John Archer (actor)

John Archer (actor)
John Archer (born Ralph Bowman; May 8, 1915 – December 3, 1999) was an American actor.
Early life
Archer was born Ralph Bowman in Osceola, Nebraska, the son of Eunice Melba (née Crawford) and Joseph Emmett Bowman. Archer moved to California at the age of five. He attended Hollywood High School and the University of Southern California, where he studied cinematography, expecting work behind the camera.
Radio
When finding work in the field of cinematography proved difficult Archer drifted into acting, working as a radio announcer and actor, including one year (beginning in 1944) in the starring role of Lamont Cranston in The Shadow, a role originally played by Orson Welles.
Stage
Archer honed his acting skills in plays at the Ben Bard Playhouse. He appeared on Broadway in The Odds on Mrs. Oakley (1944), One-man Show (1945), A Place of Our Own (1945), The Day Before Spring (1945-1946), This Time Tomorrow (1947), Strange Bedfellows (1948), and Captain Brassbound's Conversion (1950-1951).
Film
Archer made his film debut in 1938. He acted in films for Universal and Republic under his birth name. In a radio contest sponsored by Jesse L. Lasky on the program Gateway to Hollywood, he won the top prize, an RKO contract in the name of "John Archer." He appeared in the films: Hello, Frisco, Hello; Guadalcanal Diary; White Heat; Destination Moon; Rock Around the Clock; She Devil; Ten Thousand Bedrooms; Decision at Sundown; Blue Hawaii; and How to Frame a Figg.
Television
Archer appeared in television series such as Rescue 8, Science Fiction Theatre, Armstrong Circle Theatre, Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, and The Millionaire, The Loretta Young Show, Private Secretary, The Bob Cummings Show, Mackenzie's Raiders, This Man Dawson, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, The Californians, Sea Hunt, Maverick (in the series' only 2-part episode, titled "The Devil's Necklace"), The Twilight Zone, The Tall Man, Surfside 6 with Van Williams, 77 Sunset Strip, Wagon Train, Bat Masterson, Hawaiian Eye, McHale's Navy, The Silent Service, Bonanza, Hazel, Mannix, and The Name of the Game.
In 1960 Archer was cast as Joe Holman in the episode "Phantom Trail" of the western series Colt .45. He made five guest appearances on Perry Mason. He played Frank Maddox in the show's second episode in 1957, "The Case of the Sleepwalker's Niece". In 1958 he played murder victim Maj. Frank Lessing in the episode "The Case of the Sardonic Sergeant", and in 1959 he played murderer J. R. Bradbury in the episode "The Case of the Lucky Legs". He also played murder victim Harry Arnold in the 1965 episode "The Case of Candy Queen". He also made seven guest appearances on Lassie and six on Bonanza. He played the outlaw Matt Grundy in a 1962 episode of Laramie, entitled "The Confederate Express".
Personal life
Archer was married twice. From 1941 to 1955, he was married to actress Marjorie Lord. They had two children, including daughter actress Anne Archer. Archer had two children with his second wife, Ann Leddy, to whom he was married from 1956 until his death. Archer was a grandfather of Tommy Davis, son of his daughter Anne, both of whom are noted members of the Church of Scientology.
On December 3, 1999, Archer died from lung cancer in Redmond, Washington, at age 84.
Selected filmography
Flaming Frontiers (1938) - Tom Grant
Letter of Introduction (1938) - Reporter (uncredited)
Dick Tracy Returns (1938) - Mr. Clark (uncredited)
Overland Stage Raiders (1938) - Bob Whitney
Spring Madness (1938) - Dartmouth College Student (uncredited)
Career (1939) - Ray Cruthers
Curtain Call (1940) - Ted Palmer
Barnyard Follies (1940) - Jeff Hill
Cheers for Miss Bishop (1941) - Richard Clark
Scattergood Baines (1941) - Johnny Bones
City of Missing Girls (1941) - James Horton
The People vs. Dr. Kildare (1941) - Interne (uncredited)
King of the Zombies (1941) - Bill Summers
Paper Bullets (1941) - Bob Elliott
Mountain Moonlight (1941) - Dr. Ed
Always Tomorrow: The Portrait of an American Business (1941) - Jim Westlake
Hi, Neighbor (1942) - Dr. Hall
Police Bullets (1942) - Prof. J. Thomas Quincy
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (1942) - Dr. Robert Redmond (uncredited)
Scattergood Survives a Murder (1942) - Dunker Gilson
Bowery at Midnight (1942) - Richard Dennison
Hello, Frisco, Hello (1943) - Ned Clark
The Purple V (1943) - Jimmy Thorne
Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943) - Lt. Pete Merriam
Shantytown (1943) - Bill Allen
Crash Dive (1943) - Curly Bowman (uncredited)
Guadalcanal Diary (1943) - Lt. Thurmond
The Eve of St. Mark (1944) - Pvt. Carter
Roger Touhy, Gangster (1944) - FBI Agent Kerrigan
The Lost Moment (1947) - Charles
After Nightfall (1949)
Colorado Territory (1949) - Reno Blake
White Heat (1949) - Philip Evans
Destination Moon (1950) - Jim Barnes
The Great Jewel Robber (1950) - Police Detective Lou Sampter
High Lonesome (1950) - Pat Farrell
Santa Fe (1951) - Clint Canfield
Home Town Story (1951) - Don (uncredited)
Best of the Badmen (1951) - Curley Ringo
My Favorite Spy (1951) - Henderson
The Big Trees (1952) - Frenchy LeCroix
Rodeo (1952) - Slim Martin
A Yank in Indo-China (1952) - Mulvaney
Sound Off (1952) - Maj. Paul Whiteside
The Sea Tiger (1952) - Ben McGrun
The Stars Are Singing (1953) - Dave Parish
Dragon's Gold (1954) - Mack Rossiter
No Man's Woman (1955) - Harlow Grant
Rock Around the Clock (1956) - Mike Dodd
Emergency Hospital (1956) - Dr. Herb Ellis
Affair in Reno (1957) - Tony Lamarr
She Devil (1957) - Barton Kendall
10,000 Bedrooms (1957) - Bob Dudley
Decision at Sundown (1957) - Dr. John Storrow
City of Fear (1959) - Lt. Mark Richards
Blue Hawaii (1961) - Jack Kelman
Apache Rifles (1964) - Col. Perry
I Saw What You Did (1965) - John Austin
How to Frame a Figg (1971) - Gerard
The Little Sister (1986) - Warehouse Cop
References
External links
1915 births
1999 deaths
Male actors from Nebraska
People from Osceola, Nebraska
American male film actors
American male stage actors
American male television actors
People from Redmond, Washington
USC School of Cinematic Arts alumni
20th-century American male actors
RKO Pictures contract players
Deaths from lung cancer in Washington (state)