Carleton Upham Carpenter Jr. (July 10, 1926 – January 31, 2022) was an American film, television and stage actor, magician, songwriter, and novelist.

Early and personal life

Carpenter was born in

Bennington, Vermont Bennington is a New England town, town in Bennington County, Vermont, United States. It is one of two shire towns (county seats) of the county, the other being Manchester (town), Vermont, Manchester. As of the 2020 United States Census, US Cens ...

, where he attended Bennington High School. He was the son of Carleton Upham Carpenter Sr. He was

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

. Carpenter lived in Warwick, New York, where he died on January 31, 2022, at the age of 95.

Military service

Carpenter served as a

Seabee United States Naval Construction Battalions, better known as the Navy Seabees, form the U.S. Naval Construction Forces (NCF). The Seabee nickname is a heterograph of the initial letters "CB" from the words "Construction Battalion". Dependi ...

in the U.S. Navy during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and helped to build the airstrip from which the ''

Enola Gay The ''Enola Gay'' () is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Colonel (United States), Colonel Paul Tibbets. On 6 August 1945, during the final stages of World War II, it became the Atomi ...

'' took off for its flight to bomb

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui has b ...

Acting career

Carpenter began his performing career as a magician and an actor on Broadway, beginning with David Merrick's first production, ''Bright Boy'', in 1944, followed by co-starring appearances in ''Three to Make Ready'' with

Ray Bolger Raymond Wallace Bolger (; January 10, 1904 – January 15, 1987) was an American actor, dancer, singer, vaudevillian, and stage performer (particularly musical theater) who started his movie career in the silent-film era. Bolger was a major B ...

, '' John Murray Anderson's Almanac'', and '' Hotel Paradiso''. He was a featured player on the early television program '' Campus Hoopla'', which was produced by

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

, via WNBT in New York City, and which aired from 1946 to 1947. Carpenter was brought to

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

in 1949 by independent producer Louis de Rochemont to play the boyfriend in '' Lost Boundaries''. De Rochemont later cast him again, in '' The Whistle at Eaton Falls'' (1951). Carpenter signed with

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

in 1950, where he made eight films in three years: '' Father of the Bride'', '' Three Little Words'', ''

Summer Stock In American theater, summer stock theater is a theater that presents stage productions only in the summer. The name combines the season with the tradition of staging shows by a resident company, reusing stock scenery and costumes. Summer stock ...

'', '' Two Weeks With Love'', '' Vengeance Valley'', '' Fearless Fagan'' (his one-of-two leading roles there), '' Sky Full of Moon'' (his other leading role there) and '' Take the High Ground!''. He gained fame in 1950 when he teamed up with

Debbie Reynolds Mary Frances "Debbie" Reynolds (April 1, 1932 – December 28, 2016) was an American actress, singer and entrepreneur. Her acting career spanned almost 70 years. Reynolds performed on stage and television and in films into her 80s. She was nom ...

in '' Three Little Words'' and '' Two Weeks with Love''. In a guest sequence in ''Three Little Words'', they perform "I Wanna Be Loved by You" as vaudeville players Dan Healy and

Helen Kane Helen Kane (born Helen Clare Schroeder, August 4, 1904 – September 26, 1966) was an American singer and actress. Her signature song was " I Wanna Be Loved by You" (1928), featured in the 1928 stage musical ''Good Boy''. The song was written for ...

, with Reynolds dubbed by Kane. In ''Two Weeks with Love'', where they have featured roles, their duet " Aba Daba Honeymoon" was the first soundtrack recording to become a top-of-the-chart

gold record Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

, reaching number three on the Billboard chart. After 1953, Carpenter exited films for stage, television, and radio work. Among his television appearances, he played Gilbert Burton, the recipient of $1,000,000 in a 1959 episode of '' The Millionaire'' and co-starred with

Ann Sothern Ann Sothern (born Harriette Arlene Lake; January 22, 1909 – March 15, 2001) was an American actress who worked on stage, radio, film, and television, in a career that spanned nearly six decades. Sothern began her career in the late 1920s ...

in the 1954 TV production of

Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (; ; March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for hi ...

's '' Lady in the Dark'', which he also recorded for RCA Victor Records. In 1957, he played the role of George "Tecumseh" McGuire in an episode of the television series "Men of Annapolis." In 1963, he played defendant Peter Brent in the '' Perry Mason'' episode "The Case of the Lover's Leap". He returned to film in 1959 for '' Up Periscope'' for

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

and, much later, the independent films ''Cauliflower Cupids'' (1970) and '' Some of My Best Friends Are...'' (1971), as the character "Miss Untouchable". Carpenter's later stage appearances included '' Hello, Dolly!'', opposite

Mary Martin Mary Virginia Martin (December 1, 1913 – November 3, 1990) was an American actress and singer. A muse of Rodgers and Hammerstein, she originated many leading roles on stage over her career, including Nellie Forbush in ''South Pacific (musica ...

(which toured Vietnam during the war and was filmed as a one-hour NBC-TV special), '' The Boys in the Band'', '' Dylan'', '' Crazy For You'', and the

City Center A city centre, also known as an urban core, is the commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely equivalent terms that exist in ...

revival of

Kander and Ebb Kander and Ebb were a highly successful American songwriting team consisting of composer John Kander (born March 18, 1927) and lyricist Fred Ebb (April 8, 1928 – September 11, 2004). Known primarily for their stage musical theatre, musicals, whi ...

's '' 70, Girls, 70''. He was still working occasionally as a stage actor in 2015.

Songwriting

Carpenter composed the songs "Christmas Eve", recorded by

Billy Eckstine William Clarence Eckstine (July 8, 1914 – March 8, 1993) was an American jazz and pop singer and a bandleader during the swing and bebop eras. He was noted for his rich, almost operatic bass-baritone voice. In 2019, Eckstine was posthumously a ...

, "Cabin in the Woods", and "Ev'ry Other Day", which he recorded for

MGM Records MGM Records was a record label founded by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946 for the purpose of releasing soundtrack recordings (later LP albums) of their musical films. It transitioned into a pop music label that continued into the ...

and sang on screen in '' The Whistle at Eaton Falls''. In 1943 he wrote the words and melody of the song "Can We Forget". His other song compositions include "I Wouldn't Mind", "A Little Love", and "Come Away". He also wrote the musical ''Northern Boulevard'', produced in New York City by actress Rosetta LeNoire.

Writing

Carpenter wrote material for

, Kaye Ballard,

Marlene Dietrich Marie Magdalene "Marlene" DietrichBorn as Maria Magdalena, not Marie Magdalene, according to Dietrich's biography by her daughter, Maria Riva ; however, Dietrich's biography by Charlotte Chandler cites "Marie Magdalene" as her birth name . (, ; ...

, and Hermione Gingold, and also scripts for films and television. Carpenter was a successful mystery novelist in the 1970s and 1980s. His books include ''Deadhead'', ''Games Murderers Play'', ''Cat Got Your Tongue?'', ''Only Her Hairdresser Knew'', ''Sleight of Deadly Hand'', ''The Peabody Experience'', and ''Stumped''. His memoir, ''The Absolute Joy of Work'', was published in 2016.

Awards and honors

In 2012, he received a lifetime achievement award from the Hollywood film organization Cinecon, which was presented to him in person by his once often co-star

.Cinecon highlights
cinecon.org; accessed January 31, 2016.

Filmography

References

External links

* * * *
Carleton Carpenter and Debbie Reynolds sing "Abba Dabba Honeymoon" in this clip from YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carpenter, Carleton 1926 births 2022 deaths 20th-century American male actors 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American bisexual male actors American bisexual writers American LGBTQ dancers American LGBTQ novelists American LGBTQ screenwriters American LGBTQ songwriters American magicians American male dancers American male film actors American male musical theatre actors American male non-fiction writers American male novelists American male screenwriters American male songwriters American mystery writers Bisexual dancers Bisexual novelists Bisexual screenwriters Bisexual songwriters Dancers from Vermont LGBTQ people from Vermont Male actors from Vermont Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players MGM Records artists Military personnel from Vermont Novelists from Vermont People from Bennington, Vermont People from Warwick, New York Screenwriters from Vermont Seabees Songwriters from Vermont United States Navy personnel of World War II