Walter Abel
Walter Abel (June 6, 1898 – March 26, 1987) was an American film, stage and radio actor. Life. Abel was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, the son of Christine (née Becker) and Richard Michael Abel. Abel graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts where he had studied in 1917 and joined a touring company. His brother Alfred died in 1922 from tuberculosis contracted while serving overseas in World War I. Abel was married to concert harpist Marietta Bitter. Career. Abel made his film debut in 1918 with a small part in "Out of a Clear Sky". He made  his Broadway debut in "Forbidden" in 1919. In 1924 he appeared in two Eugene O'Neill plays simultaneously: "Bound East for Cardiff" at the Provincetown Playhouse and "Desire Under the Elms" at the Greenwich Village Theater. His many theatre credits include "As You Like It" (1923), William Congreve's "Love for Love" (1925), Anton Chekhov's The Seagull (1929-1930), "Mourning Becomes Electra" (1929), Kaufman and Hart's "Merrily We Roll Along" (1934), and "Trelawny of the 'Wells'" (1975). He also appeared in Channing Pollock's play "The Enemy" (1926) with Fay Bainter. The play was adapted to film as "The  Enemy" (1927) with Lillian Gish and Ralph Forbes. He made his stage debut in London in the 1929 "Coquette". His first major film role was as D'Artagnan in RKO Pictures' 1935 "The Three Musketeers". Abel went on to play in more than sixty films. Abel was a vice president of the Screen Actors' Guild. Abel played hyperactive agent Danny Reed in the 1942 musical comedy "Holiday Inn", in support of Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. Abel also appeared as a concert narrator or reader with Eugene Ormandy the Philadelphia Orchestra in Aaron Copland's "Lincoln Portrait" in 1951, and in  Dylan Thomas' "Under Milk Wood" in 1953. Death. Abel died March 26, 1987, of a myocardial infarction at a nursing home in Essex, Connecticut. He was cremated and a memorial service was held at the Little Church Around the Corner in Manhattan. His ashes were combined with those of his wife and scattered in Long Island Sound.