Ron Randell

Ron Randell
Randell in King of Kings
Born	Ronald Egan Randell October 8, 1918(1918-10-08) Sydney, Australia
Died	June 11, 2005(2005-06-11) (aged 86) Woodland Hills, Los Angeles
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1942–83

Ronald Egan "Ron" Randell (October 8, 1918 – June 11, 2005) was an Australian-born American film and stage actor.

Biography

Australian Career

Randell was born in the USA but moved to Australia as a young man. He started his career in Sydney as a stage and radio performer in his teens. He soon established himself as a leading male juvenile for radio, acting for 2KY Players, George Edwards, BAP and on Lux Playhouse. He also worked as a compere for variety shows, in particular with Jack Davey.^[1] The majority of his stage work was done at the Minerva Theatre, including performances in Of Mice and Men and The Voice of the Turtle.

In 1943-44 he toured America, working in theatre and radio in San Francisco and Los Angeles, before returning to Sydney.^[2] Around this time he changed his professional name from "Ron Randall" to "Ron Randell" to avoid confusion with actor George Randall.

Randell's break came when he was spotted by producer Nick Perry at the Minerva Theatre performing in While the Sun Shines.^[3] This led to Randell being cast as the lead in Smithy, a biographical movie about the pioneering Australian aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, who made the first flight across the Pacific (from the United States to Australia) in 1928. (The film was released as Pacific Adventure in the United States and as Southern Cross in the UK).

Randell had previously appeared in another film, A Son Is Born, opposite Peter Finch and Muriel Steinbeck. Although made before Smithy, its release was held off until after the latter film had come out to take advantage of its publicity.^[4]

Hollywood

Smithy has been made with funds from Columbia Pictures who offered Randell a long-term contract and he moved to Hollywood in October 1946.^[5] They cast him as Bulldog Drummond in two low-budget films and he had good support roles in some expensive "A" productions such as It Had to Be You (1947) and The Loves of Carmen (1948). However the studio seemed to lose enthusiasm for Randell and he wound up mainly playing romantic leads in lower budget films.

However he continued to work in television and theatre and had a number of good roles for other studios, including Kiss Me, Kate (as Cole Porter), I Am a Camera, King of Kings, The She-Creature and The Longest Day.

Arguably his best performance was in King of Kings, as the Roman centurion Lucius, who defends Christ at his trial as a sort of impromptu legal counsel, and presumably becomes converted to Christianity after the Crucifixion.

From October 1954 through December 1955, Randell hosted the ABC anthology series The Vise. In 1957 to 1958 he starred in the lead role in O.S.S.. He guest starred twice on Bewitched in 1964 and 1967 and played a lead role in the two- part The Contenders episodes for the Mission: Impossible series in 1968.

Ron Randell's Broadway credits included Terence Rattigan's The Browning Version (1948), Candida (1952), The World of Suzie Wong (1958), Butley (1972), Mrs. Warren's Profession (1976), Bent (1979), Duet for One (1981), and The School for Scandal (1995).

Personal life

Randell was married several times. He divorced his first wife in 1949.^[6] He was engaged to actress Amanda Blake and they planned to marry in 1951^[7] but there seems no evidence they went through with their plans. He was engaged to Marie Keith in September 1952,^[8] and when they divorced in June 1953, Amanda Blake was then described as his "former fiancee".^[9] He married Laya Raki in 1958 and they remained together until his death^[10] following a stroke, aged 86, in Los Angeles, California.

Selected Credits

Filmography

• Smithy (1946)
• A Son Is Born (1946)
• Bulldog Drummond at Bay (1947)
• Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back (1947)
• It Had to Be You (1947)
• The Loves of Carmen (1948)
• The Mating of Millie (1948)
• The Sign of the Ram (1948)
• Kiss Me Kate (1953)
• The Mississippi Gambler (1953)
• Morning Call (1957)
• King of Kings (1961)
• The Longest Day (1962)
• Whity (1971)

Radio Credits

• The Fatal Truth (1938)
• Mutiny of the Bounty (1938)
• Spy Exchange (1938)
• Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1939)
• Another Language (1940)
• Star Parade (1941) - compere
• Three Men on a Horse (1942)
• Prisoner at the Bar (1944) - as Roger Casement
• How Green was my Valley
• When a Girl Marries (1946)

Theatre

• Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (1940) - Minerva Theatre, Sydney
• The Voice of the Turtle (1944)

References

External links

• Ron Randell^{[dead link]} – Legacy.com
• Ron Randell – Variety.com
• Ron Randell at IMDb
• Ron Randell at the Internet Broadway Database
• Ron Randell Australian theatre credits at Ausstage
• Ron Randell at National Film and Sound Archive