Jack Moyles (June 26, 1913 – January 16, 1973) was an American actor best known for starring as cafe owner/amateur detective

Rocky Jordan ''Rocky Jordan'' was a radio series about an American restaurateur in Cairo who each week became involved in some kind of mystery or adventure. The show was broadcast on CBS from October 31, 1948, to September 10, 1950, and then again from June 2 ...

in the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

radio serials ''A Man Named Jordan'' and ''The Adventures of Rocky Jordan''.

Early years

During his years in high school in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, Moyles played football, baseball, and tennis and sang in the school's glee club. He also had a job, which included singing, at a local radio station.

Professional career

In the 1930s, Moyles worked at radio station

KSFO KSFO (560 AM) is a commercial radio station in San Francisco, California. It is owned by Cumulus Media and airs a talk radio format. The station's studios and offices are on Battery Street in the SoMa district of San Francisco, along with f ...

. Beginning August 24, 1937, his program, ''Silhouettes'', (a "daily afternoon program") was carried on the

West Coast network. In 1943, he was at KGO in San Francisco, from which he narrated ''Men of the Merchant Marine'' on the

Blue Network The Blue Network (previously known as the NBC Blue Network) was the on-air name of a now defunct American Commercial broadcasting, radio network, which broadcast from 1927 through 1945. Beginning as one of the two radio networks owned by the N ...

on the Pacific Coast. Moyles began working in

Hollywood, California Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, ...

, in radio in November 1944. His activity included narrating ''Real Story'' on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

, playing Bullface Dickens on ''Get That Story'' on CBS, and "a variety of roles on CBS' ''The Whistler''." He also played Mel Sherwood in ''Hawthorne House''. In 1952, Moyles starred in ''Douglas of the World'', a transcribed series broadcast on the

Armed Forces Radio Service The American Forces Network (AFN) is a government television and radio broadcast service the U.S. military provides to those stationed or assigned overseas. Headquartered at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, AFN's broadcast operations, which ...

. Moyles also appeared in the 07/08/1956 episode of "Gunsmoke" entitled "Passive Resistance". Outside of his radio activities, Moyles developed an impersonation routine, performing at clubs in San Francisco. He also performed in more than 300 camp shows for the military during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Professional organization

When the American Federation of Radio Artists was formed, Moyles was elected vice-president. Winning that election cost him his staff job at a radio station, a development that caused him to become a

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

radio actor. Moyles called that change "the best thing that ever happened to my career."

Family

Moyles married Nida Vanderbush, who was a receptionist for CBS, in 1945. They had a daughter, born March 20, 1953.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Moyles, Jack 1913 births 1973 deaths American male film actors American male radio actors 20th-century American male actors