What did Jack Carson do?

Answer 1

John Elmer "Jack" Carson was born in Manitoba, Canada on October 27, 1910 and grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He worked in vaudeville and on Broadway, and then moved to Hollywood in the 1930s. He started out in bit parts in pictures, working at RKO, and then eventually went on to became one of Warner Brothers Pictures' greatest character actors during the studio system days in the 1940s.

He had leading roles in such Warners pictures as ROMANCE ON THE HIGH SEAS with Doris Day, and TWO GUYS FROM MILWAUKEE; THE TIME, THE PLACE, AND THE GIRL; and TWO GUYS FROM TEXAS with real life best buddy Dennis Morgan.

He had numerous hilarious leading and supporting comedic roles throughout his career. Equally impressive though were his dramatic performances in roles in such legendary films as MILDRED PIERCE, A STAR IS BORN, and CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF.

Along the way, Jack also did numerous radio and television roles. This included THE CAMPBELL'S SOUP JACK CARSON SHOW which ran successfully on radio for several years. In the 1950s he worked successfully on the stage in OF THEE I SING, and on television as a rotating host of comedy programs such as THE COLGATE COMEDY HOUR. Late in his tragically short life, he appeared in memorable episodes of the popular television shows BONANZA and THE TWILIGHT ZONE.

Cancer claimed the life of this handsome, hilarious, and gifted man at the age of only 52, on January 2, 1963. He was interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park along side family members. This followed a funeral that was attended by a who's-who of Hollywood that all loved Jack Carson, with everyone from Doris Day to Liz Taylor and Richard Burton on hand to pay their last respects to a man whose memory will never die.