Richard Long (actor)

Template:Short description Template:Other people Template:Infobox person Richard McCord Long (December 17, 1927 – December 21, 1974), also known as Dick Long, was an American actor best known for his leading roles in three ABC television series, The Big Valley, Nanny and the Professor, and Bourbon Street Beat.<ref name=dbsjobap>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=sshtupi>Template:Cite news</ref> He was also a series regular on ABC's 77 Sunset Strip during the 1961–1962 season.<ref name=rlqupi>Template:Cite news</ref>

Career

Early films: International Pictures

In 1946, Long was cast in his first film, Tomorrow Is Forever, as Drew, the son of the characters played by Claudette Colbert and Orson Welles. The role had been unfilled for months, and producers selected Long, who most closely matched the credentials required.<ref name="briansdrivein">Template:Cite web</ref> It was made by International Pictures, which put him under contract.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

File:The Stranger 1946 (2).jpg

Left to right: Edward G. Robinson, Long, Loretta Young, Martha Wentworth, Orson Welles, Philip Merivale, Byron Keith, and an unidentified actress in The Stranger (1946)

Long impressed Welles, who cast the actor in The Stranger (1946), from International, as the younger brother of Loretta Young's character.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

International was going to lend Long to 20th Century Fox to make Margie (1946), but then they changed their minds and put him in The Dark Mirror (1946) starring Olivia de Havilland and Thomas Mitchell and directed by Robert Siodmak.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Tom Kettle and Universal Pictures

International Pictures merged with Universal Pictures, which took over Long's contract. His fourth film was The Egg and I (1947), playing Tom Kettle, the eldest son of Ma and Pa Kettle, the characters played by Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride. The movie was a huge hit – so much so that Universal decided to spin off the Kettles into their own series.

Long signed a contract with Universal, for which he appeared in Tap Roots (1948) and Criss Cross (1949), playing Burt Lancaster's brother in the latter for Siodmak. He supported William Bendix in The Life of Riley (1949) based on the NBC radio show.

Long reprised his role as Tom Kettle in Ma and Pa Kettle (1949), which was a solid success at the box office. So, too, was Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town (1950).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He was Frank James in the Western Kansas Raiders (1950).

In December 1950, Long was drafted into the U.S. Army during the Korean War.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Before he left, he made Jet Men of the Air (1951), and then served for two years at Fort Ord, California.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm (1952) was Long's fourth and final Kettle movie. He was the juvenile lead in Back at the Front (1952) and had supporting parts in All I Desire (1953), All American (1953) (as the villain to Tony Curtis's hero), Saskatchewan (1954), and Playgirl (1954).

Long began guest-starring on TV shows such as Lux Video Theater ("I'll Never Love Again") and was finally given a lead role by Universal in Cult of the Cobra (1955) – though still billed under Faith Domergue.

Television

Long focused on television over the next few years, guest-starring on episodes of shows such as Climax!, Screen Directors Playhouse, TV Reader's Digest, The United States Steel Hour, Hey, Jeannie!, Schlitz Playhouse, Suspicion, Alcoa Theatre, Wagon Train, Have Gun – Will Travel, The Millionaire, Matinee Theatre, The Twilight Zone episodes ("Number 12 Looks Just Like You" and "Person or Persons Unknown"), and The Further Adventures of Ellery Queen.

At Columbia, he had a top supporting role in the Western Fury at Gunsight Pass (1956) and in a Blake Edwards comedy, He Laughed Last (1956).

Long went to Japan to star in Tokyo After Dark (1959) and had a key role in William Castle's House on Haunted Hill (1959).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Maverick

Long signed a contract with Warner Bros. and guest-starred in many of their TV series, including Lawman.

File:Jack Kelly Richard Long Maverick 1960.JPG

Jack Kelly as Bart Maverick and Long as Gentleman Jack Darby in Maverick, 1959

He played the recurring role of gambler/con artist Gentleman Jack Darby in four episodes of the ABC/WB Western series, Maverick beginning in 1958, including the memorable "Shady Deal at Sunny Acres" installment.<ref name="officialtribute">Template:Cite web</ref> His character always interacted with Jack Kelly as Bart Maverick, including in "Shady Deal at Sunny Acres", which starred both James Garner and Kelly. He also never appeared with later series regular Roger Moore. Gentleman Jack Darby was created by Maverick producer Roy Huggins as a replacement for "Dandy Jim Buckley", played by Efrem Zimbalist Jr., after Zimbalist had moved on to his own series, 77 Sunset Strip.

Warner Bros. starred Long in a show, Bourbon Street Beat (1959–60) as Rex Randolph, Private Eye, which ran for only 39 episodes.<ref name="rlgsro">Template:Cite news</ref> with Andrew Duggan,<ref name="officialtribute" /> Van Williams, and Arlene Howell.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

77 Sunset Strip

Long reprised his character on episodes of Hawaiian Eye and joined the cast of 77 Sunset Strip from 1960 to 1962.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Long continued to guest star on shows such as Thriller, Tales of Wells Fargo, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and The Twilight Zone ("Person or Persons Unknown").Template:Citation needed

He returned to films with a role in the MGM romantic musical Follow the Boys, along with co-stars Connie Francis, Paula Prentiss, and Roger Perry.<ref name="briansdrivein"/> He did The Tenderfoot (1964) for Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color.

In 1963, Long guest-starred in the episode "Hear No Evil" of ABC's Going My Way, a drama series starring Gene Kelly about a Catholic priest in New York City loosely based on the 1944 Bing Crosby movie. That same year, he was cast as Eddie Breech in the episode "Blood Bargain" of CBS's The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.

Long went to Finland to make a film, Make Like a Thief (1965), which he also helped direct. "I've had the longest awkward period in the history of Hollywood", he said around this time. "I sign more autographs than anyone in the industry. They either think I'm Robert Goulet, Gig Young, Robert Sterling, or myself. We don't look a thing alike if we're together, but there is a flash similarity."<ref name="long">Template:Cite news</ref>

Long added that he hoped to play more character parts. "I'm rotting from the inside out and it's just gotten to my face", he said. "A man doesn't get interesting on screen until his 40s."<ref name="long"/>

The Big Valley

File:Big Valley cast photo 2.jpg

The Big Valley cast
with Long at far left

In 1965, at the age of 38, Long began his role as attorney Jarrod Barkley, the oldest son of rancher Victoria Barkley (Barbara Stanwyck), in 112 episodes of The Big Valley, the last of the major Four Star Television series, a Western that ran on ABC from 1965 to 1969. The series was set in the 1870s. Long also directed 2 episodes of The Big Valley.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> (In 1953, Long had costarred with Stanwyck in the film All I Desire.<ref name="officialtribute"/>)

Nanny and the Professor

File:Nanny and the Professor cast 1969.jpg

Nanny and the Professor cast

In 1970–71, Long and Juliet Mills starred in the ABC sitcom Nanny and the Professor.<ref>Nanny and the Professor website; accessed March 10, 2014. Template:Webarchive</ref>

Long and Mills later provided their voices for two animated-film versions of the show: Nanny and the Professor (1972) and Nanny and the Professor and the Phantom of the Circus (1973).

Thicker Than Water

In 1973, he starred alongside Julie Harris in the short-lived series, Thicker than Water.

His last jobs were the TV movies The Girl Who Came Gift-Wrapped (1974) and Death Cruise (1974).

Personal life

Long served in the U.S. Army for two years during the Korean War,<ref name=reaptyah>Template:Cite news</ref> where he was posted to Fort Ord, California, alongside actors Martin Milner, David Janssen, and Clint Eastwood.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He was also stationed in Tokyo, Japan.<ref name=reaptyah/>

Long was twice married: his first wife, singer and actress Suzan Ball, whom he married on April 11, 1954, died of cancer 14 months later, at age 22.<ref name=sbtacfmppg>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=sbwwoc>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=suzdbmj>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=reagobap>Template:Cite news</ref> They had met in 1953, after her cancer diagnosis; her right leg was amputated in early 1954 and they married in April.<ref name=mjapjl>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead link</ref>

In 1957, he married actress/model Mara Corday in Las Vegas.<ref name=mdbodl>Template:Cite news</ref> The couple had three children together.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=arlisue>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=egoftv>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1961, Long was arrested by police after Corday accused him of attacking her while drunk.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Corday declined to pursue the charges, and after initially indicating she would file for divorce, she later reconciled with Long.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Template:Portal

Death

As a youth, Long contracted pneumonia, which apparently weakened his heart. He later experienced cardiac problems as an adult and suffered his first heart attack in 1961.<ref name=rlfhail>Template:Cite news</ref> After a month-long stay in Tarzana Medical Center in Los Angeles to treat additional attacks, he died on December 21, 1974, four days after his 47th birthday.<ref name=dbsjobap/><ref name=sshtupi/>

Filmography

Film
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1946	Tomorrow Is Forever	Drew Hamilton
	The Stranger	Noah Longstreet
	The Dark Mirror	Rusty
1947	The Egg and I	Tom Kettle
1948	Tap Roots	Bruce Dabney
1949	The Life of Riley	Jeff Taylor
	Criss Cross	Slade Thompson
	Ma and Pa Kettle	Tom Kettle
1950	Kansas Raiders	Frank James
	Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town	Tom Kettle
1951	Air Cadet	Russ Coulter	Alternate title: Jet Men on the Air
	Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm	Tom Kettle
1952	Back at the Front	Sergeant Rose	Alternate title: Willie and Joe in Tokyo
1953	All I Desire	Russ Underwood
	All American	Howard Carter	Alternate title: The Winning Way
1954	Saskatchewan	Abbott	Alternate title: O'Rourke of the Royal Mounted
	Playgirl	Barron Courtney III
1955	Cult of the Cobra	Paul Able
1956	He Laughed Last	Jimmy Murphy
	Fury at Gunsight Pass	Roy Hanford
1959	House on Haunted Hill	Lance Schroeder
	Tokyo After Dark	Sergeant Robert Douglas
1963	Follow the Boys	Lieutenant Peter Langley
1964	Make Like a Thief	V. Bartley "Bart" Lanigan
1972	Nanny and the Professor	Professor Harold Everett (voice)	Animated film
1973	Nanny and the Professor and the Phantom of the Circus	Professor Harold Everett (voice)	Animated film
1974	The Girl Who Came Gift-Wrapped	Michael Green	Television film
	Death Cruise	Jerry Carter	Television film (final film role)
Television series
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1958–59	Maverick	"Gentleman" Jack Darby	4 episodes
1958–63	77 Sunset Strip	Marc Harrington / Tony Wendice / Rex Randolph / Dick Lynwood / Charlie Carmichael	31 episodes
1959–60	Bourbon Street Beat	Rex Randolph	38 episodes
1962	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Paul Devore	Season 7 Episode 33: "The Opportunity"
1962	The Twilight Zone	David Andrew Gurney	Season 3 Episode 27: "Person or Persons Unknown"
1963	The Alfred Hitchcock Hour	Eddie Breech	Season 2 Episode 5: "Blood Bargain"
1964	The Twilight Zone	Uncle Rick / Dr. Rex / Professor Sigmund Friend / Tom /...	Season 5 Episode 17: "Number 12 Looks Just Like You"
1965–69	The Big Valley	Jarrod Barkley	98 episodes
1970–71	Nanny and the Professor	Professor Harold Everett	54 episodes
1972–73	Thicker than Water	Ernie Paine	9 episodes
1974	Match Game '74	Himself	5 episodes

External links

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