Gary Merrill

Gary Merrill
Merrill in the trailer for the film A Blueprint for Murder
Born	Gary Fred Merrill (1915-08-02)August 2, 1915 Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.
Died	March 5, 1990(1990-03-05) (aged 74) Falmouth, Maine, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Actor, director
Years active	1943–1980
Spouse(s)	Barbara Leeds (1941-1950) (divorced) Bette Davis (1950-1960) (divorced) 2 children

Gary Fred Merrill (August 2, 1915 – March 5, 1990) was an American film and television character actor whose credits included more than fifty feature films, a half-dozen mostly short-lived TV series, and dozens of television guest appearances.

Life and career

Born in Hartford, Connecticut, he attended private Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, and began acting in 1944, while still in the United States Army Air Forces, in Winged Victory. Before entering films, Merrill's deep cultured voice won him a recurring role as Batman in the Superman radio series. His film career began promisingly, with roles in films like Twelve O'Clock High (1949) and All About Eve (1950), but he rarely moved beyond supporting roles in his many Westerns, war movies, and medical dramas. His television career was extensive, if not consistent. He appeared from 1954-1956 as Jason Tyler on the NBC crime drama Justice, about lawyers of the Legal Aid Society of New York. In that series, he was cast oppostie Dane Clark and then William Prince in the role of Richard Adams. Merrill also had recurring roles in Then Came Bronson with Michael Parks and Young Doctor Kildare, both of which lasted less than a season.

In 1964, he starred as city editor Lou Sheldon, in the short-lived CBS drama about the fictitious New York Globe, The Reporter, with Harry Guardino in the title role as journalist Danny Taylor.

Merrill's first marriage, to Barbara Leeds in 1941, ended in divorce in 1950. He immediately married Bette Davis, his co-star from All About Eve, and adopted her daughter Barbara from a previous marriage. He and Davis adopted two more children, but divorced in 1960.

Often politically active, he campaigned in 1958 to elect the Democrat, Edmund Sixtus Muskie, as governor of Maine. Merrill also took part in the Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965 to promote African American voter registration. In response to U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson's Vietnam War policy, he unsuccessfully sought nomination to the Maine legislature as an anti-war, pro-environmentalist Democratic primary candidate.

Aside from an occasional role as narrator, Merrill had essentially retired from the entertainment business after 1980. Shortly before his death, he authored the autobiography Bette, Rita and the Rest of My Life (1989).

Merrill died of lung cancer at Falmouth, Maine and is buried there in the Pine Grove Cemetery. During his long residence in Falmouth, Merrill received some complaints from locals due to his habit of appearing in public wearing a caftan instead of a shirt and trousers.

Theatrical film appearances

• Winged Victory (1944)
• Slattery's Hurricane (1949)
• Twelve O'Clock High (1949)
• Mother Didn't Tell Me (1950)
• Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)
• All About Eve (1950)
• The Frogmen (1951)
• Decision Before Dawn (1951)
• Another Man's Poison (1952)
• Phone Call from a Stranger (1952)
• The Girl in White (1952)
• Night Without Sleep (1952)
• A Blueprint for Murder (1953)
• Witness to Murder (1954)
• The Black Dakotas (1954)
• The Human Jungle (1954)
• Navy Wife (1956)
• Bermuda Affair (1956)
• The Missouri Traveler (1958)
• Crash Landing (1958)
• The Wonderful Country (1959)
• The Savage Eye (1960)
• The Great Impostor (1961)
• The Pleasure of His Company (1961)
• Mysterious Island (1961)
• A Girl Named Tamiko (1963)
• The Searching Eye (1964)
• Catacombs (1965)
• Ride Beyond Vengeance (1966)
• Destination Inner Space (1966)
• Clambake (1967)
• The Incident (1967)
• The Last Challenge (1967)
• The Secret of the Sacred Forest (1970)
• The Power (1968)
• Più tardi, Claire, più tardi (1968)
• Amarsi male (1969)
• Huckleberry Finn (1974)
• Thieves (1977)

Television

Merrill's television work spanned from 1953-1980. Most of his appearances were in guest-star roles in episodic and anthology series. Among the programs in which Merrill appeared are: The 20th Century-Fox Hour, Wagon Train, Studio 57, Studio One, Playhouse 90, Alcoa Theatre, Rawhide, Laramie, Sam Benedict, Alfred Hitchcock Presents (the episode "Manacled" original air date 1957), Zane Grey Theater, The Twilight Zone, General Electric Theater, Ben Casey, Combat!, The Outer Limits, Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Time Tunnel, Marcus Welby, M.D., Medical Center, Kung Fu, and Cannon.

Merrill also served as narrator of the 1972–73 syndicated TV series The American Adventure.

External links

• Gary Merrill at IMDb
• Gary Merrill at the Internet Broadway Database
• Gary Merrill at Find a Grave
• New York Times biography