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Paul Douglas

 
Actor: Paul Douglas
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Actors
  • Born: Nov 04, 1907 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • Died: Sep 11, 1959 in Hollywood Hills, California
  • Occupation: Actor
  • Active: '50s
  • Major Genres: Comedy, Drama
  • Career Highlights: Everybody Does It, The Solid Gold Cadillac, Angels in the Outfield
  • First Major Screen Credit: A Letter to Three Wives (1949)

Biography

Yale graduate Paul Douglas played professional football with the Philadelphia Yellow Jackets before turning to regional theatre. He parlayed his love of athletics into a prosperous career as a sports announcer in the 1930s; in the next decade he became a radio actor and master of ceremonies (he was the announcer for bandleader Glenn Miller's final program in 1944). A frequent visitor to the Broadway stages, Douglas became a star in the tailor-made role of vulgar junk tycoon Harry Brock in Garson Kanin's play Born Yesterday, in which he was co-starred with Judy Holliday. After 1,024 appearances as Harry Brock, Douglas made his first film, 1949's A Letter to Three Wives. An unlikely prospect for movie stardom with his burly build and longshoreman's voice, Douglas nonetheless remained popular throughout the 1950s. He is best remembered for his brace of baseball pictures, It Happens Every Spring (1949) and Angels in the Outfield (1951), and for his reteaming with Judy Holliday in 1956's The Solid Gold Cadillac. Among Douglas' five wives were actresses Virginia Field and Jan Sterling. Though the newspaper obituaries insisted that Paul Douglas had not been ill before his fatal heart attack in 1959, he looked so drawn and haggard in his last appearance on the TV series The Twilight Zone that the episode ("The Mighty Casey") had to be reshot with Jack Warden in Douglas' part. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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Paul Douglas

in A Letter to Three Wives (1949)
Born April 11, 1907(1907-04-11)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania‹See Tfd›, U.S.
Died September 11, 1959 (aged 52))
Hollywood, California‹See Tfd›, U.S.
Spouse(s) Virginia Field (1942–1946)
Jan Sterling (1950–1959)

Paul Douglas (April 11, 1907 – September 11, 1959) was an American actor.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he is remembered by many for two baseball comedy movies, Angels in the Outfield (1951) and It Happens Every Spring (1949). He also played Richard Widmark's police partner in the thriller Panic in the Streets, frustrated newlywed Porter Hollingsway in A Letter to Three Wives, Sgt. Kowalski in The Big Lift, businessman Josiah Walter Dudley in Executive Suite and a con man turned monk in When in Rome.

In 1950, Douglas was host of the 22nd annual Academy Awards.

Douglas was cast in the 1959 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 same week the episode was to be filmed. His role was taken over by Jack Warden.

He was married five times, last to actress Jan Sterling from 1950 until his death. They had a son, Adams Douglas (1955-2003).

Paul Douglas died on September 11, 1959 of a heart attack in Hollywood, California at the age of 52. Film director Billy Wilder and co-writer I.A.L. ('Izzy') Diamond had just offered him the role of Jeff Sheldrake in the movie The Apartment that went to Fred MacMurray instead. 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."

Filmography

External links

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Hosts of the Academy Awards ceremonies

Bob Hope (1941) · None (1942) · Bob Hope (1943) · Jack Benny (1944) · Bob Hope / John Cromwell (1945) · Bob Hope / James Stewart (1946) · Jack Benny (1947) · None (1948) · Robert Montgomery (1949) · Paul Douglas (1950) · Fred Astaire (1951) · Danny Kaye (1952) · Bob Hope / Conrad Nagel (1953) · Donald O'Connor / Fredric March (1954) · Bob Hope / Thelma Ritter (1955) · Jerry Lewis / Claudette Colbert / Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1956) · Jerry Lewis / Celeste Holm (1957) · Bob Hope / David Niven / James Stewart / Jack Lemmon / Rosalind Russell (1958) · Bob Hope / David Niven / Tony Randall / Mort Sahl / Laurence Olivier / Jerry Lewis (1959) · Bob Hope (1960)



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