user: Q: Rex Reason, Star of Sci-Fi Classic ‘This Island Earth,’ Dies at 86

Rex Reason, a dashing movie star who played opposite Rita Hayworth and Clark Gable and starred in science fiction movies and two television series, died on Thursday at his home in Walnut, Calif., in Los Angeles County. He was 86.

The cause was bladder cancer, his wife, Shirley, said.

Six feet 2 inches tall and distinguished by a deep baritone voice, Mr. Reason played Cal Meacham, the heroic scientist in the 1955 science fiction film “This Island Earth,” which was hailed for its color cinematography and technical effects and is paid a brief homage in a scene in “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.” He appeared with Hayworth in “Salome” in 1953 and with Gable and Sidney Poitier in “Band of Angels” in 1957. In 1956 he played Dr. Thomas Morgan in “The Creature Walks Among Us,” the last installment in the last of the so-called Gill Man trilogy.

Mr. Reason also starred as a newspaperman in the TV western called “Man Without a Gun” in the late 1950s and a TV drama set in Prohibition-era New York, “The Roaring Twenties,” in the early ’60s.

Oddly, for an actor with a name made for Hollywood, Universal insisted that he change it to Bart Roberts when he appeared in “Taza, Son of Cochise” and “Yankee Pasha” in 1954. But he demanded to use his real name again starting with “This Island Earth.”

Mr. Reason was born on Nov. 30, 1928, in Berlin, where his father, George, worked for General Motors Acceptance, which provided dealerships with credit to finance their inventories. His mother was the former Jean Robinson. He and his younger brother, Rhodes, who also became an actor, were reared in Los Angeles. His brother died last year.

After quitting high school and serving in the Army, Mr. Reason acted at the Pasadena Playhouse. He was given a screen test at Columbia and was cast as the star of “Storm Over Tibet,” released in 1951, opposite Diana Douglas, Kirk Douglas’s former wife.

He left “The Roaring Twenties” in 1961. “I have a long way to go in my career, and progress is my motto,” he said at the time.

But he soon gave up acting. His last TV appearance was in a 1963 episode of “Wagon Train.” He later worked as a real estate broker and recorded voice-overs until he retired.

Besides his third wife, the former Shirley Hake, Mr. Reason is survived by two children from his first marriage, Andrea Standley and Brent Reason.

A version of this article appears in print on November 25, 2015, on page B9 of the New York edition with the headline: Rex Reason, 86, Star of ‘This Island Earth’. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe

A: Mr. Reason was known for roles like a heroic scientist in that film and a newspaperman in “The Roaring Twenties” TV series.


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U.S.-Backed Syrian Rebels Launch Attack on ISIS-Held Town
Syrian rebels launched an assault Tuesday on an ISIS-held town that is also facing a U.S.-backed attack from the north.

The strategic border town of Al-Bukamal has been under ISIS control since 2014, reports Reuters. If successful, the attack would seriously limit the ability of the jihadists to move freely between the Syrian and Iraqi territories of their self-proclaimed caliphate.

“This is a major gamble but we have been preparing for it for a long time. U.S. logistical support and aerial support is key to the success of this operation,” said a New Syria Army commander, speaking under the condition of anonymity to Reuters.

Rebel sources said that the desert approaches to the town had been secured and that rebel forces were already within the town’s boundaries.
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assistant: "U.S. logistical support and aerial support is key," one rebel commander said