# Alan Curtis (American actor)

Alan Curtis (born Harry Ueberroth or Harold Neberroth; July 24, 1909 – February 2, 1953) was an American film actor who appeared in over 50 films.

## Early life and career

Born Harry Ueberroth or Harold Neberroth in Chicago, he began his career as a model before becoming an actor, appearing in local newspaper ads.
His looks did not go unnoticed in Hollywood. He began appearing in films in the late 1930s, making his screen debut in Winterset (1936). His film activities included a Technicolor appearance in the Alice Faye-Don Ameche film Hollywood Cavalcade (1939) and a memorable role in High Sierra (1941). He was one of the romantic leads in Abbott and Costello's first hit film Buck Privates (1941) and played composer Franz Schubert in The Great Awakening (1941).
His chance for leading-man stardom came when he replaced the unwilling John Garfield in the production Flesh and Fantasy (1943). Curtis played a ruthless killer opposite Gloria Jean. However, the studio cut their performances from the final film version. The footage was later expanded into a B-picture melodrama Destiny (1944). He also portrayed the man framed for murder in Phantom Lady (1944) and the detective Philo Vance. Curtis starred in over two dozen movies.

## Personal life

Curtis was married to:
* Actress Priscilla Lawson,
* Model Sandra Lucas: born Alexandra Beryl Crowell in 1917, she was married 1939 to 1945 to musician Lyn Lucas (brother of Clyde Lucas). Curtis and Lucas married in Las Vegas, Nevada, on 8 February 1946: the couple were still married in May 1949 divorcing prior to Curtis' fourth marriage in November 1950. Lucas, identified as socialite Alexandra Crowell Curtis, wed actor John Payne on 27 September 1953, becoming his widow 6 December 1989.
* Elizabeth Sundmark Dodero (died 1959), a onetime showgirl, former wife of Argentine millionaire Alberto Dodero, and a close friend of Eva Peron. They married in New York City on November 21, 1950, and divorced the following year. She died in 1959, after marrying, in 1952, saloon singer Hugh Shannon.

## Death

Curtis had a routine kidney operation on January 28, 1953, at Saint Clare's Hospital in Manhattan. Several hours after the surgery, as he sipped some tea, he "died" for four minutes when his heart failed. He was revived and seemed to be improving but died five days later, aged 43. He is buried in the Ueberroth family plot in Memorial Park Cemetery in Skokie, Illinois.

## Recognition

Curtis has a star at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard in the Motion Picture section of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It was dedicated on February 8, 1960.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1936 | The Witness Chair | Reporter in Courtroom | Uncredited |
| 1936 | Undersea Kingdom | Guardsman | Uncredited |
| 1936 | The Last Outlaw | Convertible Driver | Uncredited |
| 1936 | Swing Time | Minor Role | Uncredited |
| 1936 | Walking on Air | Fred Randolph | |
| 1936 | Don't Turn 'Em Loose | Wedding Attendant with Telegram | Uncredited |
| 1936 | Without Orders | Co-Pilot | Uncredited |
| 1936 | One Live Ghost | Alan | Short, Uncredited |
| 1936 | Smartest Girl in Town | Male Model Who Escorts Cookie | Uncredited |
| 1936 | Winterset | Sailor | Uncredited |
| 1937 | Don't Tell the Wife | Second Stockbroker at Shaw & Allen | Uncredited |
| 1937 | Sea Devils | Radio Operator, Yacht Mona | Uncredited |
| 1937 | China Passage | Ship's Officer | Uncredited |
| 1937 | The Woman I Love | | Uncredited |
| 1937 | Between Two Women | Interne | Uncredited |
| 1937 | Bad Guy | Prison Switchboard Operator | Uncredited |
| 1937 | The Firefly | French Soldier | Uncredited |
| 1937 | Mannequin | Eddie Miller | |
| 1938 | Yellow Jack | Brinkerhof | |
| 1938 | The Shopworn Angel | Thin Lips | |
| 1938 | The Duke of West Point | Cadet Strong | |
| 1939 | Burn'Em Up O'Connor | Jose 'Rocks' Rivera | |
| 1939 | Sergeant Madden | Dennis Madden | |
| 1939 | Good Girls Go to Paris | Tom Brand | |
| 1939 | Hollywood Cavalcade | Nicky Hayden | |
| 1940 | Four Sons | Karl | |
| 1941 | High Sierra | 'Babe' | |
| 1941 | Come Live with Me | Bit Part | Uncredited |
| 1941 | Buck Privates | Bob Martin | |
| 1941 | Blood and Sand | Minor Role | (scenes deleted) |
| 1941 | The Great Awakening | Franz Schubert | |
| 1941 | We Go Fast | Bob Brandon | |
| 1942 | Remember Pearl Harbor | Bruce Gordon | |
| 1943 | Hitler's Madman | Karel Vavra | |
| 1943 | Two Tickets to London | First Mate Dan Driscoll | |
| 1943 | Crazy House | Himself | |
| 1943 | 'Gung Ho!': The Story of Carlson's Makin Island Raiders | John Harbison | |
| 1944 | Phantom Lady | Scott Henderson | |
| 1944 | Follow the Boys | Himself | Uncredited |
| 1944 | The Invisible Man's Revenge | Mark Foster | |
| 1944 | Destiny | Cliff Banks | |
| 1945 | Frisco Sal | Rio Jordan aka John Warren | |
| 1945 | See My Lawyer | Charlie Rodman | |
| 1945 | The Naughty Nineties | Mr. Crawford | |
| 1945 | Shady Lady | Marty Martin | |
| 1945 | The Daltons Ride Again | Emmett Dalton | |
| 1946 | Inside Job | Eddie Norton aka Eddie Mitchell | |
| 1946 | Flight to Nowhere | Hobe Carrington | |
| 1946 | Renegade Girl | Capt. Fred Raymond | |
| 1947 | Philo Vance's Gamble | Philo Vance | |
| 1947 | Philo Vance's Secret Mission | Philo Vance | |
| 1948 | The Enchanted Valley | Johnny Nelson | |
| 1949 | Apache Chief | Young Eagle | |
| 1949 | The Masked Pirate | Commodore Van Diel | |
| 1951 | Amore e sangue | Paolo Giacomo | (final film role) |