GM
Guy Madison
Actor, Producer
Born January 19, 1922Died February 6, 1996 (74 years)
Handsome American leading man Guy Madison stumbled into a film career and became a television star and hero to the Baby Boom generation. As a young man he worked as a telephone lineman, but entered the Coast Guard at the beginning of the Second World War. While on liberty one weekend in Hollywood, he attended a Lux Radio Theatre broadcast and was spotted in the audience by an assistant to Henry Willson, an executive for David O. Selznick. Selznick wanted an unknown sailor to play a small but prominent part in Since You Went Away (1944), and promptly signed Robert Moseley to a contract. Selznick and Willson concocted the screen name Guy Madison (the "guy" girls would like to meet, and Madison from a passing Dolly Madison cake wagon). Madison filmed his one scene on a weekend pass and returned to duty. The film's release brought thousands of fan letters for Madison's lonely, strikingly handsome young sailor, and at war's end he returned to find himself a star-in-the-making. Despite an initial amateurishness to his acting, Madison grew as a performer, studying and working in theatre. He played leads in a series of programmers before being cast as legendary lawman Wild Bill Hickok in the TV series Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok (1951). He played Hickok on TV and radio for much of the 1950s, and many of the TV episodes were strung together and released as feature films. Madison managed to squeeze in some more adult-oriented roles during his off-time from the series, but much of this work was also in westerns. After the Hickok series ended Madison found work scarce in the U.S. and traveled to Europe, where he became a popular star of Italian westerns and German adventure films. In the 1970s he returned to the U.S., but appeared mainly in cameo roles. Physical ailments limited his work in later years, and he died from emphysema in 1996. His first wife was actress Gail Russell.
Date of Birth 19 January 1922, Pumpkin Center, California
Date of Death 6 February 1996, Palm Springs, California (emphysema)
Date of Birth 19 January 1922, Pumpkin Center, California
Date of Death 6 February 1996, Palm Springs, California (emphysema)
Known For
Filmography
| 2003 | Los Angeles Plays Itself · as Cliff Harper In Till The End Of Time (archive Footage) |
| 1989 | Crossbow: The Movie · as Gerrish |
| 1988 | Red River · as Bill Meeker, Rancher |
| 1987 | Crossbow (TV Series) · as Gerrish |
| 1978 | Where's Willie? · as Tony Flore |
| 1977 | Fantasy Island (TV Series) · as Brick Howard |
| 1976 | Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood · as Star At Screening |
| 1974 | The Pacific Connection · as The Old Man |
| 1974 | Il baco da seta · as Robert, Smeralda's Ex-Husband |
| 1971 | The Smith Family (TV Series) · as Andy Ellis |
| 1970 | Reverend's Colt · as Reverend Miller Colt |
| 1969 | The War Devils · as Capt. George Vincent |
| 1969 | Hell Commandos · as Major Carter |
| 1969 | A Place in Hell · as Major Mac Graves |
| 1969 | The Battle of the Last Panzer · as Lofty |
| 1968 | Testa di sbarco per otto implacabili · as Capt. Jack Murphy |
| 1968 | This Man Can't Die · as Martin Benson |
| 1968 | Superargo and the Faceless Giants · as Prof. Wendland Wond |
| 1967 | Bang Bang Kid · as Bear Bullock |
| 1967 | The Devil's Man · as Mike Harway |
| 1967 | Return of Django · as Father Fleming |
| 1967 | Payment in Blood · as Colonel Thomas Blake |
| 1967 | LSD Flesh of Devil · as Rex Miller |
| 1966 | Five for Revenge · as Tex |
| 1965 | Legacy of the Incas · as Jaguar / Karl Hansen |
| 1965 | L'avventuriero della Tortuga · as Alfonso Di Montélimar |
| 1964 | The Mystery of Thug Island · as Souyadhana |
| 1964 | Gunmen of the Rio Grande · as Wyatt Earp / Laramie |
| 1964 | Sandokan contro il leopardo di Sarawak · as Yanez |
| 1964 | Old Shatterhand · as Capt. Bradley |
| 1964 | Sandokan alla riscossa · as Yanez |
| 1963 | Il vendicatore mascherato · as Massimo |
| 1963 | The Executioner of Venice · as Rodrigo Zeno |
| 1962 | Women of Devil's Island · as Henri Vallière |
| 1961 | Sword of the Conqueror · as Amalchi |
| 1961 | Slave of Rome · as Marco Valerio |
| 1959 | Jet Over the Atlantic · as Brett Murphy |
| 1958 | The Ann Sothern Show (TV Series) · as Cast |
| 1958 | Bullwhip · as Steve Daley |
| 1957 | The Hard Man · as Steve Burden |
| 1957 | Wagon Train (TV Series) · as Riley Gratton |
| 1956 | Reprisal! · as Frank Madden |
| 1956 | Zane Grey Theater (TV Series) · as Jericho - Federal Agent |
| 1956 | The Beast of Hollow Mountain · as Jimmy Ryan |
| 1956 | Hilda Crane · as Russell Burns |
| 1956 | On the Threshold of Space · as Capt. Jim Hollenbeck |
| 1955 | The Last Frontier · as Captain Glenn Riordan |
| 1955 | 5 Against the House · as Al Mercer |
| 1954 | Outlaw's Son · as Wild Bill Hickok |
| 1954 | Climax! (TV Series) |
| 1954 | The Command · as Capt. Robert Macclaw |
| 1953 | The Charge at Feather River · as Miles Archer |
| 1953 | General Electric Theater (TV Series) · as Adam Tenney |
| 1952 | Ford Theatre: All Star Theatre (TV Series) · as John Harpurhey |
| 1952 | Red Snow · as Lt. Phil Johnson |
| 1952 | Death Valley Days (TV Series) · as Luke Short |
| 1951 | Drums in the Deep South · as Maj. Will Denning |
| 1951 | Schlitz Playhouse of Stars (TV Series) |
| 1951 | The Red Skelton Show (TV Series) · as Skipper |
| 1951 | Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok (TV Series) · as Wild Bill Hickok |
| 1949 | Massacre River · as Larry Knight |
| 1948 | Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven · as Eddie Tayloe |
| 1947 | Honeymoon · as Corporal Phil Vaughn |
| 1946 | Till the End of Time · as Cliff W. Harper |
| 1944 | Since You Went Away · as Sailor Harold E. Smith |