 1936 by showcasing a number of top musical and comedy acts of the day, in a film linked together by a loose... |
Randall | |||
| 1946 | Chick Carter, Detective Chick Carter, Detective Chick Carter, Detective is a 1946 Columbia film serial. Columbia could not afford the rights to produce a Nick Carter serial so they made Chick Carter, Detective about his son instead. This was based on the radio series Chick Carter, Boy Detective... |
Chick Carter | ||
| 1949 | Batman and Robin Batman and Robin (serial) Batman and Robin is a 15-chapter serial released in 1949 by Columbia Pictures. Robert Lowery played Batman, while Johnny Duncan played Robin... |
Commissioner Jim Gordon | ||
| She Shoulda Said No! She Shoulda Said No! "She Shoulda Said 'No'!" is a 1949 exploitation film that follows in the spirit of morality tales such as the 1936 films Reefer Madness and Marihuana... |
Police Captain Hayes | |||
| 1950 | Dick Tracy | B.R. Ayne aka The Brain | TV, 7 episodes | |
| Atom Man vs. Superman Atom Man vs. Superman Atom Man vs. Superman , Columbia's 43rd serial, finds Lex Luthor , secretly the Atom Man, blackmailing the city of Metropolis by threatening to destroy the entire community... |
Luthor/The Atom Man | |||
| Lucky Losers Lucky Losers Lucky Losers is a 1950 comedy film starring The Bowery Boys. The film was released on May 14, 1950 by Monogram Pictures and is the eighteenth film in the series. It had the working title of High Stakes.-Synopsis:... |
Bruce McDermott | |||
| 1950–1954 | The Cisco Kid | Various roles | TV, 4 episodes | |
| 1950–1956 | The Lone Ranger | Various roles | TV, 5 episodes | |
| 1951 | Gold Raiders Gold Raiders Gold Raiders is a comedy Western film, directed by Edward Bernds with a script by B-movie writer William Lively and veteran comedy writer Elwood Ullman. The film was an attempt by independent producer Bernard Glasser to inaugurate a new western series starring George O'Brien, the lead in F. W.... |
Taggert | Alternative title: The Stooges Go West | |
| 1951–1956 | The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok is an American Western television series which ran for eight seasons from 1951 through 1958. The Screen Gems series began in syndication, but ran on CBS from 1955 through 1958, and, at the same time, on ABC from 1957 through 1958.-Synopsis:The Adventures of Wild... |
Various roles | TV, 4 episodes | |
| 1952 | Untamed Women Untamed Women Untamed Women is a 1952 United States science fiction film written by George Wallace Sayre and directed by W. Merle Connell. An American bomber pilot is rescued after drifting at sea during World War II... |
Col. Loring | ||
| Death Valley Days Death Valley Days Death Valley Days is an American radio and television anthology series featuring true stories of the old American West, particularly the Death Valley area. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program was broadcast on radio until 1945. It continued from 1952 to 1975 as a syndicated television series... |
TV, 1 episode | |||
| 1953 | Glen or Glenda | Insp. Warren | ||
| The Roy Rogers Show The Roy Rogers Show The Roy Rogers Show is an American Western television series that broadcast 100 episodes on NBC for six seasons between December 30, 1951 and June 9, 1957. The show starred Roy Rogers as a ranch owner, Dale Evans as the proprietor of the Eureka Cafe in fictional Mineral City, and Pat Brady as... |
John Zachary | TV, 1 episode | ||
| 1954 | Gunfighters of the Northwest Gunfighters of the Northwest Gunfighters of the Northwest was the 53rd serial released by Columbia Pictures. Its was enterily filmed on location at Big Bear Lake, California, USA, and not a single scene was filmed in indoors setting-Plot:NW Mounted Police Sgt... |
Inspector Wheeler | ||
| Tobor the Great Tobor the Great Tobor the Great is a 1954 science fiction film, written by Carl Dudley & Philip MacDonald, and directed by Lee Sholem. It stars Charles Drake, Karin Booth, and Billy Chapin. The film was released on DVD on May 13, 2008 by Lionsgate Home Entertainment.Dr... |
An Admiral | |||
| 1954–1958 | December Bride December Bride December Bride is an American sitcom that aired on the CBS television network from 1954 to 1959, adapted from the original CBS radio network series that aired from June 1952 through September 1953.-Overview:... |
Bill Monahan | TV, 6 episodes | |
| 1955 | Hallmark Hall of Fame Hallmark Hall of Fame Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The second longest-running television program in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2011... |
TV, 1 episode | ||
| Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe is a science fiction television series or serial. It consists of twelve 25-minute episodes. The series was filmed and intended to be broadcast as a television limited series but, due to contract restrictions, it was originally released in theaters as a... |
Baylor | TV, 6 episodes | ||
| 1955–1959 | The Bob Cummings Show The Bob Cummings Show The Bob Cummings Show is an American sitcom starring Robert "Bob" Cummings which was produced from January 2, 1955 to September 15, 1959, and originally sponsored by R.J. Reynolds' Winston cigarettes... |
Paul Fonda | TV, 4 episodes | |
| 1956 | Navy Log Navy Log Navy Log is an American anthology series that initially aired on CBS. The series featured over 70 regular guests and told about the greatest survival war stories in the history of the United States Navy. This series premiered on September 20, 1955. The following year, it was moved to ABC, where it... |
Captain Morgan | TV, 1 episode | |
| The Millionaire | Joe Price | TV, 1 episode | ||
| 1956–1966 | The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet is an American sitcom, airing on ABC from October 3, 1952 to September 3, 1966, starring the real life Nelson family. After a long run on radio, the show was brought to television where it continued its success, running on both radio and TV for a couple of years... |
Joe Randolph | TV, 45 episodes | |
| 1957 | 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:... |
General Dothan | TV, 1 episode | |
| Tales of Wells Fargo Tales of Wells Fargo Tales of Wells Fargo is an American Western television series that ran from March 18, 1957 to June 2, 1962 on NBC. Produced by Revue Productions, the series aired in a half-hour format until its final season when it expanded to an hour.-Synopsis:... |
Reporter | TV, 1 episode | ||
| 1958 | M Squad M Squad M Squad is an American police drama television series that ran from 1957 to 1960 on NBC. Its format would later inspire the creation of spoof TV show Police Squad! Its sponsor was the Pall Mall cigarette brand; Lee Marvin, the program's star, appeared in its commercials during the... |
Paul Crowley | TV, 1 episode | |
| Leave It to Beaver Leave It to Beaver Leave It to Beaver is an American television situation comedy about an inquisitive but often naïve boy named Theodore "The Beaver" Cleaver and his adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood... |
Charles "Chuck" Dennison | TV, 2 episodes | ||
| 1958–1959 | The Restless Gun The Restless Gun The Restless Gun is a western television series that appeared on NBC between 1957 and 1959, with John Payne in the role of Vint Bonner, a wandering cowboy in the era after the American Civil War. A skilled gunfighter, Bonner is an idealistic person who prefers peaceful resolutions of conflict... |
Various roles | TV, 2 episodes | |
| 1959 | Plan 9 from Outer Space Plan 9 from Outer Space Plan 9 from Outer Space is a 1959 science fiction film written and directed by Edward D. Wood, Jr. The film features Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Tor Johnson and Maila "Vampira" Nurmi... |
General Roberts | ||
| The Ann Sothern Show The Ann Sothern Show The Ann Sothern Show is an American sitcom starring Ann Sothern that aired on CBS for 93 episodes. The series began on October 6, 1958, and ended on September 25, 1961. The Ann Sothern Show was Sothern's second sitcom for CBS... |
Finletter | TV, 1 episode | ||
| 1960 | Surfside 6 Surfside 6 Surfside 6 was an ABC television series which aired from 1960 to 1962. The show centered around a Miami Beach detective agency set on a houseboat and featured Troy Donahue as Sandy Winfield, II; Van Williams as Kenny Madison ; and Lee Patterson as Dave Thorne... |
Alan Crandell | TV, 1 episode | |
| Hawaiian Eye Hawaiian Eye Hawaiian Eye is an American television series that ran from October 1959 to September 1963 on the American Broadcasting Company television network.-Premise:... |
George Wallace | TV, 1 episode | ||
| 1960 | The DuPont Show with June Allyson The DuPont Show with June Allyson The DuPont Show with June Allyson is an American anthology drama series which aired on CBS from September 21, 1959 to April 3, 1961 with rebroadcasts continuing until June 12, 1961... |
Mr. Anders | TV, 1 episode, "The Trench Coat" | |
| 1961 | Mister Ed Mister Ed Originally produced in late 1960, Mister Ed is an American television situation comedy produced by Filmways that first aired in syndication from January 5 to July 2, 1961, and then on CBS from October 1, 1961, to February 6, 1966.... |
George Hausner | TV, 1 episode | |
| Lawman Lawman (tv series) Lawman is an American Western television series originally telecast from 1958 to 1962 starring John Russell as Marshal Dan Troop and featuring Peter Brown as Deputy Marshal Johnny McKay on the ABC Television Network. The series was set in Laramie, Wyoming during the mid to late 1870s. Warner Bros.... |
Orville Luster | TV, 1 episode | ||
| 1962 | Make Room for Daddy The Danny Thomas Show The Danny Thomas Show is an American sitcom which ran from 1953-1957 on ABC and from 1957-1964 on CBS... |
TV, 1 episode | ||
| Dennis the Menace | Mayor | TV, 1 episode | ||
| 1962–1967 | The Beverly Hillbillies The Beverly Hillbillies The Beverly Hillbillies is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for nine seasons on CBS from 1962 to 1971, starring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer, Jr.... |
Colonel Blake | TV, 4 episodes | |
| 1963 | Arrest and Trial Arrest and Trial Arrest and Trial is a 90-minute American Police procedural/legal drama that ran during the 1963-64 season on ABC, airing Sundays from 8:30-10 p.m. Eastern.The majority of episodes consisted of two segments... |
Phil Paige | TV, 1 episode | |
| The Lucy Show The Lucy Show The Lucy Show is an American situation comedy that aired on CBS from 1962 until 1968. It was Lucille Ball's follow-up to I Love Lucy. A significant change in cast and premise for the 1965-66 season divides the program into two distinct eras; aside from Ball, only Gale Gordon, who joined the program... |
TV, 1 episode | |||
| 1964 | 77 Sunset Strip 77 Sunset Strip 77 Sunset Strip is an hour-length American television private detective series created by Roy Huggins and starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Roger Smith, and Edd Byrnes.... |
Tatum | TV, 1 episode | |
| Petticoat Junction Petticoat Junction Petticoat Junction is an American situation comedy produced by Filmways which originally aired on CBS from 1963 to 1970. The series is one of three interrelated shows about rural characters created by Paul Henning; the others are The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres.The setting for the series... |
Mr. Cheever | TV, 1 episode | ||
| 1965 | Run for Your Life Run for Your Life (TV series) Run for Your Life is an American television drama series starring Ben Gazzara as a man with only a short time to live. It ran on NBC from 1965 to 1968. The series was created by Roy Huggins, who had previously explored the "man on the move" concept with The Fugitive.-Synopsis:Gazzara plays lawyer... |
Steven Blakely | TV, 1 episode | |
| The Smothers Brothers Show The Smothers Brothers Show The Smothers Brothers Show is an American fantasy sitcom featuring the Smothers Brothers that aired on CBS on Friday nights at 9:30 p.m. ET from September 17, 1965 to September 9, 1966, co-sponsored by Alberto-Culver's VO5 hairdressing products and American Tobacco... |
Marty Miller | TV, 1 episode | ||
| 1965–1966 | Laredo Laredo (TV series) Laredo is an NBC Western television series starring Neville Brand, William Smith, Peter Brown, and Philip Carey as Texas Rangers. The program premiered on September 16, 1965, and the final new episode was broadcast on April 7, 1967. The series was produced by Universal Television.-Synopsis:Laredo... |
Various roles | TV, 2 episodes | |
| 1968 | Dragnet | William Joseph Cornelius | TV, 1 episode | |
| 1970 | Here's Lucy Here's Lucy Here's Lucy is Lucille Ball's third network television sitcom. It ran on CBS from 1968 to 1974.-Background:Though The Lucy Show was still hugely popular during the previous season, finishing in the top five of the Nielsen Ratings , Ball opted to end that series at the end of that season and create... |
Various roles | TV, 2 episodes | |
| 1972 | O'Hara, U.S. Treasury O'Hara, U.S. Treasury O'Hara, U.S. Treasury is an American television crime drama broadcast by CBS during the 1971-72 television season. Jack Webb's Mark VII Limited packaged the program for Universal Television. Webb and longtime colleague James E. Moser created the show; Leonard B. Kaufman was the... |
Art Prescott | TV, 1 episode | |
| 1973 | Adam-12 Adam-12 Adam-12 was a television police drama which followed two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, Pete Malloy and Jim Reed, as they patrolled the streets of Los Angeles in their patrol unit, 1-Adam-12. Created by Jack Webb who is known for creating Dragnet, the series captured a... |
Avery Dawson | TV, 1 episode | |
| 1979 | Charlie's Angels Charlie's Angels Charlie's Angels is a television series about three women who work for a private investigation agency, and is one of the first shows to showcase women in roles traditionally reserved for men... |
Mills | TV, 1 episode | |
| 1984 | The Dukes of Hazzard The Dukes of Hazzard The Dukes of Hazzard is an American television series that aired on the CBS television network from 1979 to 1985.The series was inspired by the 1975 film Moonrunners, which was also created by Gy Waldron and had many identical or similar character names and concepts.- Overview :The Dukes of Hazzard... |
Carter Stewart | TV, 1 episode | |
| St. Elsewhere St. Elsewhere St. Elsewhere is an American medical drama television series that originally ran on NBC from October 26, 1982 to May 25, 1988. The series is set at fictional St. Eligius, a decaying urban teaching hospital in Boston's South End neighborhood... |
Johnny Barnes | TV, 1 episode | ||
| 1985 | 227 227 (TV series) 227 is an American situation comedy that originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, until May 6, 1990. The series starred Marla Gibbs as a sharp-tongued, inner-city resident gossip and housewife, Mary Jenkins... |
Harold | TV, 1 episode | |
| 1986 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents is an American anthology series that aired on NBC from 1985 to 1986, and on the USA Network from 1987 to 1989... |
Mr. Fletcher | TV, 1 episode | |
| Who's the Boss? Who's the Boss? Who's the Boss? is an American sitcom created by Martin Cohan and Blake Hunter, which aired on ABC from September 20, 1984 to April 25, 1992... |
Ralph | TV, 1 episode | ||
| 1987 | Newhart Newhart Newhart is a television situation comedy starring comedian Bob Newhart and actress Mary Frann as an author and wife who owned and operated an inn located in a small, rural Vermont town that was home to many eccentric characters. The show aired on the CBS network from October 25, 1982 to May 21, 1990... |
Cousin Ned | TV, 1 episode |
External links
- "Great Character Actors"
- Lyle Talbot at Talbot Players
- Caitlin Talbot http://www.caitlintalbot.com/Site/__Home.html