Biography paul douglas actor

His third marriage to Geraldine "Gerri" Higgins was short, lasting from InDouglas married actress Virginia Fieldwith whom he had a daughter, Margaret. Douglas died of a heart attack at his home in Hollywood, California on September 11, at the age of Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history.

Biography paul douglas actor: Paul Douglas (April 11, – September

Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikidata item. American actor — This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article. February Douglas in A Letter to Three Wives Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaU.

Hollywood, CaliforniaU. Gerri Higgins. Virginia Field. He attended Yale University and participated in dramatics as a student there. Douglas began appearing in films in He may be best remembered for two baseball comedy movies, It Happens Every Spring and Angels in the Outfield He starred in Clash by Night in with Barbara Stanwyck. Douglas was host of the 22nd annual Academy Awards in March In he appeared in the play The Caine Mutiny Court-Martialbut his union placed him on probation for allegedly saying, "The South stinks.

It's a land of sowbelly and segregation," which offended Southern audiences. Douglas claimed that he was misquoted.

Biography paul douglas actor: The 5'11", lb. actor was a

Douglas died the day after production of the episode had been completed. He had been in his last stages of illness during filming, and his severe physical state was apparent on film. Later, despite being a raw new talent in Tinseltown, he had the audacity to turn down the Hollywood powers-that-be to revive his Broadway success to film because he felt they had "reduced" his role too much.

Somehow again, the risk paid off. He defied the odds once again and became an unlikely overnight smash with his very first film!

Biography paul douglas actor: Paul Douglas Fleischer, known

Moreover, he went on to prove he was no one trick pony, cementing his stardom in a number of prime vehicles in both broad comedy and melodrama. It, in fact, would take an early and sudden death to end all this wildly successful risk-taking. The bombastic, blue-collar persona Douglas exhibited naturally on stage and screen was actually quite a contrast to his own family background.

He was born in an upper-class section of Philadelphia to a well-to-do doctor on April 11,and was christened Paul Douglas Fleischer. An interest in acting sparked while he was a student at West Philadelphia High School. Following graduation, his thoughts turned to college. He went on to take entrance examinations at Yale but never attended the college.

Instead Paul made a minor dent as a professional football player with Philly's Frankford Yellow Jackets team.

Biography paul douglas actor: A one-time professional footballer and radio

Inhe parlayed his passion for athletics into a highly successful sportscasting and commentating career and grew in respect as one of the country's top sports announcers and master of ceremonies. But it wasn't enough. The acting bug bit again. After appearing in a few stock and small theatre plays, he made his Broadway acting debut in November of as a radio announcer in the comedy satire "Double Dummy" at the John Golden Theatre, but it closed the next month and he returned to radio, eventually landing a cozy niche as an announcer and straight man opposite the likes of Jack Benny he was Benny's first announcerFred Allen and the team of George Burns and Gracie Allen in their respective series.

He also found work narrating a host of pre-WWII documentary shorts. Co-starring Judy Holliday and Gary Merrillthe show was a huge comedy smash and Douglas the toast of New York in a highly unappealing role. He nabbed both the Theatre World and Clarence Derwent acting prizes for his hot-tempered junkman. The relatively inexperienced actor wisely remained with the show through all 1, performances before leaving to seek out Hollywood roles.

He exploded onto the Hollywood scene with his very first film, the classic Joseph L. Mankiewicz drama A Letter to Three Wives There was pure electricity in his scenes with the equally earthy scene-stealing Linda Darnell. The new film star was immediately tapped to host the 22nd annual Academy Awards in March In a surprise move, Douglas had the nerve to rebuff a Hollywood offer to recreate his Harry Brock role when Born Yesterday was turned into a film, starring his Broadway co-star Judy Holliday.

After reading the biography paul douglas actor script, he was put off that his part had been minimalized to the point of favoring his leading lady and to meet the demands of the other male superstar in the picture, William Holden. Columbia used their own manic human dynamo, Broderick Crawfordto take over the film role. Douglas was originally cast in the episode of The Twilight Zone called "The Mighty Casey", a role written for him by Rod Serling based on his character in Angels in the Outfield, but Douglas died the day after production of the episode had been completed.

His role was taken over by Jack Warden, and most of the episode was refilmed several months later. After moving in FebruaryJohnnie Douglas was born on March 2, Paul found out that Field was having an affair with Dick Powell, and they separated in December They divorced on January 30,and Douglas returned to California to resume his acting career.

Paul Douglas died of a heart attack in Hollywood, California on September 11,at the age of Film director Billy Wilder and his longtime co-writer I. Wilder later said: "I saw him and his wife, Jan Sterling, at a restaurant, and I realized he was perfect, and I asked him right there in the parking lot. About two days before we were to start, he had a heart attack and died.

Iz and I were shattered. If you spot errors, or omissions, then please do let us know.