Paul Edward Prentiss (September 9, 1908 – March 19, 1992) was an actor in the era of

old-time radio The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcasting in the early ...

.DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 219. He was perhaps best known for portraying the title role on the radio version of ''

Captain Midnight ''Captain Midnight'' (later rebranded on television as ''Jet Jackson, Flying Commando'') is a United States, U.S. adventure franchise first broadcast as a radio serial from 1938 to 1949. The character's popularity throughout the 1940s and into ...

''.

Early years

Prentiss was born in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. He attended the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

Radio

Radio historian

Jim Harmon James Judson Harmon (21 April 1933 – 16 February 2010), better known as Jim Harmon, was an American short story author and popular culture historian who wrote extensively about the Golden Age of Radio. He sometimes used the pseudonym Judson Gre ...

noted, in his book ''The Great Radio Heroes'', "Ed Prentiss was not the first actor to play Captain Midnight, contrary to some published reports." After Bill Bouchey had the role in the program's second season, Prentiss auditioned for the third season, got the part, and continued as Captain Midnight for seven years. On ''

The Guiding Light ''Guiding Light'' (known as ''The Guiding Light'' before 1975) is an American radio and television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the third longest-running drama in television in American history. ''Guiding Light'' a ...

'' soap opera, Prentiss played Ned (a "neglected youth") and was the program's "omniscient host." Beginning in 1943, Prentiss was narrator for an hour-long block consisting of three soap operas: ''

Today's Children ''Today's Children'' was a name shared by two thematically related American radio soap operas created and written by Irna Phillips, the earliest of which was her first nationally networked series. 1933-1938 series The original series, which debut ...

'', ''The Guiding Light'' and ''Woman in White''. The three programs had interconnecting story lines, with Prentiss's narration "introducing each program segment and linking all three together." Prentiss's other roles on radio programs included those shown in the table below. Prentiss had his own syndicated program, ''This Is The Story''. An ad for the 15-minute program described it as follows: "Ed Prentiss, America's greatest story teller ... offers true and unusual tales, each with a surprisingly different ending." He also was a regular on ''Arnold Grimm's Daughter'', ''Painted Dreams'', ''Bud Barton'', ''

The Romance of Helen Trent ''The Romance of Helen Trent'' was a radio soap opera which aired on CBS from October 30, 1933 to June 24, 1960 for a total of 7,222 episodes. The show was created by Frank and Anne Hummert, who were among the most prolific producers during the r ...

'', ''Springtime and Harvest'' and ''Holland Housewarming''.

Film

Prentiss appeared in '' Westbound'' (1959) and ''The FBI Story'' (1959).

Television

Prentiss played Dr. Snyder on ''

As the World Turns ''As the World Turns'' (often abbreviated as ''ATWT'') is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created ''As the World Turns'' as a sister show to her other soa ...

''. He was one of the hosts of ''Action Autographs'',Terrace, Vincent (2011). ''Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 50. was the host for ''Majority Rules''. and played Edward Elliott on '' Morning Star''. He also was the announcer for ''That's O'Toole''. He also played roles in various TV Westerns of the late 1950s-early '60s, often as a sheriff. He is easily recognized by his voice, as well as his physical appearance. In 1957 Prentiss appeared as Bob Gentry on the TV western ''

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enroll ...

'' in the episode titled "Top Hand."

Personal life

Prentiss married Ivah Davidson on November 21, 1941. They had a son, born September 14, 1943.

Filmography

Notes

Perry Mason, Series 7, Episode 12. "The case of the badgered brother". Credited as Voice on recording, at the reading of the will in Perry's office.

References

External links

* * 1908 births 1992 deaths American male film actors American male radio actors Place of death missing American male television actors Male actors from Chicago 20th-century American male actors {{US-radio-bio-stub