Lyle Talbot

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Lyle Talbot (born February 8, 1902 in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania as Lisle Henderson , † May 2, 1996 in San Francisco , California ) was an American actor.

life and career

Lyle Talbot grew up with his grandmother in Nebraska after his mother passed away early. After graduating from high school, he joined a circus at the age of 17, initially as an assistant to a magician. In the 1920s, Talbot switched to the acting business and traveled across America with various theater companies. He began his film career in 1931 with a supporting role in Stranger in Town on the side of HB Warner . In the following years he established himself as a leading actor in numerous, mostly smaller Warner Bros. films. The handsome actor has starred as the leading man to famous actresses including Kay Francis (in Mary Stevens, MD from 1933). In Victor Schertzinger's Das Leuchtende Ziel (1934) he appeared as the fiancé of an opera singer played by Grace Moore . Talbot has taken on major roles in high profile films such as Michael Curtiz 'Prisoner Drama 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932) with Spencer Tracy and Bette Davis . Nevertheless, he did not make the leap to become a great film star.

Lyle Talbot was one of the founders of the Screen Actors Guild in the early 1930s and turned down the studio contracts customary at the time . These activities earned him increasingly poorer film roles, from the 1940s he had to be content with supporting roles in insignificant B-films in most cases. He played the role of commissioner Jim Gordon in the comic book adaptation Batman and Robin (1949), which was produced under the cheapest conditions. Talbot's career probably reached its lowest point with his appearances in several films by the amateur cult director Ed Wood . He had a supporting role as the US general in Wood's Plan 9 from space , which is often referred to as the worst film of all time. For the last few decades of his career, Talbot played almost exclusively on television. His most famous television role was in the sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet with Ozzie Nelson , in which he appeared as his neighbor Joe Randolph in over 70 episodes between 1955 and 1966. In addition, Talbot also played in various plays with traveling theater troupes.

With guest appearances in various television series, he remained active until the end of the 1980s when he retired into private life after around 200 films and almost 330 television episodes. Lyle Talbot was married a total of five times, three marriages were divorced and one was annulled. Only his marriage to Margaret Carol Epple lasted from 1948 until her death in 1989. They had four children, including the writer David Talbot . Lyle Talbot died in 1996 at the age of 94 as the last founding member of the Screen Actors Guild.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Talbot, Lyle
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Henderson, Lisle (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH February 8, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH May 2, 1996
Place of death San Francisco , California