Question: Which character was played by Richard Gerald "Dick" Purcell Jr. that got his start in 1944?

Context articles: Ricky Brown
Rich Puig
Richard Lyon-Dalberg-Acton, 4th Baron Acton
Purcell Sea Sprite
Richard G. Wilkinson
R. G. Anthonisz
Rick Neuheisel
Dick Purcell
Graham B. Purcell Jr.
Captain America (serial)

Richard Gerald Brown (born December 27, 1983) is a former American football linebacker.
 He was signed by the Ravens as a free agent in 2012.
 He played college football at Boston College.
Richard Gerald Puig (born March 16, 1953 in Tampa, Florida) is a former Major League Baseball player.
 The second baseman's major league career spanned four games for the New York Mets in .
 He was selected fourteenth overall in the 1971 Major League Baseball Draft by the Mets, one spot ahead of future Hall of Famer Jim Rice.
Richard Gerald Lyon-Dalberg-Acton, 4th Baron Acton and Baron Acton of Bridgnorth (30 July 1941 – 10 October 2010) was a British Labour politician.
The Purcell Sea Sprite was an experimental homebuilt glider aircraft.
 It was intended to be operated by experienced pilots under 200 feet attached to a tow boat.
 Created by Thomas H. Purcell Jr. of Raleigh, North Carolina, the aircraft weighed about 175 pounds and could be built from plans for about $400 (in 1975 dollars).
 There is a Sea Sprite on display at the North Carolina Aviation Museum in Asheboro, North Carolina.
Richard Gerald Wilkinson (born 1943) is a British social epidemiologist, author and advocate.
 He is Professor Emeritus of Social Epidemiology at the University of Nottingham, having retired in 2008.
 He is also Honorary Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London and Visiting Professor at University of York.
 In 2009, Richard co-founded The Equality Trust.
 Richard was awarded a 2013 Silver Rose Award from Solidar for championing equality and the 2014 Charles Cully Memorial Medal by the Irish Cancer Society.
Richard Gerald Anthonisz, ISO, JP (22 October 1852 – 3 January 1930) was a Ceylonese lawyer, educationist and civil servant.
 He was the first Government Archivist in the British Administration of Ceylon.
Richard Gerald "Rick" Neuheisel, Jr. ( ; born February 7, 1961) is an American football analyst, former coach, former player, and attorney.
 He served as the head football coach at the University of Colorado Boulder from 1995 to 1999, at the University of Washington from 1999 to 2002, and at his alma mater, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), from 2008 to 2011, compiling a career college football coaching record of 87–59.
 From 2005 to 2007, Neuheisel was an assistant coach with the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL), as quarterbacks coach for two seasons and offensive coordinator for one.
Richard Gerald "Dick" Purcell Jr. (August 6, 1908 – April 10, 1944) was an American actor best known for playing Marvel Comics' Captain America in the 1943 film serial, co-starring with Lorna Gray and Lionel Atwill.
 Purcell also appeared in films such as "Tough Kid" (1938), "Accidents Will Happen" (1938), "Heroes in Blue" (1939), "Irish Luck" (1939) and "King of the Zombies" (1941),
Graham Boynton Purcell Jr. (May 5, 1919 – June 11, 2011), was a United States representative from Texas' 13th congressional district.
Captain America is a 1944 Republic black-and-white serial film loosely based on the Timely Comics (today known as Marvel Comics) character Captain America.
 It was the last Republic serial made about a superhero.
 It also has the distinction of being the most expensive serial that Republic ever made.
 It also stands as the first theatrical release connected to a Marvel character; the next theatrical release featuring a Marvel hero would not occur for more than 40 years.