Steve Brodie (actor)

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Steve Brodie (born November 25, 1919 in El Dorado , Kansas as John Stephens , † January 9, 1992 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American actor. Between 1944 and 1988 he made almost 170 film and television appearances.

Life

Steve Brodie was born in El Dorado, a small town in Kansas, under the name John Stephens. His father died shortly after he was born. At first he worked as a boxer, racing driver and oil worker, among other things, before turning to acting. He chose his stage name after the artist Steve Brodie († 1901), who allegedly jumped from the Brooklyn Bridge in the 1880s and survived. The young man first tried his luck as an actor in New York, but had little success there. In 1944, Brodie made his first film appearances in Hollywood, but initially only in smaller roles. But just a few years later he had worked his way up to a supporting actor and starred in films for MGM , RKO Pictures and Republic Pictures . In 1947 he played the detective partner of Robert Mitchum in the film noir classic Golden Poison . In the same year he also impersonated, also at Mitchum's side, a murder suspect in Im Kreuzfeuer . While Brodie was mostly limited to supporting roles, in the film noir In der Klemme (1947), directed by Anthony Mann, he was also allowed to take on the leading role of a man who has to flee from the police and gangsters with his lover.

In addition to appearances in film noirs, Brodie often played bandits in western films with his slightly rough appearance. He was seen alongside James Stewart in Winchester '73 and Over the Death Pass . From the mid-1950s onwards, Brodie's film offers decreased, and he was instead increasingly appearing in television series. Between 1960 and 1961 he played the role of sheriff in the television series Wyatt Earp Intervenes . In the 1960s, he also appeared in three Elvis Presley films. In two films, he has a fight with Presley. In the 1970s and 1980s, Brodie only sporadically took on film and television roles, often in rather cheap science fiction films. His best-known appearance in films of this type was in 1975 in attack of the giant spider , where he played the leading role of a scientist and stopped the eponymous spider. Most recently, he also did voice overs for television series.

Steve Brodie suffered more frequently from alcohol problems and was therefore arrested several times for short periods. He was married three times, first from 1946 to 1950 with the actress Lois Andrews (1924-1968). This marriage ended in divorce. He then married Barbara Ann Stillwell Savitt, with whom he had a son - the director Kevin Brodie (* 1952). After divorcing their second marriage in 1966, Brodie married Virginia Carol Hefner in 1973, with whom he stayed until his death. They had a child. Steve Brodie died of cancer in 1992 at the age of 72.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Steve Brodie's obituary in the Los Angeles Times
personal data
SURNAME Brodie, Steve
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stephens, John (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH November 25, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH El Dorado , Kansas
DATE OF DEATH January 9, 1992
Place of death Los Angeles , California