Three Musketeers.

WALTER ABEL, 88, ACTOR IN THEATER AND FILMS By Jeremy Gerard March 28, 1987 Walter Abel, an actor who appeared in the earliest plays of Eugene O'Neill in the 1920s and who continued to work on stage and in films for more than 50 years, died Thursday at Chesterfields Nursing home in Essex, Conn. He was 88 years old. Mr. Abel played major and featured roles in a wide variety of Broadway comedies and melodramas before a role in the George S. Kaufman-Moss Hart play ''Merrily We Roll Along'' won him a contract with RKO in 1934. Known for his rugged looks and husky voice, Mr. Abel appeared in some 60 movies, among them a 1935 screen version of ''The Three Musketeers'' in which he played D'Artagnan, ''Arise My Love'' (1940), ''Hold Back the Dawn'' (1941), ''Holiday Inn'' (1942), ''Mr. Skeffington'' (1944), ''Kiss and Tell'' (1945), ''Dream Girl'' (1948), ''Bernardine'' (1957), ''Mirage'' (1965) and ''Grace Quigley'' (1985). A 1917 graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Mr. Abel made his professional debut in ''Forbidden'' in 1919 and quickly became part of the theater crowd in Greenwich Village, where O'Neill was staging his first works. In November 1924 he played simultaneous roles in O'Neill's ''Bound East for Cardiff'' - one of four one-act plays performed under the collective title ''S.S. Glencairn'' - at the Provincetown Playhouse and in the O'Neill's ''Desire Under the Elms'' at the Greenwich Village Theater. In their biography of O'Neill, Arthur and Barbara Gelb wrote that Mr. Abel ''demonstrated both his acting talent and his sprinting ability by doubling the role of Olson in 'S.S. Glencairn'; he would speak his last line (in Swedish dialect) in 'Bound East for Cardiff' from the stage of the Provincetown -''Nothin' but yust dirty weather all dis voyage. I yust can't sleep when wheestle blow'' - then sprint over to the Greenwich Village Theater, make a few slight changes in his costume, pick up the rifle he carried as his prop, assume the hard-bitten visage of a New Englander and utter three lines, including the curtain speech: 'It's a jim-dandy farm, no denyin.' Wished I owned it!' '' Mr. Abel played Olson a number of times. Brooks Atkinson of The New York Times recalled Mr. Abel's performance as ''deeply sincere.'' Appeared With Top Actors In his many radio and television appearances, the actor was most often cast as prosecutors or crusading district attorneys. Throughout his career, he shared billing with most of the top actors of his time. In 1935, he played opposite Spencer Tracy in Fritz Lang's ''Fury.'' In 1950 he appeared on Broadway with Helen Hayes in Joshua Logan's production of ''The Wisteria Trees.'' His last New York theater appearance was in 1976, in the New York Shakespeare Festival at Lincoln Center production of ''Trelawney of the 'Wells.'' In the 1950s, Mr. Abel served as vice president of the Screen Actors Guild under the union presidency of Ronald Reagan. In the 1960s, Mr. Abel was the president of the American National Theater and Academy during a major expansion of the organization. Mr. Abel is survived by two sons, John, of Alexandria, Va., and Michael, of Ivoryton, Conn. His wife, Marietta Bitter, a harpist, died in 1979. A service will be held at 5 P.M. today at the First Congregational Church of Essex, Conn. A memorial service, to be held at The Little Church Around the Corner in Manhattan, is being planned.