Kansas City Confidential

John Payne (Actor) .. Joe Rolfe

Born: May 23, 1912
Died: December 06, 1989

Trivia: The son of an opera soprana, he studied drama at Columbia and voice at Juilliard. He began his career as a singer, then did some acting in stock. He moved to Hollywood in 1935, playing leads in a number of Fox musicals by the '40s, often opposite Alice Faye or Betty Grable. Frequently appearing bare-chested, he was very popular with female fans, and for a time he was the top male pin-up. In the '50s, still muscular but no longer boyish, he switched to medium-budget Westerns and action movies. In 1957 he retired from the screen to star in the TV series The Restless Gun and appeared in only two more films. He directed one of his last films, They Ran for Their Lives (1968). He finished his career in a 1973 Broadway revival of the musical Good News, appearing opposite Alice Faye. He became wealthy with shrewd real estate investments in southern California. From 1937-43 he was married to actress Anne Shirley; their daughter is actress Julie Payne. From 1944-50 he was married to actress Gloria DeHaven.

Coleen Gray (Actor) .. Helen

Born: October 23, 1922

Trivia: Described by one film historian as a "hand-wringing 'Oh-Jed-don't-go'" type actress, Coleen Gray did, in all fairness, have a few roles requiring more than sidelines suffering. After graduating with honors from the drama department of Hamline University, Gray was signed by 20th Century-Fox in 1945. There she enjoyed some of her best roles, including the female lead in Kiss and Death (1947) and the dumb-but-honest girlfriend of smart-but-shifty Tyrone Power in Nightmare Alley (1947). Free-lancing in the 1950s, Gray appeared in several westerns, getting the opportunity to play an adventuress of sorts in Tennessee's Partner (1955). Always willing to give her all for her art, Gray even managed to bring some artistry to such Grade-Z efforts as The Leech Woman (1960). In 1961, Coleen Gray played Miss Wycliffe on the short-lived Robert Young TV "dramedy" Window on Main Street.

Preston Foster (Actor)

Born: August 24, 1900

Lee Van Cleef (Actor) .. Tony

Born: January 09, 1925
Died: December 14, 1989

Trivia: Following a wartime tour with the Navy, New Jersey-born Lee Van Cleef supported himself as an accountant. Like fellow accountant-turned-actor Jack Elam, Van Cleef was advised by his clients that he had just the right satanic facial features to thrive as a movie villain. With such rare exceptions as The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1954), Van Cleef spent most of his early screen career on the wrong side of the law, menacing everyone from Gary Cooper (High Noon) to the Bowery Boys (Private Eyes) with his cold, shark-eyed stare. Van Cleef left Hollywood in the '60s to appear in European spaghetti Westerns, initially as a secondary actor; he was, for example, the "Bad" in Clint Eastwood's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966). Within a few years, Van Cleef was starring in blood-spattered action films with such titles as Day of Anger (1967), El Condor (1970), and Mean Frank and Crazy Tony (1975). The actor was, for many years, one of the international film scene's biggest box-office draws. Returning to Hollywood in the late '70s, He starred in a very short-lived martial arts TV series The Master (1984), the pilot episodes of which were pieced together into an ersatz feature film for video rental. Van Cleef died of a heart attack in 1989.

Dona Drake (Actor) .. Teresa

Born: November 15, 1914
Died: June 20, 1989

Trivia: Vivacious, volatile Mexico-born singer/actress Dona Drake first gained fame as a band singer; using the name Rita Rio. She was featured in several musical short subjects, and offered a delightful rendition of "The Gypsy from Poughkeepsie" in the 1941 Columbia two-reeler Fresh as a Freshman. Signed by Paramount in 1941, she changed her professional name to Dona Drake. Her most famous role during her Paramount stay was as Bob Hope's vis-a-vis in The Road to Morocco (1942). During her waning days in films, Dona Drake was a Columbia contractee, playing secondary roles in such films as Valentino (1952) and Kansas City Confidential (1954).

Jack Elam (Actor) .. Harris

Born: November 13, 1920
Died: October 20, 2003

Trivia: A graduate of Santa Monica Junior College, Jack Elam spent the immediate post-World War II years as an accountant, numbering several important Hollywood stars among his clients. Already blind in one eye from a childhood fight, Elam was in danger of losing the sight in his other eye as a result of his demanding profession. Several of his show business friends suggested that Elam give acting a try; Elam would be a natural as a villain. A natural he was, and throughout the 1950s Elam cemented his reputation as one of the meanest-looking and most reliable "heavies" in the movies. Few of his screen roles gave him the opportunity to display his natural wit and sense of comic timing, but inklings of these skills were evident in his first regular TV series assignments: The Dakotas and Temple Houston, both 1963. In 1967, Elam was given his first all-out comedy role in Support Your Local Sheriff, after which he found his villainous assignments dwindling and his comic jobs increasing. Elam starred as the patriarch of an itinerant Southwestern family in the 1974 TV series The Texas Wheelers (his sons were played by Gary Busey and Mark Hamill), and in 1979 he played a benign Frankenstein-monster type in the weekly horror spoof Struck By Lightning. Later TV series in the Elam manifest included Detective in the House (1985) and Easy Street (1987). Of course Elam would also crack up audiences in the 1980s with his roles in Cannonball Run and Cannonball Run II. Though well established as a comic actor, Elam would never completely abandon the western genre that had sustained him in the 1950s and 1960s; in 1993, a proud Elam was inducted into the Cowboy Hall of Fame. Two short years later the longitme star would essay his final screen role in the made for television western Bonanza: Under Attack.

Neville Brand (Actor) .. Kane

Born: August 13, 1920
Died: April 16, 1992

Trivia: The oldest child of an itinerant bridge builder, actor Neville Brand intended to make the military his career, and indeed spent ten years in uniform. During World War II, he became America's fourth most decorated soldier when he wiped out a German 50-caliber machine gun nest. He also decided that he'd seek out another line of work as soon as his hitch was up. Paying for acting classes with his GI Bill, he started his career off-Broadway. In 1949, he made his film debut in D.O.A., playing a psychotic hoodlum who delights in punching poisoned hero Edmond O'Brien in the stomach. Brand spent most of the early '50s at 20th Century Fox, a studio that surprisingly downplayed the actor's war record by shuttling him from one unstressed supporting role to another (though he's the principal villain in 1950's Where the Sidewalk Ends, he receives no screen credit). He fared far better on television, where he won the Sylvania Award for his portrayal of Huey Long in a 1958 telestaging of All the King's Men. Even better received was his portrayal of Al Capone on the TV series The Untouchables, a characterization he repeated in the 1961 theatrical feature The George Raft Story. In 1966, Brand briefly shed his bad-guy image to play the broadly hilarious role of bumbling Texas Ranger Reese Bennett on the TV Western series Laredo. His off-camera reputation for pugnacity and elbow-bending was tempered by his unswerving loyalty to his friends and his insatiable desire to better himself intellectually (his private library was one of the largest in Hollywood, boasting some 5000 titles). Fighting a losing battle against emphysema during his last years, Neville Brand died at the age of 70.

Mario Siletti (Actor) .. Timaso

Born: January 01, 1903
Died: January 01, 1964

Howard Negley (Actor) .. Andrews

Born: April 16, 1898

Trivia: American general purpose actor Howard Negley made his screen bow as Nelson in 20th Century Fox's Smokey. Negley went on to reasonably prominent character parts in such B-pictures as Charlie Chan in the Trap (1947). For the most part, he played nameless bit parts as police captains, politicians, and reporters. Howard Negley was last seen as the Twentieth Century Limited conductor in Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1959).

Ted Ryan (Actor) .. Morelli

George Wallace (Actor) .. Olson

Born: June 04, 1895
Died: October 19, 1960

Trivia: Supporting actor in Australian comedies of the '30.

Vivi Janiss (Actor) .. Mr. Rogers

Born: January 01, 1922
Died: January 01, 1988

Trivia: Former Ziegfeld girl and nightclub performer Vivi Janiss appeared in a few films during the 1950s. She later worked on television in such series as Father Knows Best and Barney Miller.

Helen Kleeb (Actor) .. Mrs. Crane

Born: January 06, 1907

Kay Wiley (Actor) .. Woman

Harry Hines (Actor) .. News Vendor

Born: January 01, 1888
Died: January 01, 1967

Don Orlando (Actor) .. Diaz

Born: January 01, 1911
Died: January 01, 1987

Al Hill (Actor) .. Shooter

Born: July 14, 1892
Died: January 01, 1954

Trivia: Albert Hill Jr. was the son of stage actor Al Hill (not to be confused with the Hollywood character actor of the same name). The younger Hill's screen credits were limited to two variations on the same basic role. He was seen as Rod, one of the residents of Boys' Town (1938), then as Pete, an inmate of Boys' Reformatory (1939).

Mike Lally (Actor) .. Shooter

Born: June 01, 1900
Died: February 15, 1985

Trivia: Mike Lally started in Hollywood as an assistant director in the early 1930s. Soon, however, Lally was steadily employed as a stunt man, doubling for such Warner Bros. stars as James Cagney and Pat O'Brien. He also played innumerable bit roles as reporters, court stenographers, cops and hangers-on. Active until 1982, Mike Lally was frequently seen in functionary roles on TV's Columbo.

Charles Sullivan (Actor) .. Player

Born: January 01, 1898
Died: January 01, 1972

Trivia: A former boxer, Charles Sullivan turned to acting in 1925. Sullivan menaced such comedians as Harold Lloyd and Laurel and Hardy before concentrating on feature-film work. When he wasn't playing thugs (Public Enemy, 1931), he could be seen as a sailor (King Kong, 1933). Most of the time, Charles Sullivan was cast as chauffeurs, right up to his retirement in 1958.

Carlos Rivero (Actor) .. Player

Sam Scar (Actor) .. Player

Barry Brooks (Actor) .. Player

Eddie Foster (Actor) .. Player

Born: August 04, 1906
Died: January 18, 1989

Trivia: A rakish-looking, often mustachioed bit-part player, Eddie Foster (born Eddie Eleck) could play any nationality -- including Mexican (Men of the Night, 1934) and Egyptian (The Mummy's Hand, 1940) -- but was almost exclusively cast as thugs. Onscreen from 1932, Foster appeared in a total of ten serials, including Queen of the Jungle (1935), Mandrake the Magician (1939), and Captain Video (1951). He continued his skullduggery well into the television era and became a regular on Commando Cody: Skymaster of the Universe (1953).

Joey Ray (Actor) .. Houseman

Born: September 05, 1904

Paul Hogan (Actor) .. Bouncer

Paul Dubov (Actor) .. Eddie

Born: October 10, 1918
Died: September 20, 1979

Trivia: Actor/writer Paul Dubov did his first film work as a Universal contract player in 1942. Never a leading man, Dubov was the quintessential utility player, able to convey characters of virtually any age or ethnic range. He played sizeable roles in such modestly budgeted sci-fiers as The She Creature (1956), Atomic Submarine (1959) and The Underwater City (1960). In the early 1960s, he was given his first screenwriting opportunities through the auspices of Four Star Productions, headed by Dick Powell. With his wife Gwen Bagni, Dubov created and developed the Four Star TV series Honey West (1965), starring Anne Francis as a gadget-happy private eye. Paul Dubov's final screenplay credit, again in collaboration with Gwen Bagni, was the 1979 TV miniseries Backstairs at the White House.

Ric Roman (Actor) .. Brother

Born: September 29, 1916

Sam Pierce (Actor) .. Workman

Eduardo Coch (Actor) .. Airline Clerk

William Haade (Actor) .. Detective Barney

Born: March 02, 1903
Died: December 15, 1966

Trivia: William Haade spent most of his movie career playing the very worst kind of bully--the kind that has the physical training to back up his bullying. His first feature-film assignment was as the arrogant, drunken professional boxer who is knocked out by bellhop Wayne Morris in Kid Galahad (37). In many of his western appearances, Haade was known to temper villainy with an unexpected sense of humor; in one Republic western, he spews forth hilarious one-liners while hacking his victims to death with a knife! William Haade also proved an excellent menace to timorous comedians like Laurel and Hardy and Abbott and Costello; in fact, his last film appearance was in Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops (55).

Charles Cane (Actor) .. Detective Mullins

Born: January 01, 1896
Died: November 30, 1973

Trivia: In films since 1932, Charles Cane seldom rose above the status of bit player, usually cast as patrolmen and desk sergeants. After a featured role as a teamster in Bob Hope's My Favorite Blonde (1942) Cane went off on a new career tangent, playing scores of truck drivers. Active until 1961, he was briefly billed as Charles R. Cane in the mid-1950s.

Ray Bennett (Actor) .. Prisoner

Born: March 21, 1895

Orlando Beltran (Actor) .. Porter

Carleton Young (Actor) .. Assistant District Atty. Martin

Born: May 26, 1907
Died: July 11, 1971

Trivia: There was always something slightly sinister about American actor Carleton G. Young that prevented him from traditional leading man roles. Young always seemed to be hiding something, to be looking over his shoulder, or to be poised to head for the border; as such, he was perfectly cast in such roles as the youthful dope peddler in the 1936 camp classic Reefer Madness. Even when playing a relatively sympathetic role, Young appeared capable of going off the deep end at any minute, vide his performance in the 1937 serial Dick Tracy as Tracy's brainwashed younger brother. During the 1940s and 1950s, Young was quite active in radio, where he was allowed to play such heroic leading roles as Ellery Queen and the Count of Monte Cristo without his furtive facial expressions working against him. As he matured into a greying character actor, Young became a special favorite of director John Ford, appearing in several of Ford's films of the 1950s and 1960s. In 1962's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, it is Young, in the small role of a reporter, who utters the unforgettable valediction "This is the west, sir. When the legend becomes fact...print the legend." Carleton G. Young was the father of actor Tony Young, who starred in the short-lived 1961 TV Western Gunslinger.

Phil Tead (Actor) .. Collins

Born: January 01, 1894
Died: June 09, 1974

Trivia: Alternately billed as Phil Tead and Philips Tead, this slight, jug-eared character actor could easily have been taken for a young Walter Brennan (indeed, he has been in some film histories). After playing newspaperman Wilson in the 1931 version of The Front Page, he was thereafter typecast as a nosy reporter. He also portrayed several fast-talking radio commentators, most memorably in the Marx Brothers' Horse Feathers (1932) and Harold Lloyd's The Milky Way (1936). Adopting a doddering comic quaintness in the 1950s, Phil Tead was occasionally seen as the absent-minded Professor Pepperwinkle on TV's Superman series.

Lee Phelps (Actor) .. Jailer

Born: January 01, 1894
Died: March 19, 1953

Trivia: Lee Phelps was a longtime resident of Culver City, California, the home of several film studios, including MGM and Hal Roach. Whenever the call went out for street extras, Phelps was always available; his Irish face and shiny pate can be easily spotted in such silent 2-reelers as Laurel and Hardy's Putting Pants on Phillip. Phelps was active in films from 1921 through 1953, often in anonymous bit or atmosphere parts, usually playing a cop or a delivery man. Lee Phelps has found his way into several TV movie-compilation specials thanks to his participation in two famous films of the early '30s: Phelps played the cowering speakeasy owner slapped around by Jimmy Cagney in The Public Enemy (1931), and also portrayed the waterfront waiter to whom Greta Garbo delivers her first talking-picture line ("Gif me a viskey, baby...etc.") in Anna Christie (1930).

Archie Twitchell (Actor) .. Police

Born: January 01, 1906
Died: January 01, 1957

House Peters Jr. (Actor) .. Police

Born: January 12, 1916
Died: October 01, 2008

Trivia: Like Dick Wilson (Mr. Whipple) and Jan Miner (Madge), actor House Peters, Jr. attained most widespread recognition via his iconic role in American television commercials, plugging a domestic product -- in his case, Procter & Gamble's "Mr. Clean" line of household cleaners. Peters set himself apart from the pack, however, for actually playing the brand's nominal character, replete with his barrel chest, bald pate (courtesy of a latex cap and makeup), and trademark gold earring. The New Rochelle, NY, native also built up a fairly substantial litany of dramatic roles alongside his promotional work. After growing up in Beverly Hills, CA, Peters signed for roles in such projects as the television series Flash Gordon and the features Public Cowboy No. 1 and Hot Tip. After a brief service in the Army Air Corps during World War II, he hearkened back to Los Angeles, commenced occasional stage work, and resumed work in features, specializing in supporting roles in dozens of westerns such as Oklahoma Badlands (1948) and Cow Town (1950). Small portrayals in the Hollywood classics The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) and Rebel Without a Cause (1955) represented a significant step up for Peters in terms of profile and recognition, though he continued to be most commonly associated with Mr. Clean, an assignment held from the late '50s into the early '60s. As the years rolled on, Peters did additional television work via guest spots on shows including The Twilight Zone and Perry Mason, then retired in the late '60s and spent the next four decades off-camera. Peters died of pneumonia in 2008, at the age of 92.

George Dockstader (Actor) .. Police

Died: January 01, 1987

Don House (Actor) .. Police

Brick Sullivan (Actor) .. Police

Born: January 01, 1898
Died: January 01, 1959

Jack Shea (Actor) .. Police

Born: January 01, 1899
Died: January 01, 1970

Tom Dillon (Actor) .. Police

Born: January 01, 1919
Died: March 14, 2005

Tom Greenway (Actor) .. Police

Born: January 01, 1909
Died: January 01, 1985

Trivia: American actor Tom Greenway appeared in numerous films between the late '40s and early '60s. He got his start on Broadway where he appeared in a number of productions before serving in the U.S. Air Force during WW II. While flying a mission he was shot down, and he spent over a year in Italian and German POW camps. Following his release, Greenway launched his film career.

Paul Fierro (Actor) .. Police

Born: January 19, 1916

Charles Sherlock (Actor) .. Stickman

Trivia: American actor Charles Sherlock made his first film in 1935 and his last in 1952. Limited to bit roles, Sherlock showed up as reporters, photographers, longshoremen, cabbies, and doctors. Befitting his name, he also appeared as cops in such films as My Buddy (1944), In Society (1944), and The Turning Point (1952). Charles Sherlock enjoyed a rare credited role, again as a cop, in the 1945 Charlie Chan entry The Scarlet Clue.

Frank Scannell (Actor) .. Stickman

Born: January 01, 1902
Died: January 01, 1989

Trivia: Frank Scannell, a pug-nosed American character actor, made his film debut in Shadow of Suspicion (1944). Scannell spent the next two decades playing waiters, reporters, bell captains, and other such uniformed roles. One of his larger assignments was Sheriff Quinn in The Night the World Exploded (1957). Jerry Lewis fans will remember Frank Scanell as put-upon hospital patient Mr. Mealey ("I didn't know your teeth were in the glass") in The Disorderly Orderly (1964).

Preston S. Foster (Actor) .. Timothy Foster

Born: October 24, 1902
Died: July 14, 1970

Trivia: Preston S. Foster's first public appearance was in the church choir in his home town of Ocean City, New Jersey. Gifted with a robust singing voice and muscular physique, Foster was one of the most prominent members of Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Grand Opera Company. After Broadway experience, Foster entered films in 1929, at first specializing in such unsympathetic roles as the rebellious death-row inmate in The Last Mile (1932). He offered strong, complex performances in roles like the Irish rebel leader in The Informer (1935), the blacksmith-turned-gladiator in Last Days of Pompeii (1935), and pompous sharpshooter Frank Butler in Annie Oakley (1935). He played the title character in 1943's Roger Touhy Gangster, which barely made it to the screen thanks to severe censorial cuts. From 1954 through 1955, Preston Foster starred as tugboat skipper/ adventurer/ family man Cap'n John Herrick on the popular syndicated TV series Waterfront.

Joe Ray (Actor) .. Houseman

12:40 pm - 2:35 pm, Thursday, November 20 on WKUW Nostalgia Network (40.5)