E.G. Marshall

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E. G. Marshall (June 18, 1914 – August 24, 1998) was a two-time Emmy Award-winning American actor, best known for his TV roles as the lawyer Lawrence Preston on The Defenders in the 1960s, and as neurosurgeon Dr. David Craig on The Bold Ones: The New Doctors in the 1970s. Among his film roles, he is perhaps best known as the unflappable Juror #4 in Sidney Lumet's courtroom drama 12 Angry Men.

Early life

Marshall was born Everett Eugene Grunz in Owatonna, Minnesota, the son of Hazel Irene (née Cobb) and Charles G. Grunz.^[1] During his life, he never divulged fully what 'E.G' stood for, telling most people it stood for "Everybody's Guess".^[2] It was thought to mean "Everett Grunz" or "Edda Gunnar Marshall".^{[citation needed]}

Career

Although most familiar from his television and movie roles, E. G. Marshall came from a distinguished Broadway background, appearing in the original New York productions of The Skin of Our Teeth, The Iceman Cometh, and lead roles in The Crucible and Waiting for Godot.[1]

Marshall was the original host of the popular nightly radio drama The CBS Radio Mystery Theater (or CBSRMT), which ran on CBS radio affiliate stations across the United States between 1974 and 1982. CBSRMT was an ambitious and sustained attempt to revive the great drama of old-time radio. Each episode began with the ominous sound of a creaking door, slowly opening to invite listeners in for the evening's adventure. At the end of each show, the door would swing shut, with Marshall signing off, "Until next time, pleasant... dre-e-eams?" Marshall hosted the program for the first seven years. Failing health forced his departure in 1981, and he was replaced by actress Tammy Grimes for the final season.

Marshall also found fame playing in other television and film roles, usually as an authoritative figure. One of his best known television roles was as defense lawyer Lawrence Preston in the series The Defenders, which lasted from 1961 to 1965. He and future Brady Bunch star Robert Reed portrayed a father and son who worked in a law firm. This role garnered him two Emmy wins-one in 1962 and one in 1963. He also earned more prominence as dedicated neurosurgeon, Dr. Benjamin Craig, in The Bold Ones: The New Doctors, from 1969 to 1973, featuring unfamiliar actors David Hartman and John Saxon. Marshall reprised the role of Lawrence Preston for a 1997 Showtime television movie based on The Defenders called The Defenders: Payback. It featured the elder Preston and his descendants taking on legal cases in the 1990s. (Reed did not appear in the revival since he died in 1992. The movie acknowledged this absence by mentioning that Reed's character had died.) There was a second movie and plans for a series. The series was aborted after his death.

Personal life and death

Marshall was married three times. He had seven children in all, whose names include Sam, Jed, Sarah, Jill, and Degen.

He died of lung cancer in Bedford, New York, on August 24, 1998, at age 84. His grave is in the Middle Patent Rural Cemetery, located in the hamlet of Banksville, a part of the town of North Castle, New York. As a member of the Committee for National Health Insurance, he was a long-time advocate for government provided health care (socialized medicine) in the United States.^[3]

Filmography

References

External links

• E. G. Marshall at the Internet Movie Database
• E. G. Marshall at the Internet Broadway Database
• E.G. Marshall at Internet off-Broadway Database
• Entry at Norwegian Hall of Fame Website
• E. G. Marshall at Find A Grave