Charles Drake (actor)

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Charles Drake (born October 2, 1917 in New York City , New York as Charles Rupert , † September 10, 1994 in East Lyme , Connecticut ) was an American actor.

life and career

Charles Rupert attended the private Nichols College in Massachusetts and initially became a salesman after graduating in 1937. In the late 1930s he was discovered at a talent competition by RKO Pictures , but he signed his first studio contract in 1939 with Warner Brothers instead of RKO . For his film career, the native New Yorker changed his last name from Rupert to Drake . In the first few years he mostly had to be content with small supporting roles; however, his films included well-known titles such as The Trail of the Hawk , Yankee Doodle Dandy and Journey from the Past . To finance his living, he also worked as an advertising man and boat seller during this time. His use in World War II interrupted his film career for a few years. Afterwards, however, Drake was able to record initial successes: he played a young professor in the thriller Conflict (1945) alongside Humphrey Bogart and a lieutenant in the comedy One Night in Casablanca (1946) with the Marx Brothers .

After his contract with Warner Brothers ended, Drake worked as a freelance actor, which was unusual at the time and probably one of the reasons why the tall actor, despite his good looks, never became a movie star. In 1950 he played two of his best-known roles, each alongside James Stewart : In the comedy My Friend Harvey , he played Stewart's young psychiatrist Dr. Sanderson and in Western Winchester '73 he was seen as the good-natured but fearful lover of Shelley Winters . Drake also regularly took on major supporting roles in westerns and war films with Audie Murphy , with whom he was also friends in private life. Often he played honorable and good-natured figures of respect, which is why he was not infrequently cast as an officer, politician, policeman or as the best friend of the main character. In 1953 he played a village sheriff in the 3D science fiction film Danger from Outer Space , who wants to attack aliens with some other villagers.

Between 1950 and 1953 Charles Drake appeared on Broadway in the musical comedy Guys and Dolls . The advent of television in the 1950s brought Drake many guest roles over the next few decades on series such as Cobra, Take Over , Solo for ONCEL and Raumschiff Enterprise - in Raumschiff Enterprise he played the role of Commodore Stocker in the episode How Time Flies to see. Between 1957 and 1961, Drake also starred in the series Rendezvous . After receiving fewer and fewer role offers, he retired from the acting business in the mid-1970s. In total, he had made around 145 film and television appearances in the course of his career.

Charles Drake died in Connecticut in 1994 at the age of 76 and was survived by two daughters and one grandchild. Its ashes were scattered in the sea.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Obituary in the New York Times
  2. ↑ Charles Drake in the Star Trek Wikia
  3. ^ Obituary in the New York Times
  4. ↑ Charles Drake at Find A Grave
personal data
SURNAME Drake, Charles
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH October 2, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City , New York
DATE OF DEATH September 10, 1994
Place of death East Lyme , Connecticut