Ray Teal

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Ray Teal (born January 12, 1908 in Grand Rapids . Michigan , † April 2, 1976 in Santa Monica , California ) was an American actor. In the course of his long career he has appeared in over 200 films. He became known in the 1960s for his role as Sheriff Roy Coffee in the western series Bonanza .

Life

Ray Teal was already noticed in college as a gifted saxophone player. After graduating, he worked as a band leader in the music business. In 1937, Teal turned to acting after playing a band leader in the film Sweetheart of the Navy . In the following decades, the character actor mostly had to be content with small appearances, only occasionally did he take on larger supporting roles. Nevertheless, with over 200 films - mainly westerns - he was a very busy actor who often played authority figures such as police officers or officers. Teal understood vicious and tough characters, for example as an anti-Semite in William Wyler's Oscar-winning drama The Best Years of Our Life (1946) alongside Dana Andrews and as a greedy barman in The Wilde (1953) alongside Marlon Brando . He also had an important role in the classic film The Judgment of Nuremberg (1961) as a co-judge of Spencer Tracy , where his character took the position that former Nazi judges should not be punished too harshly.

However, he was only better known for the role of Sheriff Roy Coffee, whom he played between 1960 and 1972 in a total of 98 episodes of the western series Bonanza . He had previously played a sheriff in Billy Wilder's cynical drama Reporters of Satan (1951) with Kirk Douglas . On television, he also played other recurring roles as Sheriff Snead in the Disney Land series and the role of Jim Teal in Lassie . In contrast to many of his screen characters, Teal has repeatedly been described as an enjoyable and sociable colleague. He took his last role in 1974 as a judge in the television film The Hanged Man , two years later he died at the age of 74. He was married to Louise Laraway Teal (1900-1998) and was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City .

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ray Teal's biography at Fandango
  2. ↑ Ray Teal's biography at Fandango
  3. ^ Louise L. Teal at Find A Grave
personal data
SURNAME Teal, Ray
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH January 12, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Grand Rapids , Michigan , United States
DATE OF DEATH April 2, 1976
Place of death Santa Monica , California , United States