Edward Platt

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Edward Platt (born February 14, 1916 in Staten Island , New York City , † March 19, 1974 in Santa Monica , California ) was an American actor , singer , producer and radio news anchor .

Life

Born into a musical family near New York, Platt first attended Princeton University , but left it after a short time to study music. At first he played in the orchestra of Paul Whiteman before he switched to acting. He made his Broadway debut in 1942 with the play HMS Pinafore , shortly before its use in World War II. During the war he then worked as a moderator for the soldiers' radio. After his return to the war, Platt had his first very small film role in 1949 alongside Cary Grant in I Was a Male War Bride . On Broadway he was able to establish himself as a regular performer in the 1950s and played, among other things, in the play The Shrike alongside José Ferrer . Together with Ferrer, he also represented his theatrical role on the screen in the film All These Nights , which was Platt's first major role in the film business.

Then Platt played, among other things, a sympathetic police inspector in ... Because They Don't Know What They Do (1955) with James Dean , the lawyer of Cary Grant in Hitchcock's The Invisible Third (1959) and the judge in A Bait for the Beast ( 1962) with Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum . Despite this large number of different supporting characters, he became known to a wide audience primarily through a television role: in the television series Mini-Max or the incredible adventures of the Maxwell Smart , he played the role of the strict but competent intelligence chief between 1965 and 1970. He had his last screen appearance in 1974 in an episode of the series Owen Marshall - Criminal Defense Attorney . A year earlier, Platt had tried his hand at Western Santee, the loner with Glenn Ford for the first time as a film producer, albeit with little success.

1974 committed Edward Platt after a depression at the age of 58 years suicide , although his death was initially reported as a heart attack in the newspapers. The actor's ashes were scattered into the sea. From 1954 to 1974 he was married to Suzanne Belcher and they had three children.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Newspaper report of Platt's death
personal data
SURNAME Platt, Edward
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH February 14, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH Staten Island , New York City , USA
DATE OF DEATH March 19, 1974
Place of death Santa Monica , California