Stuart Whitman

Stuart Whitman, the TV and film actor whose screen credits included roles between the 1950s and 2000, among them “The Comancheros” and “The Mark,” has died. Whitman died Monday at his home in Montecito after complications from skin cancer, his son told the New York Times. He was 92. “Old Hollywood lost another one of its true stars,” his son told TMZ. “Stuart Whitman was known for his rugged roles and handsome charm. We were proud of him for his TV, film roles and his Oscar nomination, but what we will really remember is his exuberant love of his family and friends.” The California native had more than 180 credits to his name between the early 1950s and 2000. But he was perhaps best known for his westerns alongside Hollywood heavyweight John Wayne, most notably in “The Comancheros,” a 1961 film directed by “Casablanca” director Michael Curtiz. Whitman earned a best actor Oscar nomination that same year for this starring role in the “The Mark,” a controversial movie about a pedophile. He was cast in the 1965 aviation comedy “Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines” and played the leading character in the 1972 sci-fi horror flick “Night of the Lepus,” a cult classic about mutated rabbits. On TV, Whitman was just as prolific. In the mid 1950s, he played a recurring role as Sgt. Walters in the crime drama series “Highway Patrol,” which featured budding actors including Clint Eastwood, Robert Conrad and Barbara Eden. The following decade, Whitman starred as Marshal Jim Crown in the western TV series “Cimarron Strip.” It premiered on CBS with much attention, as the western was enjoying its last heyday with the likes of “The Big Valley,” “The High Chaparral” and others. And even though it only lasted one season, that was all it took to typecast its star. “I got stamped as a cowboy,” Whitman told The Los Angeles Times in 1996. He was also known for playing Clark Kent’s father in the series “Superboy” (1988-1992). In 2000, Whitman retired after being featured in the TV movie “The President’s Man,” which starred Chuck Norris. Whitman’s decades-long career was steady, if bumpy. “I was bankable for a while,” he told The Times in 1991. “Then I did a couple of shows that didn’t make any money. Then I wasn’t bankable.” But that never stopped him from working steadily. “As an actor you’ve got to keep working. You’ve got to do something to feed the family, put the kids through school, things like that.” Born Feb. 1, 1928, in San Francisco, Whitman once admitted that he was a juvenile troublemaker before he attended Hollywood High. “I went to 26 different schools before” high school, he told told gossip columnist Hedda Hopper. “My parents married while in their teens and were always traveling around.” As a young adult, his uncle secretly trained him as a fighter and encouraged him to become a heavyweight boxer, but his father wanted his son to join his law firm. Whitman’s heart wasn’t in either. He pursued acting instead shortly after serving in the Army Corps of Engineers and landed a small role in the 1958 American drama “Ten North Frederick” that launched his career. “I’ve had to battle and say what is an actor? It’s a fellow who plays someone else. But now I realize it’s the image that makes a star,” he told The Times in 1961. “John Wayne is a great example of a super actor. Gary Cooper is another one. My image? I think it’s being free and easy and all man.”

John Wayne was born Marion Robert Morrison in Iowa, to Mary Alberta (Brown) and Clyde Leonard Morrison (1884 - 1937), a pharmacist, and Mary "Molly" Alberta Brown (1885 - 1970). He was of English, Ulster-Scots, and Irish ancestry and had one brother, Robert. Clyde developed a lung condition that required him to move his family from Iowa to the warmer climate of Southern California, where they tried ranching in the Mojave Desert. The family later moved to Glendale, California where "John" attended Glendale Union High School. After graduating from Glendale, John attended the University of Southern California on a football scholarship. Unfortunately, he broke his collarbone in a surfing accident while attending USC and lost his scholarship. That's when he turned to modeling and was soon picked up as an actor. How John Wayne saved the United States Marine Corps: After WWII concluded, the massive demobilization of servicemen to slash military spending began. Many supported an effort to completely abolish the Marine Corps. This effort was supported by the Doolittle Board, created by the Truman Administration, and headed by none other than Army General Jimmy Doolittle himself, which called for the Marine Corps to be disbanded as a separate military outfit and unified with Army units. This didn’t go over well with Marines who had sacrificed so much to the war effort and distinguished themselves for valor and bravery against all odds over and over again in those brutal years. Marines with Hollywood connections thought a movie built around the famous Joe Rosenthal photo of the Mount Suribachi flag raising at Iwo Jima could help sway public opinion. The movie was to be called “The Sands of Iwo Jima” and everyone agreed the only Hollywood star fit to play the hero Sgt. Stryker was John Wayne. John Wayne read the script, didn’t like the hero or the script and turned it down. The Marines had Marine Corps Commandant, General Clifton B. Cates board a flight from Washington to California to personally explain to John Wayne what was at stake – the very existence of the United States Marine Corps. Wayne immediately changed his mind and promised to make the movie a success. The Sands of Iwo Jima was released in 1949 and immediately became a blockbuster. Wayne was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar which quickly established him as a Number One box-office star. No politician on Capitol Hill has ever again suggested we should disband the Marine Corps. There are John Wayne critics who point out that he did not serve his country by putting himself in harm’s way.. When war broke out, Wayne tried to enlist but was rejected because of old football injuries and a bad back from years of doing his own stunts, his age (34), and his family status (father, 4 children). So he flew out to Washington to plead that he be allowed to join the Navy. No go. So he poured his heart and soul into the war effort by making inspirational war films, helping to get public support and resources for our military. He may not have seen actual combat like so many, but single handedly saving the United States Marine Corps was an accomplishment no one but John Wayne could have pulled off.