Paul Birch (actor)

Paul Birch (actor)
Paul Birch (born Paul Lowery Smith; January 13, 1912 – May 24, 1969) was an American actor. He was a film star of 39 movies, 50 stage dramas, and numerous television series, including the Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951).
Early life
Birch was born Paul Lowery Smith in Atmore, Alabama. He attended Alabama Polytechnic Institute.
Career
Television
In the late 1950s, Birch starred, along with William Campbell, (best known today for his role as TRELANE in the Star Trek Episode, "The Squire of Gothos") , in the syndicated Canadian series Cannonball (1958), a half-hour drama/adventure show about truck drivers. He also was a regular in The Court of Last Resort on NBC (1957-58).
He appeared in a 1958 episode, "Torn Flag", of the western series The Restless Gun. In the mid-1950s he appeared in magazine and TV ads as the first widely publicized "Cowboy" Marlboro Man.
In 1959, he was cast as Sergeant Major Carmody, with Doug McClure as Corporal Jenkins, in the episode "The Face of Courage" of the NBC western series, Riverboat, starring Darren McGavin and Burt Reynolds. In the story line, amid the threat of Sioux attack, Carmody commandeers the vessel, the Enterprise, while it is delivering military cargo to an Army outpost on the Missouri River. Joanna Moore appears in the episode as Kitty McGuire.
He appeared as President Grant in the 1960 episode "Mr. Simpson" of ABC's Black Saddle western series starring Peter Breck as Clay Culhane, a gunfighter-turned-lawyer. He portrayed President Grant in two episodes of The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin. He had a recurring role as Captain Carpenter, the boss of Lt. Phillip Gerard (Barry Morse) in the first two seasons of ABC's adventure/drama series The Fugitive.
Stage
Birch appeared on Broadway in a production of The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (1954-55). He portrayed both Union Army General Ulysses S. Grant and Confederate General Robert E. Lee in several historical plays.
He was among the original members of the Pasadena Playhouse, the first actor to be one of that group's repertory players.
Film
Birch appeared as the police captain with the megaphone in Rebel Without A Cause (1955), and was one of the first to be "disintegrated" in the original movie The War of the Worlds (1953).
He starred in some low-budget science-fiction films in the 1950s, including The Beast with a Million Eyes (1955), Day the World Ended (1955), Not of This Earth (1957), and the cult classic Queen of Outer Space (1958). Birch also had small roles in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) and Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round (1967).
Teaching
While he acted at the Pasadena Playhouse, he also was "employed full-time as an instructor and director working with students in the Playhouse College of Theatre Arts."
Personal life
Birch was married twice and was survived by his second wife, the former Betsy Ann Ross
Smith, and their three children, Don, Jennifer, and Michael. By his first marriage, to Margaret Evelyn Farish, he had a daughter named Cindy, whose son is actor Ned Luke (born 1958).
Death
Birch died of cancer at age 57 on May 24, 1969, at St. George's, the capital of the Caribbean island of Grenada. Survived by his widow and three children, he is buried in a cemetery outside the capital.
Selected filmography
The Royal Mounted Rides Again (1945) - Highwayman #2 (uncredited)
The Daltons Ride Again (1945) - Wilkins Henchman (uncredited)
Adventure (1945) - First Mate (uncredited)
The Fighting Guardsman (1946) - Sergeant (uncredited)
The Scarlet Horseman (1946) - Ace (uncredited)
Till the End of Time (1946) - Marine Wanting Farm (uncredited)
Check Your Guns (1948) - Member The Plainsmen (uncredited)
The Third Man (1949) - Military Policeman (uncredited)
Bonzo Goes to College (1952) - Coach Duff (uncredited)
Assignment – Paris! (1952) - Col. Mannix (uncredited)
The War of the Worlds (1953) - Alonzo Hogue (uncredited)
The System (1953) - Police Lt. Gordon (uncredited)
The Eddie Cantor Story (1953) - (uncredited)
Ride Clear of Diablo (1954) - Fred Kenyon
Cattle Queen of Montana (1954) - Col. Carrington
Man Without a Star (1955) - Mark Toliver
Strange Lady in Town (1955) - Sheriff
Five Guns West (1955) - J.C. Haggard
The Beast with a Million Eyes (1955) - Allan Kelley
Apache Woman (1955) - Sheriff
Rebel Without a Cause (1955) - Police Chief (uncredited)
Day the World Ended (1955) - Jim Maddison
The Fighting Chance (1955) - Auctioneer
When Gangland Strikes (1956) - Sheriff Mack McBride
The Fastest Gun Alive (1956) - Yellowfork Sheriff Bill Toledo
The White Squaw (1956) - Thad Arnold
Everything But the Truth (1956) - Sen. Winter
Gun for a Coward (1957) - Andy Niven
Not of This Earth (1957) - Paul Johnson
The Tattered Dress (1957) - Prosecutor Frank Mitchell
The Spirit of St. Louis (1957) - Blythe (uncredited)
Cheyenne (1957, TV series) - Col. Preston
The 27th Day (1957) - Admiral
Joe Dakota (1957) - Frank Weaver
The World Was His Jury (1958) - Martin Ranker
Gunman's Walk (1958) - Bob Selkirk
The Restless Gun (1958) Episode "The Torn Flag"
Wild Heritage (1958) - Jacob 'Jake' Breslin
Queen of Outer Space (1958) - Prof. Konrad
The Gun Runners (1958) - Sy Phillips
Gunmen from Laredo (1959) - Marshal Matt Crawford
Too Soon to Love (1960)
Portrait in Black (1960) - Detective Lieutenant
Pay or Die (1960) - Mayor
The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960) - Jonah Mills
Two Rode Together (1961) - Judge Edward Purcell
Sea Hunt (7th Jan 1961), Season 4, Episode 1, Point of No Return
A Public Affair (1962) - Malcomb Hardy
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) - Mayor Winder
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) - Santa Rosita Police Department Officer at the intersection
The Raiders (1963) - Paul King
The Glory Guys (1965) - Commanding General
Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round (1966) - Bill Simpson
A Covenant with Death (1967) - Governor
Welcome to Hard Times (1967) - Mr. Fee
Counterpoint (1968, uncredited)
See also
References
External links
1912 births
1969 deaths
Male actors from Alabama
People from Atmore, Alabama
American male film actors
American male stage actors
American male television actors
20th-century American male actors
Deaths from cancer in Grenada