John Archer (actor)

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John Archer

John Archer (born May 8, 1915 in Osceola , Nebraska as Ralph Bowman , † December 3, 1999 in Redmond , Washington ) was an American actor. From 1938 until the 1980s, he was seen in more than 140 film and television productions. Another short film was released posthumously in 2003.

life and career

Ralph Bowman, who later chose the stage name John Archer for his acting career , was born in a small town in Nebraska. He moved to California with his family when he was five . He studied cinematography at the University of Southern California to work as a cameraman. However, Archer could hardly find work in this profession and so he began to work as a program announcer and radio play speaker at the radio. He also played in Ben Bard's theater company . Since the late 1930s, Archer has also appeared regularly in Hollywood films , initially under his birth name . But the roles remained small. His breakthrough came when he won a radio station's acting competition and got a studio contract with RKO Pictures .

He was first noticed by B-horror films like King of Zombies (1941) and Bowery at Midnight (1942). He became a busy film actor, mostly limited to supporting roles in larger films, while starring in lead roles in B-movies. In 1949 he played in Raoul Walsh's gangster classic Leap in Death, a persistent police superintendent who wants to bring down the gangster played by James Cagney . In the same year he played with the western Vogelfrei in another Walsh film, but here he was on the other side of the law as a devious gang member. In 1950 Archer played the leading role in the science fiction film Endstation Mond , which was made under cheap production conditions, but today has cult status in its genre. He celebrated further success in the 1940s with radio plays, especially with his leading role as Lamont Cranston in the radio drama series The Shadow about the superhero of the same name.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Archer took on many guest roles on American television, such as The People of Shiloh Ranch , Bonanza , Lassie and Batman . The actor has also appeared several times on Broadway in New York. In contrast, the Archer rarely appeared in films from the 1950s onwards. He has appeared in the rock 'n' roll films Out of Edge and Band (1956, with Bill Haley ) and Blue Hawaii (1961, with Elvis Presley ). From the 1970s he only appeared occasionally in front of the camera, but in 2003 - four years after his death - the short film Claverdeek was published posthumously .

John Archer married the actress Marjorie Lord in 1941 , with whom he also acted as lovers in the Basil Rathbone crime film Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943). The marriage, which was divorced in 1955, had three children, including actress Anne Archer . From 1956 until his death he was married to Ann Laddy and they had three children. John Archer died of lung cancer in 1999 at the age of 84.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers . McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-2834-2 . P. 14
  2. ↑ Biography at the Internet Movie Database
  3. ^ Obituary for the Los Angeles Times
personal data
SURNAME Archer, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bowman, Ralph (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH May 8, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH Osceola , Nebraska , United States
DATE OF DEATH December 3, 1999
Place of death Redmond , Washington , United States