Mark Stevens (actor)
Mark Stevens | |
---|---|
![]() Stevens in 1950 | |
Born | Richard William Stevens December 13, 1916 Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. |
Died | September 15, 1994 Majores, Spain | (aged 77)
Other names | Stephen Richards |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1943–1987 |
Spouse |
Annelle Hayes
(m. 1945; div. 1962) |
Children | 2 |
Mark Stevens (born Richard William Stevens; December 13, 1916 – September 15, 1994) was an American actor, who appeared in films, and on television. He was one of four who played the lead role in the television series Martin Kane, Private Eye; he appeared in 1953–54.
Early Life
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Stevens first studied to become a painter before becoming active in theater work. He then launched a radio career as an announcer in Akron, Ohio.
Early Career
Warner Bros – as Stephen Richards
Moving to Hollywood, he became a Warner Bros. contract actor at $100 a week in 1943. The studio darkened and straightened his curly red hair and covered his freckles. At first he was billed as Stephen Richards. They gave him small parts, often uncredited, in films like Destination Tokyo (1943), Passage to Marseille (1944), The Doughgirls (1944), Hollywood Canteen (1944), Objective, Burma! (1945), God Is My Co-Pilot (1945), The Horn Blows at Midnight (1945), Rhapsody in Blue (1945) and Pride of the Marines (1945). He usually played soldiers. Eventually the studio let him go.
Career at 20th Century Fox
He was then signed to 20th Century Fox and changed his name to Mark Stevens at the suggestion of Darryl Zanuck.
His first movie for the studio was Within These Walls (1945), fourth-billed, playing the romantic male lead. Stevens was borrowed by RKO to play the lead role in From This Day Forward (1946) with Joan Fontaine.
Back at Fox Stevens was in The Dark Corner (1946) with Lucille Ball and Clifton Webb, a film noir that attempted to repeat the success of Laura (1944). In 1946, exhibitors voted him the fifth-most promising "star of tomorrow".[1]
Fox put him in the musical I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now (1947), playing Joseph E. Howard. It was a big hit. So too was The Street With No Name (1948), where Stevens played an FBI man going undercover to arrest a gangster played by Richard Widmark, and The Snake Pit (1948), in which he played Olivia de Havilland's loyal husband.
Stevens was in a Western, Sand (1949) and another musical biopic with Haver, Oh, You Beautiful Doll (1949), playing Fred Fisher.[2] He supported William Powell in Dancing in the Dark (1949).
Stevens was borrowed by MGM to play Matthew Kinston, one of Deborah Kerr's three suitors in Please Believe Me (1950). For Columbia, he starred in the film-noir Between Midnight and Dawn (1950).
Career after 20th Century Fox
Stevens then signed a contract at Universal: Target Unknown (1951), a war film; Katie Did It (1951), a romantic comedy; Little Egypt (1951) with Rhonda Fleming; Reunion in Reno (1951).
In 1951, he starred in the DuMont series News Gal which was later syndicated on ABC in 1957.
Stevens made Mutiny (1952) for the King Brothers and went to England for The Lost Hours (1952).
He was in Torpedo Alley (1953). Stevens took over the lead role in Martin Kane, Private Eye from 1953 to 1954.
From 1954 to 1956, he played a newspaper managing editor in the series Big Town, having replaced Patrick McVey, who starred in the role from 1950 to 1954. Reruns of Big Town began airing on DuMont under the title City Assignment while new episodes of the series were still appearing on CBS.
Career as a Director
In the 1950s and 1960s, he directed several features: Cry Vengeance (1954), Time Table (1956), Gun Fever (1958), Man on a Raft (1958), The Man in the Water (1963), and Sunscorched (1966).
As an actor only, he was in Gunsight Ridge (1956), September Storm (1960), and Fate is the Hunter (1964).
Later career
From the 1960s Stevens lived in semi-retirement in Spain.[citation needed] His occasional film credits include Spain Again (1969) and The Fury of the Wolfman (1972). In the 1980s he made guest appearances on television shows including Magnum, P.I., Murder, She Wrote.
Death
On September 15, 1994, Stevens died of cancer in Majorca, Spain at the age of 77.[3]
For his contribution to the television industry, Mark Stevens has a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame at 6637 Hollywood Boulevard.
Filmography
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1943 | Destination Tokyo | Admiral's aide | uncredited |
1944 | Passage to Marseille | Lieutenant Hastings | uncredited |
Roaring Guns | Lance Ferris | as Stephen Richards | |
The omar | Lt. Harry Kerry | uncredited | |
Hollywood Canteen | Soldier on deck | uncredited | |
1945 | Objective, Burma! | Lt. Barker | as Stephen Richards |
God Is My Co-Pilot | Sgt. Baldridge | as Stephen Richards | |
The Horn Blows at Midnight | Angel | uncredited | |
Rhapsody in Blue | Steve | uncredited | |
Within These Walls | Steve Purcell | ||
Pride of the Marines | Ainslee | as Stephen Richards | |
1946 | From This Day Forward | Bill Cummings | |
The Dark Corner | Bradford Galt | ||
1947 | I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now | Joe Howard | |
1948 | The Street with No Name | Gene Cordell/George Manly | |
The Snake Pit | Robert Cunningham | ||
1949 | Sand | Jeff Keane | |
Oh, You Beautiful Doll | Larry Kelly | ||
Dancing in the Dark | Bill Davis | ||
1950 | Please Believe Me | Matthew Kinston | |
Between Midnight and Dawn | Officer Rocky Barnes | ||
1951 | Target Unknown | Capt. Jerome 'Steve' Stevens | |
Katie Did It | Peter Van Arden | ||
Little Egypt | Wayne Cravat | ||
Reunion in Reno | Norman Drake | ||
1952 | Mutiny | Capt. James Marshall | |
The Lost Hours | Paul Smith | ||
Torpedo Alley | Lt. Bob Bingham | ||
1953 | Jack Slade | Joseph Alfred Slade | |
1954 | Cry Vengeance | Vic Barron | also director |
1956 | Time Table | Charlie Norman | also director |
1957 | Gunsight Ridge | Velvet Clark | |
1958 | Gun Fever | Luke Ram | also director |
Gunsmoke in Tucson | Jedediah (Chip) Coburn | ||
1960 | September Storm | Joe Balfour | |
1963 | Escape from Hell Island | Capt. James | also director |
1964 | Fate Is the Hunter | Mickey Doolan | |
Frozen Alive | Dr. Frank Overton | original title: Der Fall X701 | |
1965 | Jessy Does Not Forgive... He Kills! | Sheriff Jeff Kinsley | original title: Tierra de fuego |
1966 | Go with God, Gringo | Smith | original title: Vaya con dios gringo |
1969 | Cry for Poor Wally | Gaylord Blue – Radio DJ | |
Spain Again | Dr. David Foster | original title: España otra vez | |
1972 | The Fury of the Wolfman | Bill Williams | uncredited original title: La furia del Hombre Lobo |
Television
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1957 | Wagon Train | Nels Stack | 'The Nels Stack Story', (with Joanne Dru) |
1957 | Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre | Capt. John Hunter | episode: "Dangerous Orders" |
1958 | Zane Grey Theatre | Cort McConnell | episode: "The Stranger" |
1962 | Rawhide | John Shepard | episode: Incident of the Hunter |
1978 | The Eddie Capra Mysteries | Ballinger | episode: "How Do I Kill Thee?" |
1986 | Murder, She Wrote | Nick Brody | episode: "Obituary for a Dead Anchor" |
Radio
Year | Program | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1947 | Suspense | Jimmy Dawson | episode: "Tree of Life"[4] |
1947 | Lux Radio Theater | Bradford Gault | The Dark Corner |
1947 | Suspense | Bill Cummings | episode: From This Day Forward[5] |
1952 | Cavalcade of America | Thaddeus Fairbanks | episode: "The Yankee and the Scales"[6] |
Notes
- ^ "The Stars of To-morrow". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. September 10, 1946. p. 11 Supplement: The Sydney Morning Herald Magazine. Retrieved April 24, 2012.
- ^ All Movie biography Archived April 26, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ TCM Biography
- ^ http://www.escape-suspense.com/2009/06/suspense-tree-of-life.html
- ^ "LRT Guest". Harrisburg Telegraph. October 26, 1946. p. 21. Retrieved September 29, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Kirby, Walter (April 20, 1952). "Better Radio Programs for the Week". The Decatur Daily Review. p. 46. Retrieved May 9, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
External links
- Mark Stevens at IMDb
- Mark Stevens at TCMDB
- Mark Stevens at Hollywood Star Walk