Lyle Bettger

Lyle Stathem Bettger (born February 13, 1915 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , United States , † September 24, 2003 in Atascadero , California ) was an American character actor with roles of hardened, straightforward types but also grim villains.

Life

The son of the non-fiction author (so-called self - help literature ) Frank Bettger received his artistic training at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York and made his debut in 1936 at the local Biltmore Theater in the play Brother Rat . This was followed by theater roles on summer stages in the late 1930s, as well as those that took him on and off Broadway: Dance Night (1938), The Flying Gerards (1940), The Moon is Down (1942), All for All (1943), Oh, Herbert! (1945) and John Loves Mary (1947). Bettger also went on tour with the pieces Brother Rat and The Man Who Came to Dinner .

In 1949 Lyle Bettger was brought to Hollywood and given a film contract. There he played, especially in westerns of the 1950s and 1960s, often stubborn ranchers and representatives of the law, but also tough, merciless villains in the saddle. His first strong negative figure was his irascible, jealous, German elephant handler Klaus (in the German version he was translated as "Carlo") in Cecil B. DeMille's large-scale production The Biggest Show in the World . 1955 saw Bettger as loyal to the line as well as unscrupulous Nazi sea officer Körner, who in the John Wayne film The Sea Fox shoots several seamen at a supply station for no reason. Since the same year, Lyle Bettger also appeared in a plethora of individual episodes of popular television series, including Bonanza , Smoking Colts , At the Foot of the Blue Mountains and, most recently, Hawaii Five-Zero . In 1980, at the age of 65, Bettger retired from acting into private life.

Bettger was married to actress Mary Rolfe and the couple had three children.

Filmography

in cinema productions, unless otherwise stated

• 1949: Derailed ( No Man of Her Own )
• 1950: People without a Soul ( Union Station )
• 1950: Dear Brat
• 1951: Confession of a Doctor ( The First Legion )
• 1951: The Greatest Show on Earth ( The Greatest Show on Earth )
• 1952: Terror on the Rio Grande ( The Denver and Rio Grande )
• 1952: Mistress of the Outlaws ( Hurricane Smith )
• 1953: All my longing ( All I Desire )
• 1953: Geknechtet ( The Vanquished )
• 1953: The Great Rebellion ( The Great Sioux Uprising )
• 1953: Strandgut ( Forbidden )
• 1954: Carnival Story
• 1954: Adlerschwinge ( Drums Across the River )
• 1954: Destry cleans up ( Destry )
• 1955: The Sea Chase ( The Sea Chase )
• 1956: The White Rider ( The Lone Ranger )
• 1956: Shots lash through the night ( Showdown at Abilene )
• 1957: Two accounts ( Gunfight at the OK Corral )
• 1959: He came, saw and won ( Guns of the Timberland )
• 1964: Revolvers don't argue ( Town Tamer )
• 1965: Nevada Smith
• 1966: Sheriff Johnny Reno ( Johnny Reno )
• 1966: Hot Colts in Hard Fists ( Return of the Gunfighter )
• 1967: The Fastest Guitar Alive
• 1968: On the hunt for lost gold ( Impasse )
• 1969: Ruler of the Island ( The Hawaiians )
• 1970: The Seven Minutes
• 1980: M Station: Hawaii (TV movie)

literature

• Motion Picture Almanac 1991, 62nd Edition, Editor: Barry Monush. New York 1991, p. 31
• Ephraim Katz : The Film Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. Revised by Fred Klein and Ronald Dean Nolen. New York 2001, p. 128

Web links

• Lyle Bettger in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Lyle Bettger in the Internet Broadway Database (English)