John Dehner (DAY-ner) (born John Dehner Forkum, also credited Dehner Forkum; November 23, 1915February 4, 1992) was an American stage, radio, film, and television actor. From the late 1930s to the late 1980s, he amassed a long list of performance credits, often in roles as sophisticated
con men, shady authority figures, and other smooth-talking villains. His credits just in
feature films, televised series, and in
made-for-TV movies number almost 300 productions. Dehner worked extensively as an actor radio during the latter half of that medium's "
golden age", accumulating hundreds of additional credits on nationally broadcast series. His most notable starring role was as
Paladin on the radio version of the television
Western ''
Have Gun – Will Travel'', which aired for 106 episodes on
CBS from 1958 to 1960. He continued to work as a
voice actor in film, such as narrating the film ''
The Hallelujah Trail''. Earlier in his career, Dehner also worked briefly for
Walt Disney Studios, serving as an assistant
animator
An animator is an artist who creates multiple images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video gam ...
from 1940 to March 1941 at the company's facilities in
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, w ...
.
Early life
Born in 1915 in New York City on
Staten Island
Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...
, John Dehner was the middle child of three children of Ella Susana (née Dehner) and Ralph LeRoy Forkum.
["United States Census, 1930", J. Dahner Forkum in household of Ella D. Forkum, Hastings-on-Hudson, Westchester, New York, census date April 7, 1930; enumeration district 139, sheet 6A; National Archives Records Administration (NARA), Washington D.C. Digital image of original census page retrieved via FamilySearch, Salt Lake City, Utah, January 4, 2022.] John's father was an accomplished artist who was widely recognized in the United States as a landscape painter, illustrator, and a specialist in painting "highly realistic" backgrounds for stage productions and later for
animated features and
shorts. John's mother was a gifted musician with artistic talents as well. Prior to the 1920s, Ella Forkum even collaborated with her husband on art projects and in some instances was co-credited for helping him to compose content for his drawings and paintings widely used in newspaper and magazine advertising. One example is a full-page advertisement in the March 18, 1917 issue of the Washington, D.C. newspaper ''
Evening Star''.
["Djer-Kiss"](_blank)
advertisement for French soap and credited at lower left to Ralph LeRoy Forkum and Ella Dehner Forkum, ''Evening Star'' (Washington, D.C.), Sunday edition, March 18, 1917, p. 42. ''Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers''. Retrieved April 29, 2022. That ad is for ''Djer-Kiss'', a very exclusive line of French perfumes and soaps. It depicts a highly stylized, fairytale-like scene of young women bathing beneath a waterfall. The artwork itself bears the attribution to both of John's parents, to "R.L. + E.D. Forkum".
By the early 1920s, R. L. or "Roy" Forkum's growing artistic reputation earned him a commission that allowed him to take young John and the rest of his family to live in
Oslo, Norway while he produced illustrations for an elaborate publication celebrating the music of Norwegian composer
Edvard Grieg.
[Minnette, Marcia]
"Paladin Rides the Airwaves"
''TV Radio Mirror'', March 1959, pp. 46–47, 80–81. Retrieved via Internet Archive, April 22, 2022. It was in Oslo where John gained his first experiences performing publicly in
musicales and school plays.
[Minnette]
p. 80
Following the completion of his work on the Grieg project, Roy took Ella and the children for extended stays in
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
,
Copenhagen,
London, and finally in
Paris, where for two and a half years in the French capital's suburb of
Asnières-sur-Seine, John and his two sisters, Amy and Alice, continued their education in public schools.
Schooling in France
John's studies in France expanded his interests in art, music, and theatre, as well as in the sport of
fencing, in which he demonstrated sufficient skills by his early teens to qualify as a "champion" competitor.
[John Dehner, Actor", obituary, "Washington Post", February 10, 1992, p. D4. Retrieved November 14, 2021—via ProQuest Historical Newspapers, hereinafter cited "ProQuest".] In her interview with Dehner in 1959, Marcia Minnette, a reporter for the New York
trade magazine ''
TV-Radio Mirror'', quotes the actor's recollections of attending French schools three decades earlier, in particular his reactions to the rigorous study and strict discipline demanded by his teachers:
Living and studying in Europe "at a formative age" certainly expanded Dehner's knowledge of different cultures and languages. In addition to becoming fluent in Norwegian and French, he also spoke "some" Swedish, Spanish, German, and Italian.
That broad knowledge of languages would prove to be very helpful later during his acting career, when Dehner's characters were required to speak with accents or to sprinkle their English dialogue with various foreign words and phrases.
Return to the United States from Europe
While in France, John's parents separated in Paris and on November 15, 1929 were granted a divorce there. Ella Forkum soon returned to the United States with 14-year-old John and his sisters and resettled in the Riverview Manor section of
Hastings-on-Hudson, a village located approximately 20 miles north of midtown
Manhattan, where John's father resided separately.
Between 1930 and 1932, "Dehner Forkum", his mother, and sisters were cited periodically in society columns in the ''New York Herald Tribune'', which reported their attendance and personal performances at charity events, dances, music recitals, and plays presented in Hastings.
["Hastings Plans Community Dance To Raise Funds for Relief Work", ''New York Herald Tribune'', February 28, 1932, p. E2. ProQuest.] In February 1932, as part of their high school's bicentennial celebration of
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
's birthday, Dehner and his older sister Amy performed in ''Conway Cabal'', a historical play written by one of their classmates.
The siblings then acted the next month in an adaptation of the 1900 novel ''
Monsieur Beaucaire'', a production that won
Hastings High School first prize in a regional competition for student plays.
After graduating from Hastings High School in June 1932, Dehner enrolled in the
Grand Central School of Art in
Manhattan, evidently with intentions to pursue a career in art like his father, who soon relocated to California to continue painting and to work in set design and later drawing backgrounds and
storyboard
A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding process, i ...
s for animation projects being made by
Walter Lantz,
Walt Disney, and other producers. Despite Dehner's early work in amateur stage productions and his natural talents and training as a painter and sculptor, he did not immediately embrace acting or studio art as a long-term profession.
University studies, 1935–1937
By the fall of 1934, Dehner and his sisters left New York with their mother and relocated to the
West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to:
Geography Australia
* Western Australia
*Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia
* West Coast, Tasmania
**West Coast Range, mountain range in the region
Canada
* Britis ...
, where Amy enrolled at the
University of California, Berkeley. The next year John enrolled as well at Berkeley to continue his formal studies in fine arts. While at the university, he also gained more practical experience acting in campus stage productions and refining his musical talents by playing piano and composing arrangements for three local dance bands.
Later school and military records indicate that he decided to leave Berkeley in the summer of 1937 after completing two years of study.
["United States World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946", John Dehner Forkum, enlisted March 5, 1941, Los Angeles, California; citing "Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, ca. 1938–1946", National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); College Park, Maryland. Retrieved March 14, 2022 via FamilySearch]
Professional stage training
Dehner left Berkeley at the end of his
sophomore
In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. In ...
year to return to New York City to try acting in professional stage productions. There he joined a
troupe associated with the
Moscow Art Theatre
The Moscow Art Theatre (or MAT; russian: Московский Художественный академический театр (МХАТ), ''Moskovskiy Hudojestvenny Akademicheskiy Teatr'' (МHАТ)) was a theatre company in Moscow. It was f ...
(MAT), where he obtained intensive training in the "
system
A system is a group of Interaction, interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole. A system, surrounded and influenced by its environment (systems), environment, is described by its boundaries, ...
" of method acting established by
Soviet theatre practitioner Konstantin Stanislavski
Konstantin Sergeyevich Stanislavski ( Alekseyev; russian: Константин Сергеевич Станиславский, p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin sʲɪrˈgʲejɪvʲɪtɕ stənʲɪˈslafskʲɪj; 7 August 1938) was a seminal Russian Soviet Fe ...
.
["John Dehner: Successful Actor With a 'Character'", ''Los Angeles Times'', September 23, 1971, p. SG, A11. ProQuest.] Years later, long after Dehner had established himself as a popular actor in films and on radio and television, he credited MAT for profoundly influencing his performance style, although it was a style that over time required him to adjust substantially his acting techniques in order to achieve widespread success with American audiences. In particular, he recognized
Mikhail Chekov, a former student of Stanislavski and the leading consultant to the New York troupe, as being professionally "'the most important man in my career.'"
The ''
Los Angeles Times'' in a 1971 interview with Dehner recounted how his approach to acting evolved with his MAT training:
One of the notable stage productions in which Dehner was cast in New York is ''The Bridal Crown'' (1901) by Swedish playwright
August Strindberg. Premiering on
Broadway at the
Vanderbilt Theatre on February 5, 1938, the play was presented under the auspices of the Experimental Theatre of Manhattan.
Brooks Atkinson, then a
critic
A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or governmen ...
for ''
The New York Times'', reviewed the stage work by "The New York Players", whom he characterized as "serious-minded" and composed of "young people with a passion for the theatre and in most cases slim pocketbooks".
[Atkinson, Brooks. "Experimental Theatre Opens With Performance of Strindberg's 'Bridal Crown' by N.Y. Players", review, ''The New York Times'', February 7, 1938, p. 11. ProQuest Historical Newspapers.] While citing "Dehner Forkum" among the principal actors and serving in the role of "Mats", Atkinson deemed the troupe's overall effort to be only "a respectable student performance".
Dehner continued to perform, although sporadically, in other plays in New York and with a few nearby
stock companies
In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company ...
. He did receive some financial support from his mother, but the lack of consistent, paid acting work required Dehner to find employment elsewhere in the city to support himself, including taking daytime jobs as a sales clerk in a tobacco shop and parking cars at the
1939 New York World's Fair
The 1939–40 New York World's Fair was a world's fair held at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York, United States. It was the second-most expensive American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchas ...
.
[Minnette]
81
Frustrated by his meager lifestyle and the limited prospects of establishing a livable stage career in the city, he decided by the end of 1939 to return, as he described it, to the "life-line" of California.
Return to California
Upon his return to California, Dehner did not resettle in Berkeley to resume his university studies or to find an off-campus job there. His mother, who by then was living on Arch Street in Berkeley and managing a "
variety store", chose to remain in the city while John relocated to Southern California, to
Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...
, where in
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, ...
there were greater opportunities for trained actors and artists to find employment in the film industry. An added advantage to moving there was that John's father was already working regularly for different studios. One was
Walt Disney Studios, where Roy Forkum served as a "story artist" at new facilities being constructed by Disney in
Burbank
Burbank may refer to:
Places Australia
* Burbank, Queensland, a suburb in Brisbane
United States
* Burbank, California, a city in Los Angeles County
* Burbank, Santa Clara County, California, a census-designated place
* Burbank, Illinois, ...
, just a short distance from Hollywood.
[Obituary for Roy Forku]
"Obituaries / Roy Forkum"
''Variety'', April 20, 1955, p. 71, cols. 2–3. Retrieved via Internet Archive, April 10, 2022. Dehner moved in with his father and new
stepmother, Eileen, who were living in a house that Roy owned in Burbank at 454 South Fairview Street.
["California, County Marriages, 1850–1952," database with images, Ralph Leroy Forkum and Eileen Isobel Washington Abernethy, August 23, 1937, county courthouse records for Los Angeles, California. Copy of original marriage record retrieved via FamilySearch, April 5, 2022.]["Sixteenth Census of the United States Census: 1940", Ralph L. Forkum household, Burbank, Los Angeles County, California, April 15, 1940; image of original enumeration page, district (ED) 19-843, sheet 9A, line 6, family 238. Bureau of the Census, National Archives Records Administration (NARA), Washington, D.C. Retrieved via FamilySearch, March 31, 2022.]
Walt Disney Studios
The 1940 federal census also documents that both father and son were employed that year at "motion picture studios"; Roy Forkum, as an "artist"; and 24-year-old John, as a "new worker & student" (
apprentice).
Other period records, however, provide some details about John's work at that time, more specifically that he, like his father, was working at Disney, where as an animator he assisted in producing drawings for Disney's 1940 animated classic ''
Fantasia'' as well as for ''
The Reluctant Dragon'' (1941) and for the early development of ''
Bambi'' (1942).
Dehner worked for a year at Disney, and in the previously cited 1959 interview with '' TV-Radio Mirror'' he describes his job there as an "'in-betweener'", as an assistant artist "'who draws everything that goes 'in between' bits of action as sketched by the animators.'" "'Sometimes'", he states in that interview, "'I spent days merely drawing curly lines to simulate waves, or leaf outlines, or horizons.'" A Disney film distributed by RKO Pictures
RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orphe ...
in 1941 actually shows Dehner working at the studio.["The Reluctant Dragon 1941 Disney Movie"](_blank)
freely available on the streaming service YouTube (San Bruno, California). Retrieved April 26, 2022. Titled '' The Reluctant Dragon'', the first part of the film follows American actor and humorist Robert Benchley taking a behind-the-scenes tour of various production departments at Disney's facilities in Burbank. Benchley in one segment visits a storyboard
A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding process, i ...
room for Disney animators who are portrayed composing and drawing a future cartoon short featuring the character "Baby Weems". Dehner is briefly shown among fellow staff greeting Benchley and later doing a sketch of Baby Weems.
Military service
After registering with the military draft in Los Angeles County in October 1940, John left Disney's animation department in early March 1941 to volunteer for the United States Army, a full nine months before Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and officially drew the United States into World War II. In his enlistment papers, he identifies his civilian occupation as an artist and art teacher specializing in sculpture. John's initial army training prepared him to serve as a gunnery instructor, although he was soon selected for officer candidate school. Additional physical exams during routine screening for his candidacy revealed that Dehner had a stomach ulcer, one so severe that it prompted army physicians by the end of 1941 to honorably discharge him from military service on medical grounds.
Radio
After Dehner was medically discharged from the army, he did not resume his job at Disney; instead, he embarked on a radio career, working initially as an announcer. '' Broadcasting and Broadcast Advertising'', a widely read radio publication based in Washington, D.C., reported in March 1942 that "John Dehner Forkum...has joined the KFAC, Los Angeles, announcing staff, replacing Jack Little". By September that year, Dehner was working in Beverly Hills at KMPC, where he was promoted from serving as a "relief announcer" to a full-time position at the station.["Behind the Mike"/"John Dehner"](_blank)
job promotion announcement, ''Broadcasting and Broadcast Advertising'', September 7, 1942, p. 31, col. 1. Retrieved via Internet Archive April 22, 2022. It was at that time too when he began to identify himself professionally and consistently as "John Dehner", dropping his surname
In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community.
Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...
. KMPC soon promoted the "announcer-writer" and occasional disc jockey yet again, elevating him to news editor. Dehner then moved to radio station KFWB, also broadcasting from Los Angeles, where he was part of a news team that won a Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...
for its reporting on the first United Nations conference held in San Francisco in 1945.[Folkart, Burt A. "John Dehner; Multifacted Actor, Artist", obituary, ''Los Angeles Times'', February 7, 1992, p. SB A26. ProQuest.]
Dehner in the early 1940s also began performing as an actor on radio, and he continued to do so throughout the 1950s and into the 1960s. Among his earliest radio-based acting jobs was while he was employed at station KMPC, where from late 1942 to 1944 he voiced the title character and narrated the syndicated
Syndication may refer to:
* Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system
* Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips
* Web syndication, ...
horror anthology '' The Hermit's Cave'', which was produced by William Conrad
William Conrad (born John William Cann Jr., September 27, 1920 – February 11, 1994) was an American actor, producer, and director whose entertainment career spanned five decades in radio, film, and television, peaking in popularity when he s ...
.[Shreve, Jr., Ivan G. (2021)]
"John Dehner"
originally posted November 23, 2021 on ''Radio Classics''. Sirius XM
Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius Sat ...
Satellite Radio (New York, N.Y). Retrieved May 4, 2022. For the rest of the 1940s and for the remaining years of the "Golden Age of 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, entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcastin ...
", into the early 1960s, Dehner served as a guest star, a recurring character, or lead on some of the greatest nationally broadcast series of that period, all while working as well in films and on television. A few of those major radio productions are '' Escape'', '' Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar'', '' Let George Do It'', ''California Caravan'', ''The Count of Monte Cristo
''The Count of Monte Cristo'' (french: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo) is an adventure novel written by French author Alexandre Dumas (''père'') completed in 1844. It is one of the author's more popular works, along with ''The Three Musketeers''. Li ...
''; ''Crime Classics
''Crime Classics'' is a United States radio docudrama which aired as a sustaining series over CBS Radio from June 15, 1953, to June 30, 1954.
Production
Produced and directed by radio actor and director Elliott Lewis, the program was a histor ...
''; ''Lassie
Lassie is a fictional female Rough Collie dog and is featured in a short story by Eric Knight that was later expanded to a full-length novel called ''Lassie Come-Home''. Knight's portrayal of Lassie bears some features in common with another fic ...
'', ''NBC University Theater
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are ...
'', '' The Adventures of Philip Marlowe'', ''Rogers of the Gazette'', ''Suspense
Suspense is a state of mental uncertainty, anxiety, being undecided, or being doubtful. In a dramatic work, suspense is the anticipation of the outcome of a plot or of the solution to an uncertainty, puzzle, or mystery, particularly as it aff ...
'', '' The Man Called X'', '' The Silent Men'', ''Smilin' Ed's Buster Brown Gang'', '' Voyage of the Scarlet Queen'', '' The Whistler'', ''Family Skeleton
''Family Skeleton'' is an American old-time radio serial drama, "the story of a girl with a dark past and highly uncertain future." It was broadcast on CBS from June 8, 1953, to March 5, 1954.
''Family Skeleton'' focused on Sara Ann Spence and he ...
'', ''The Black Book'', and '' The Adventures of Sam Spade''.[Wright, Stephen]
"The Reluctant Westerner"
article in ''Radio Recall'' (February 2012), journal of the Metropolitan Washington Old Time Radio Club. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
Dehner was also one of three actors to perform as Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...
inspector Peter Black on the radio crime drama ''Pursuit'', which aired on CBS Radio between 1949 and 1952. Between 1950 and 1951, he co-starred as Elmer in the radio comedy ''The Truitts''. In 1952, he played the title character on ''The Judge'', a single episode audition (equivalent to a television pilot), but it never went to series.[Dunning, John]
"The Truitts"
''On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old Time Radio''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 682. Retrieved Internet Archive, May 2, 2022.
Articulate and possessing a rich baritone
A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...
voice, Dehner during the 1950s was recognized by ''Radio Life Magazine'' for having the entertainment industry's "best radio voice", an asset that continued to provide him many more opportunities in broadcasting.["John Dehner"](_blank)
Turner Classic Movies (TCM), Turner Broadcasting System, a division of Time Warner, Inc., New York City. Retrieved August 22, 2017. Much of his work in that period was performing as an array of characters in radio Westerns such as '' The Cisco Kid'', ''Wild Bill Hickok'', ''Gunsmoke
''Gunsmoke'' is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centers on Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central character ...
'', and '' Fort Laramie''. He also starred in two Western series on CBS Radio in 1958. In February that year, he began voicing the title character for '' Frontier Gentleman'', a weekly series that followed the "action-filled" exploits of J. B. Kendall, a British Army veteran who as a newspaper reporter traveled throughout the Old West gathering stories for ''The London Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...
''.[ ] Although that series lasted only nine months, Dehner's representation of Kendall in 42 episodes was well received by period reviewers, one of whom described the actor's portrayal of the main character as "elegant and icily effective". Only a week after the final broadcast of ''Frontier Gentleman'' in November 1958, Dehner premiered as the gunfighter-private detective Paladin on the radio version of '' Have Gun Will Travel''. That series, which totaled 106 episodes, continued for two full years, ending in November 1960.
Films
Dehner during his 50-year entertainment career performed in over 125 feature films and shorts. He made his first "big screen
A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...
" appearances in the early 1940s after he was discharged from the army, performing in uncredited bit part
In acting, a bit part is a role in which there is direct interaction with the principal actors and no more than five lines of dialogue, often referred to as a five-or-less or under-five in the United States, or under sixes in British television, ...
s while still working predominantly in radio. For several years he worked picture-to-picture as a modern journeyman, visiting casting offices, auditioning, and building screen time and experience at Republic
A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...
, RKO, Warner Bros., Paramount, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and Twentieth Century-Fox. Among Dehner's initial film appearances are his uncredited role in a Republic Western in which he broke his right hand in a fight scene and as "Sheik Ameer" in the 1943 Sol Lesser production ''Tarzan's Desert Mystery
''Tarzan's Desert Mystery'' is a 1943 American Tarzan film directed by Wilhelm Thiele and starring Johnny Weissmuller and Nancy Kelly.
Like its immediate predecessor, '' Tarzan Triumphs'', the film mentions Tarzan's mate, Jane, but does not ...
''.
Other roles in which he was cast include a military officer, radio announcer, miner, medical intern, and state trooper in films such as '' Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo'' (1944), '' Lake Placid Serenade'' (1944), '' The Corn Is Green'' (1945), ''Twice Blessed
''Twice Blessed'', also known as ''Twice Blessed: A Novel'', is a 1992 novel written by Filipino author Ninotchka Rosca. It won the 1993 American Book Award for “excellence in literature”. It is one of Rosca’s novels that recreated the div ...
'' (1945), '' Captain Eddie'' (1945), '' Christmas in Connecticut '' (1945), '' State Fair'' (1945), '' She Went to the Races'' (1945), and ''Club Havana
''Club Havana'' is a 1945 American film drama directed by Edgar G. Ulmer. It was produced and released by independent film company Producers Releasing Corporation. It has been compared to the 1933 film ''Grand Hotel''.
Plot
Rosalind (Margaret L ...
'' (1945). Although Dehner's early performances in these motion pictures were not actually credited on screen, his name began to appear in cast credits published in leading film-industry publications. For instance, his name and roles in both ''Captain Eddie'' and ''State Fair'' are cited in the nation's top movie-fan magazine in 1945, ''Photoplay
''Photoplay'' was one of the first American film (another name for ''photoplay'') fan magazines. It was founded in 1911 in Chicago, the same year that J. Stuart Blackton founded '' Motion Picture Story,'' a magazine also directed at fans. For mo ...
'', as well as in '' The Film Daily'' and the '' Showmen's Trade Review''.
For the rest of the 1940s, Dehner continued to perform in assorted film genres: crime dramas, mysteries, seafaring and jungle adventures, espionage stories, and a growing number of Westerns. Steadily during his early years of film acting, Dehner established a reputation among casting directors and theater audience as a reliable performer who could portray a myriad of characters, although most often in villainous roles as crooked gamblers, evil bankers, distinguished foreign spies, grifters, edgy gunfighters, and other " heavies". In fact, a news item titled "John Dehner Turns to Right of Law" and published in Ohio in the July 21, 1950 issue of the '' Toledo Union Journal'' underscores how entrenched that reputation was. The newspaper describes for movie fans the actor's role in an upcoming picture:
1950s–1965
The 1950s were Dehner's busiest years performing in theatrical films. He was cast in at least 63 features released during that decade and fully half of those pictures are Westerns, several of which offered Dehner the most substantial parts of his screen career.["John Dehner"](_blank)
catalog, American Film Institute
The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees.
Leade ...
(AFI), Los Angeles, California. Retrieved May 3, 2022. After getting good notices for his supporting role in the 1956 RKO production '' Tension at Table Rock'', Dehner was chosen by Howard W. Koch and Aubrey Schenck of Bel-Air Productions to be the lead in '' Revolt at Fort Laramie'' (1957), playing cavalry officer Major Seth Bradner. The actor, though a very familiar face to motion picture audiences, was still not considered by most producers to have significant drawing power at the box office
A box office or ticket office is a place where ticket (admission), tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a Wicket gate, wicke ...
. The film-industry publication ''Motion Picture Exhibitor'', which had a large readership of theater owners in 1957, commends the overall quality of ''Revolt at Fort Laramie'' in its March 20 review but alludes to the film's lack of star power. The journal describes the 73-minute Western as a "Good programmer" with "competent” performances by Dehner and other cast and a "sufficient" number of action scenes that "holds interest despite lack of name values." The next year, in 1958, Dehner received second billing in '' The Left Handed Gun'', playing opposite Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, race car driver, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three ...
who stars as the title character, the outlaw Billy the Kid. Dehner in that film portrays Sheriff Pat Garrett, who tracks down and kills Billy.
Moving into the 1960s, Dehner began that decade co-starring in '' The Canadians'' (1961), yet another Western, although it was not a United States production. It was instead an Anglo-Canadian project filmed entirely in Canada by a predominantly English and Canadian cast and crew.["The Canadians (1961)"](_blank)
catalog, AFI. Retrieved May 8, 2022. Dehner, once again playing the villain as an " Indian-hating rancher", shared top billing with fellow American actor Robert Ryan and British actor Torin Thatcher. For Dehner's next three motion pictures, however, he accepted three supporting roles outside the realm of Westerns and set in contemporary times: the drama ''The Chapman Report
''The Chapman Report'' is a 1962 American Technicolor drama film starring Shelley Winters, Jane Fonda, Claire Bloom and Glynis Johns. It was made by DFZ Productions and distributed by Warner Bros. It was directed by George Cukor and produced by D ...
'' (1962); another contemporary drama, ''Youngblood Hawke
''Youngblood Hawke'' is a 1962 novel by American writer Herman Wouk about the rise and fall of a talented young writer of hardscrabble Kentucky origin who briefly becomes the toast of literary New York City. The plot was suggested by the life ...
'' (1962); and a comedy starring Bob Hope and Lucille Ball, '' Critics Choice'' (1963).
In 1964, Dehner co-starred with Wally Cox in ''Invitation to Ohio'', a film sponsored by the Ohio Bell Telephone Company. Cox portrays Doc Hutton, the owner of a small popcorn and peanut wagon, who is seeking to relocate his tiny business to a more profitable area. After reading an advertisement in '' The Wall Street Journal'' about the economic advantages of working in Ohio, Hutton calls the state's Director of Development, a role played by Dehner. Comedy ensues when the Director, mistaking the popcorn-peanut vendor as the president of a large industrial corporation, invites Hutton to tour the state with him.
Final theatrical films, 1966–1985
By 1966, Dehner's success in films had been almost exclusively in supporting roles, so in an effort to obtain more leading parts, he decided to establish that year his own production company. ''Motion Picture Exhibitor'' reports in its July 6, 1966 issue that Dehner had recently formed "J. D. Productions", an enterprise with "one of its primary functions" being to purchase story ideas and scripts to develop into projects in which Dehner "would star in the film versions". To what extent Dehner's company developed projects or directed him to parts in future screen productions is unknown, but Dehner continued to act in films for the next 20 years, although not in roles for which he received top billing. His first feature after the establishment of J. D. Productions is the crime drama ''Stiletto
A stiletto () is a knife or dagger with a long slender blade and needle-like point, primarily intended as a stabbing weapon.Limburg, Peter R., ''What's In The Names Of Antique Weapons'', Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, , (1973), pp. 77-78
The stile ...
'' (1969) starring Alex Cord, Britt Ekland, and Patrick O'Neal. Dehner once again plays in a supporting role but on the "right side" of the law, portraying a district attorney
In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...
.
After appearing in three consecutive Westerns in 1970 and 1971, including ''Support Your Local Sheriff
''Support Your Local Sheriff!'' (also known as ''The Sheriff'') is a 1969 American comedy Western film directed by Burt Kennedy and starring James Garner, Joan Hackett, and Walter Brennan. The supporting cast features Harry Morgan, Jack ...
'', Dehner completed his film career performing almost exclusively in productions outside the genre of "cowboy pictures". He was cast in historic dramas like '' The Lincoln Conspiracy'' (1977) and '' The Right Stuff'' (1983), in science-fiction features such as '' Slaughterhouse-Five'' (1972) and '' The Boys From Brazil'' (1978); in comedies like '' Fun with Dick and Jane'' (1977) and '' Airplane II: The Sequel'' (1982); and in neo-noir thrillers such as '' The Killer Inside Me'' (1976) and '' Jagged Edge'' (1985). Dehner in this period did star in one film as the title character, in the 1977 production ''Guardian of the Wilderness'' in which he portrays the early American naturalist and "Father of the National Parks" John Muir.
Television
As Dehner's radio and film careers continued to progress in the 1950s, he also began working increasingly in the rapidly expanding medium of television, and over more than 35 years he performed on a wide range of Western series, situation comedies, science-fiction anthologies, crime dramas, made-for-TV movies, and in guest appearances on variety shows. Among his early performances on televised series are in two 1952 episodes"The Parachute Story" and "The Dead General Story"on NBC's '' Dangerous Assignment'' starring Brian Donlevy. While Dehner in those cited episodes and in many other series was identified foremost as a dramatic actor, he was cast too on assorted sitcoms
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use new ...
throughout his career. Some of the televised series on which he performed in the 1950s and 1960s are '' The Soldiers'', '' The Real McCoys'', '' The Andy Griffith Show'', '' The Beverly Hillbillies'', '' F Troop'', '' The Flying Nun'', '' Get Smart'', and ''Hogan's Heroes
''Hogan's Heroes'' is an American television sitcom set in a Nazi German prisoner-of-war (POW) camp during World War II. It ran for 168 episodes (six seasons) from September 17, 1965, to April 4, 1971, on the CBS network, the longest broadcast ...
''.
Dehner is featured as well on the classic science-fiction series '' The Twilight Zone'', appearing in three episodes between 1959 and 1964: as Captain Allenby, a spaceship pilot, in "The Lonely
"The Lonely" is episode seven of the American television anthology series '' The Twilight Zone''. It originally aired on November 13, 1959 on CBS.
Opening narration
Plot
In 2046, an inmate named Corry, convicted of murder, is sentenced to fif ...
"; as Alan Richards in " The Jungle", a story about a construction-company owner who is terrorized by African spiritual forces; and as a con man, who in " Mr. Garrity and the Graves" arrives in the small 1890 town of "Happiness", Arizona claiming he can raise the dead.[Zicree, Marc Scott]
"Mr. Garrity and the Graves"
and other episodes, ''The Twilight Zone Companion''. Toronto and New York: Bantam Books, 1982, pp. 413–414. Retrieved via Internet Archive, May 2, 2022. Dehner's performance in the latter episode showcases one example of his talent for projecting subtle humor. Marc Scott Zicree in the 1989 edition of his book ''The Twilight Zone Companion'' highlights that quality in Dehner's portrayal of Garrity, describing the actor as "marvelously dry as a con man".
Western series
For most of Dehner's television career, the genre he performed most often in was the Western, especially during the 1950s and 1960s. He was cast, at times repeatedly, as a guest star or major supporting character in over 40 Western series. These include '' The Adventures of Kit Carson'', '' Cheyenne'' with Clint Walker, '' Zorro'' with Guy Williams, '' Maverick'' (including the episode " Shady Deal at Sunny Acres") with James Garner, '' Zane Gray Theatre'', ''Tales of Wells Fargo
''Tales of Wells Fargo'' is an American Western television series starring Dale Robertson that ran from 1957 to 1962 on NBC. Produced by Revue Productions, the series aired in a half-hour format until its final season, when it expanded to ...
'' with Dale Robertson, '' Bat Masterson'' with Gene Barry, '' Rawhide'' with Clint Eastwood
Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Doll ...
, ''Bonanza
''Bonanza'' is an American Western television series that ran on NBC from September 13, 1959, to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 432 episodes, ''Bonanza'' is NBC's longest-running western, the second-longest-running western series on U ...
'', '' Law of the Plainsman'', '' The Rebel'' with Nick Adams, '' Cimarron City'', '' The Alaskans'' with Roger Moore
Sir Roger George Moore (14 October 192723 May 2017) was an English actor. He was the third actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond in the Eon Productions film series, playing the character in seven feature films between 19 ...
, '' The Restless Gun'' with John Payne,'' The Rifleman'' with Chuck Connors, '' Stagecoach West'', '' The Texan'' with Rory Calhoun, '' Black Saddle'', '' Wagon Train'', '' Wanted: Dead or Alive'' with Steve McQueen
Terrence Stephen McQueen (March 24, 1930November 7, 1980) was an American actor. His antihero persona, emphasized during the height of the counterculture of the 1960s, made him a top box-office draw for his films of the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1 ...
, '' Wichita Town'' with Joel McCrea, '' Stoney Burke'', '' A Man Called Shenandoah'' with Robert Horton, '' Branded'' with Chuck Connors, '' The Virginian'', ''The Wild Wild West
''The Wild Wild West'' is an American Western, espionage, and science fiction television series that ran on the CBS television network for four seasons from September 17, 1965, to April 11, 1969. Two satirical comedy television film sequels w ...
'', ''The Big Valley
''The Big Valley'' is an American Western drama television series that originally aired from September 15, 1965, to May 19, 1969 on ABC. The series is set on the fictional Barkley Ranch in Stockton, California, from 1884 to 1888. The one-hour e ...
'' with Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck (; born Ruby Catherine Stevens; July 16, 1907 – January 20, 1990) was an American actress, model and dancer. A stage, film, and television star, during her 60-year professional career she was known for her strong, realistic sc ...
, and '' The High Chaparral''.[Lentz, Harris M. ''Western and Frontier Film and Television Credits, 19031995''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 1996. Retrieved via Internet Archive, April 23, 2022.]
In the September 1960 issue of the '' TV-Radio Mirror'', staff reporter Sam Campbell commented about Dehner's frequent appearances on television in a feature article and highlights the actor's ongoing reputation as one of the American television industry's top villains in weekly Westerns. Campbell also observes that being a frequently working supporting actor like Dehner has distinct advantages over the higher pressures and role requirements of stardom:
Dehner in the 1950s and 1960s was cast too in numerous roles on both the radio and television versions of the long-running Western ''Gunsmoke
''Gunsmoke'' is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centers on Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central character ...
''. His performances as different characters in 12 televised episodes of that series demonstrate the range of his acting talents. He portrays an unlikable drifter in the televised series' second episode, "Hot Spell" (1955); an old gold miner named Nip Cullers, who is desperate to find a wife in "Tap Day for Kitty" (1956); the long-lost, devious father of Dodge City bar owner Kitty Russell in "Daddy-O" (1957); a psychotic gunman in the episode "Crack Up" (1957); a pathetic town drunk—yet a desperately protective father—in "Bottleman" (1958); a sadistic bandit in "The Badge" (1960); a lonely widower who in "The Squaw" (1961) marries a much-younger Arapaho woman and must cope with the resulting hostility of his only son; as a nomadic and lazy would-be farmer traveling with two scheming older children in "Root Down" (1962); a brain-damaged freight operator who undergoes a drastic personality change in "Ash" (1963); a dejected and childless homesteader
Homestead may refer to:
* Homestead (buildings), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses
*Homestead (unit), a unit of measurement equal to 160 acres
*Homestead principle, a legal concept t ...
in "Caleb" (1964); a timid resident of Dodge City who gains fleeting celebrity after killing an outlaw in "The Pariah" (1965); and as Sam Wall, a ruthlessly exploitive businessman in "Dead Man's Law" (1968).[Barabas, SuzAnne and Barabas, Gabor (1990). ''Gunsmoke: A Complete History and Analysis of the Legendary Broadcast Series''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Company, 1990, related cast listings and episode descriptions.]
Later televised performances, 19701988
By 1970, the number of Western series on American television had substantially declined, a development that offered Dehner opportunities during the final years of his career to play once again more parts outside that genre. Those opportunities, however, coincided with his expressed dissatisfaction with the state of acting in the entertainment industry. In a one-on-one interview with Dehner, which was published in '' The Atlanta Constitution'' and other newspapers in October 1971, syndicated Hollywood columnist
A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (newspaper), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the fo ...
Dick Kleiner quoted the actor's views about his profession at that time:
Despite Dehner's changing attitudes regarding the state of his profession, he continued to perform regularly on television series and in made-for-TV movies until just a few years before his death. He played the part of veteran magazine editor Cy Bennett for two seasons (1971–1973) on the weekly sitcom '' The Doris Day Show'' and was cast in multiple episodes as a recurring character on other weekly series such as in the second season of the black comedy '' The New Temperatures Rising Show'' (1973), as Barrett Fears in '' Big Hawaii'' (1977), in the soap operas '' Bare Essence'' (1983) and '' The Colbys'' (1986–1987), and a return to a Western role as the "humorless, businesslike" Marshal Edge Troy in the series '' Young Maverick'' (1979–1980). Some of his other roles in that closing period of his career are in docudrama
Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television and film, which features dramatized re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of documentary and drama and "a fact-based representation of real event".
Docudramas typic ...
s, miniseries
A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...
, and in movies produced specifically for television. Dehner portrays, for example, former U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson
Dean Gooderham Acheson (pronounced ; April 11, 1893October 12, 1971) was an American statesman and lawyer. As the 51st U.S. Secretary of State, he set the foreign policy of the Harry S. Truman administration from 1949 to 1953. He was also Truman ...
in the 1974 ABC presentation '' The Missiles of October''; and for his final role on television, which originally aired on November 23, 1988, he appears as Admiral Ernest King in part seven of the 12-part World War II dramatic miniseries '' War and Remembrance''.
Returns to stage
Dehner's decades of overlapping commitments to perform on radio, films, and television left him relatively little time during his career to participate regularly in stage productions as well. He did not, though, leave behind entirely theatre work. Over the years, particularly during the 1960s, Dehner enjoyed returning to the stage to direct and to act in roles ranging from leads to minor parts in a variety of plays, usually productions offered at small venues by local theatre groups located near Dehner's home in California. In its "On Stage" section in August 1961, the ''Los Angeles Times'' announced a presentation at the Santa Monica Women's Club of George Bernard Shaw's play '' Major Barbara'', starring Jocelyn Brando and supported by John Dehner, Lee Marvin, Marvin Miller
Marvin Julian Miller (April 14, 1917 – November 27, 2012) was an American baseball executive who served as the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) from 1966 to 1982. Under Miller's direction, the players ...
, Robert Middleton, and other experienced performers. The next year, in September, Dehner directed fellow prominent actors in performances of John Mortimer
Sir John Clifford Mortimer (21 April 1923 – 16 January 2009) was a British barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author. He is best known for novels about a barrister named Horace Rumpole.
Early life
Mortimer was born in Hampstead, London, ...
's comedy ''I Spy'' at the "Rustic Canyon
Rustic Canyon is a residential neighborhood and canyon in eastern Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, Pacific Palisades, on the west side of Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles, California. It is along Rustic Creek, in the Santa Monica Mountains.
...
Playground clubhouse". Two months later, in November 1962 at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, Dehner joined Lee Marvin again, along with James Whitmore, Louis Nye, and Paul Fix
Peter Paul Fix (March 13, 1901 – October 14, 1983) was an American film and television character actor who was best known for his work in Westerns. Fix appeared in more than 100 movies and dozens of television shows over a 56-year career be ...
, to play pirates in a production of ''Peter Pan'' with Peggy Webber
Peggy may refer to:
People
* Peggy (given name), people with the given name or nickname
Arts and entertainment
* ''Peggy'' (musical), a 1911 musical comedy by Stuart and Bovill
* ''Peggy'' (album), a 1977 Peggy Lee album
* ''Peggy'' (1916 ...
in the title role.
Personal life and death
Dehner married twice, the first time in 1941 to Roma Leonore Meyers, a California native who was five years older than John. The couple had two daughters, Kirsten and Sheila,[ and remained together for nearly 30 years, until divorcing in October 1970. Three years later, in Los Angeles, Dehner wed Evelyn (née Severance) Elliott, also a native of California. They remained together until his death.]
In 1992, a little over three years after performing in the televised miniseries ''War and Remembrance'', Dehner died at age 76 in Santa Barbara, California due to complications from emphysema
Emphysema, or pulmonary emphysema, is a lower respiratory tract disease, characterised by air-filled spaces ( pneumatoses) in the lungs, that can vary in size and may be very large. The spaces are caused by the breakdown of the walls of the alve ...
and diabetes. His body was cremated and the ashes interred at the city cemetery in Carpinteria, a small seaside community situated a short distance east of Santa Barbara.
Filmography
1940s
*'' Fantasia'' (1940, animator)
*'' The Reluctant Dragon'' (1941) as Tall Baby Weems Storyboard Artist with Mustache (uncredited)
*'' Bambi'' (1942, animator)
*'' Bellboy Donald'' (1942) as Hotel Manager (voice, uncredited)
*''Tarzan's Desert Mystery
''Tarzan's Desert Mystery'' is a 1943 American Tarzan film directed by Wilhelm Thiele and starring Johnny Weissmuller and Nancy Kelly.
Like its immediate predecessor, '' Tarzan Triumphs'', the film mentions Tarzan's mate, Jane, but does not ...
'' (1943) as Prince Ameer (uncredited)
*'' Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo'' (1944) as Lieutenant Commander (uncredited)
*'' Hollywood Canteen'' (1944) as Norwegian Sailor (uncredited)
*'' Lake Placid Serenade'' (1944) as Radio Announcer (uncredited)
*'' The Corn Is Green'' (1945) as Miner with Pipe in Bar (uncredited)
*''Twice Blessed
''Twice Blessed'', also known as ''Twice Blessed: A Novel'', is a 1992 novel written by Filipino author Ninotchka Rosca. It won the 1993 American Book Award for “excellence in literature”. It is one of Rosca’s novels that recreated the div ...
'' (1945) as Contest Announcer (uncredited)
*'' Captain Eddie'' (1945) as Ambulance Attendant (uncredited)
*'' Christmas in Connecticut'' (1945) as State Trooper #2 (uncredited)
*'' State Fair'' (1945) as Hog Contest Announcer (uncredited)
*'' She Went to the Races'' (1945) as Winner's Announcer (uncredited)
*''Club Havana
''Club Havana'' is a 1945 American film drama directed by Edgar G. Ulmer. It was produced and released by independent film company Producers Releasing Corporation. It has been compared to the 1933 film ''Grand Hotel''.
Plot
Rosalind (Margaret L ...
'' (1945) as Jeffreys (uncredited)
*''The Undercover Woman
''The Undercover Woman'' is a 1946 American comedy film directed by Thomas Carr, written by Sherman L. Lowe, Robert F. Metzler and Jerry Sackheim, and starring Stephanie Bachelor, Robert Livingston, Richard Fraser, Isabel Withers, Helene Heigh ...
'' (1946) as Walter Hughes
*''The Catman of Paris
''The Catman of Paris'' is a 1946 American mystery and horror film directed by Lesley Selander and written by Sherman L. Lowe. The film stars Carl Esmond, Lenore Aubert, Adele Mara, Douglass Dumbrille, Gerald Mohr and Fritz Feld.
Plot
The write ...
'' (1946) as Georges
*'' Her Kind of Man'' (1946) as Guest (uncredited)
*'' Rendezvous 24'' (1946) as Harris (uncredited)
*'' O.S.S.'' (1946) as German Radar Captain (uncredited)
*'' The Searching Wind'' (1946) as American Reporter in Paris (uncredited)
*'' The Last Crooked Mile'' (1946) as Jarvis – Gang Leader
*'' Big Town'' (1946) as Willard Erskine (uncredited)
*''Out California Way
''Out California Way'' is a 1946 American Western musical film directed by Lesley Selander for Republic Pictures. It starred Monte Hale, Lorna Gray (billed as Adrian Booth) and Robert Blake. Roy Rogers and Dale Evans made cameo appearances ...
'' (1946) as Rod Mason
*'' It's a Joke, Son!'' (1947) as Reporter (uncredited)
*'' Vigilantes of Boomtown'' (1947) as Bob Fitzsimmons
*'' Golden Earrings'' (1947) as SS Officer with Hoff (uncredited)
*''Blonde Savage
''Blonde Savage'' is a 1947 American adventure film directed by Steve Sekely and written by Gordon Bache. The film stars Leif Erickson, Gale Sherwood, Veda Ann Borg, Douglass Dumbrille, Frank Jenks, and Matt Willis. It was released on November 2 ...
'' (1947) as Joe Comstock
*''Bury Me Dead
''Bury Me Dead'' is a 1947 American film noir directed by Bernard Vorhaus. The drama features Cathy O'Donnell, June Lockhart, Hugh Beaumont and Mark Daniels..
Plot
When the remains of a woman's body are found after a fire consumes the stable ...
'' (1947) as Reporter (uncredited)
*'' Dream Girl'' (1948) as Radio Announcer (uncredited)
*'' He Walked by Night'' (1948) as Assistant Bureau Chief (uncredited)
*'' Let's Live a Little'' (1948) as Dempster (uncredited)
*'' State Department: File 649'' (1949) as Third Oral Examiner (uncredited)
*'' I Cheated the Law'' (1949) as Newspaperman (uncredited)
*'' Tulsa'' (1949) as Oilman (uncredited)
*''Riders of the Pony Express'' (1949) as John Dakin
* '' Kazan'' (1949) as Henri Le Clerc
*''The Secret of St. Ives
''The Secret of St. Ives'' is a 1949 American historical adventure film directed by Phil Rosen and starring Richard Ney, Vanessa Brown and Henry Daniell. It is adapted from the 1897 novel '' St. Ives'' by Robert Louis Stevenson.Goble p.442 Set dur ...
'' (1949) as Couguelat
*'' Barbary Pirate'' (1949) as Murad Reis
*''Prejudice'' (1949) as Office Bigot (uncredited)
*'' Bandits of El Dorado'' (1949) as Charles Bruton
*'' Feudin' Rhythm'' (1949) as Serious Actor (uncredited)
*'' Mary Ryan, Detective'' (1949) as Belden (uncredited)
*'' Horsemen of the Sierras'' (1949) as Duke Webster
*'' Bodyhold'' (1949) as Sir Raphael Brokenridge
1950s
*'' Backfire'' (1950) as Blake – Plainclothes Cop (uncredited)
*''Dynamite Pass
''Dynamite Pass'' is a black and white 1950 Western film. It was described by the ''Los Angeles Times'' as being "very good of its type" and was released on a double bill with ''The Secret Fury''.
Plot
Near the Old West town of Clifton, New Mex ...
'' (1950) as Anson Thurber
*'' Captive Girl'' (1950) as Hakim
*'' Texas Dynamo'' (1950) as Stanton
*'' Destination Murder'' (1950) as Frank Niles
*'' Rogues of Sherwood Forest'' (1950) as Sir Baldric (uncredited)
*'' David Harding, Counterspy'' (1950) as Frank Reynolds (uncredited)
*'' Three Secrets'' (1950) as Gordon Crossley (uncredited)
*'' Last of the Buccaneers'' (1950) as Sgt. Belchue
*'' Counterspy Meets Scotland Yard'' (1950) as Agent Bob Reynolds
*''The Flying Missile
''The Flying Missile'' is a 1950 black-and-white Cold War era Columbia Pictures film starring Glenn Ford and Viveca Lindfors. Made with the cooperation of the US Navy,Ford 2011, p. 111. it tells a fictionalized story of the then recently revealed ...
'' (1950) as Lieutenant Commander (uncredited)
*''Fort Savage Raiders
''Fort Savage Raiders'' is a 1951 American Western film directed by Ray Nazarro and written by Barry Shipman. Released in March 1951 by Columbia Pictures, the production stars Charles Starrett and Smiley Burnette, with John Dehner, Trevor Barde ...
'' (1951) as Capt. Michael Craydon
*''When the Redskins Rode
''When the Redskins Rode'' is a 1951 American historical Western film directed by Lew Landers and starring Jon Hall, Mary Castle and James Seay. The film is loosely based on the events leading up to the outbreak of the French and Indian War.
I ...
'' (1951) as John Delmont
*'' Lorna Doone'' (1951) as Baron de Wichehalse
*'' The Texas Rangers'' (1951) as John Wesley 'Wes' Hardin
*'' China Corsair'' (1951) as Pedro
*'' Corky of Gasoline Alley'' (1951) as Jefferson Jay – Confidence Man (uncredited)
*'' Hot Lead'' (1951) as Turk Thorne aka John H. Smith
*'' Ten Tall Men'' (1951) as Jardine
*'' Harem Girl'' (1952) as Khalil
*'' The Green Glove'' (1952) as Narrator (uncredited)
*''Aladdin and His Lamp
''Aladdin and His Lamp'' is a 1952 film directed by Lew Landers and starring Johnny Sands and Patricia Medina.
Plot
A poor young man finds a lamp with a genie trapped inside. The genie promises to grant the man three wishes if he frees him fro ...
'' (1952) as Prince Bokra
*'' Scaramouche'' (1952) as Doutreval
*'' Desert Passage'' (1952) as Bronson
*'' California Conquest'' (1952) as Fredo Brios
*'' Cripple Creek'' (1952) as Emil Cabeau
*'' Lady in the Iron Mask'' (1952) as Count de Fourrier
*'' Junction City'' (1952) as Emmett Sanderson
*'' Plymouth Adventure'' (1952) as Gilbert Winslow
*'' Man on a Tightrope'' (1953) as The Chief
*''Powder River
Powder River may refer to:
Places
* Powder River (Wyoming and Montana), in Wyoming and Montana in the United States
* Powder River Country, the area around the above river
* Powder River (Oregon), in Oregon in the United States
* Powder River Ba ...
'' (1953) as Harvey Logan
*'' Fort Algiers'' (1953) as Major Colle
*''Gun Belt
A police duty belt (sometimes referred to as a gun belt, "duty rig" and/or kit belt) is a belt, typically constructed of nylon or leather used by police, prison and security officers to carry equipment easily in a series of pouches attach ...
'' (1953) as Matt Ringo
*''Vicki
Vicky, Vicko,
Vick, Vickie or Vicki is a feminine given name, often a hypocorism of Victoria (name), Victoria. The feminine name Vicky in Greece comes from the name Vasiliki.
Women
* Family nickname of Victoria, Princess Royal (1840–1901 ...
'' (1953) as Police Capt. J. 'Chief' Donald (uncredited)
*'' The Steel Lady'' (1953) as Sid Barlowe
*'' Southwest Passage'' (1954) as Matt Carroll
*''The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters
''The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters'' is a 1954 American comedy film directed by Edward Bernds and starring The Bowery Boys. The film was released on June 6, 1954 by Allied Artists and is the thirty-fourth film in the series.
Plot
The front ...
'' (1954) as Dr. Derek Gravesend
*''Apache
The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño an ...
'' (1954) as Weddle
*'' The Prodigal'' (1955) as Joram
*'' The Man from Bitter Ridge'' (1955) as Ranse Jackman
*'' Tall Man Riding'' (1955) as Ames Luddington
*'' The Scarlet Coat'' (1955) as Nathanael Greene
*'' The King's Thief'' (1955) as Capt Herrick
*'' Duel on the Mississippi'' (1955) as Jules Tulane
*''Top Gun
''Top Gun'' is a 1986 American action drama film directed by Tony Scott, produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, with distribution by Paramount Pictures. The screenplay was written by Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr., and was inspired by an a ...
'' (1955) as Tom Quentin
*''Carousel
A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (List of sovereign states, international), roundabout (British English), or hurdy-gurdy (an old term in Australian English, in South Australia, SA) is a type of amusement ...
'' (1956) as Mr. Bascombe
*'' Please Murder Me'' (1956) as Ray Willis
*'' Terror at Midnight'' (1956) as Lew Hanlon
*'' A Day of Fury'' (1956) as Preacher Jason
*'' The Fastest Gun Alive'' (1956) as Taylor Swope
*'' Tension at Table Rock'' (1956) as Hampton
*''Gunsmoke
''Gunsmoke'' is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centers on Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central character ...
'' (1957 episode "Daddy-O") as Wayne Russell, Kitty’s father.
*'' Revolt at Fort Laramie'' (1957) as Maj. Seth Bradner
*'' The Iron Sheriff'' (1957) as Roger Pollack
*'' Trooper Hook'' (1957) as Fred Sutliff
*'' The Girl in Black Stockings'' (1957) as Sheriff Jess Holmes
*'' The Restless Gun'' (1958) as Mr. Temple in Episode "The Coward"
*'' The Restless Gun'' (1958) as Sheriff Partridge in Episode "Quiet City"
*'' The Left Handed Gun'' (1958) as Pat Garrett
*''Apache Territory
''Apache Territory'' is a 1958 American Western film directed by Ray Nazarro and produced by and starring Rory Calhoun. It was released by Columbia Pictures. The story is based on the 1957 novel ''Last Stand at Papago Wells'' by Louis L'Amour.
...
'' (1958) as Grant Kimbrough
*''Man of the West
''Man of the West'' is a 1958 American Western film noir film starring Gary Cooper and directed by Anthony Mann, produced by Walter Mirisch and distributed by United Artists. The screenplay, written by Reginald Rose, is based on the 1955 novel ...
'' (1958) as Claude
*'' Timbuktu'' (1958) as Emir Bhaki aka The Lion of the Desert
*''Wanted Dead or Alive Wanted Dead or Alive may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Wanted: Dead or Alive'' (1951 film), an American film of 1951
* ''Wanted Dead or Alive'' (TV series), a 1958–1961 TV series starring Steve McQueen
* ''Wanted: Dead or Alive'' (1987 fil ...
'' (1959) as Sheriff Hayes
*'' Cast a Long Shadow'' (1959) as Chip Donohue
*'' Wagon Train'' (1959) as Cleve Colter
*'' The Restless Gun'' (1959) in final series episode "The Hill of Death"
*'' Bat Masterson'' (1959) as a vengeful Sheriff
*'' The Twilight Zone'' "The Lonely" episode (1959) as Captain Allenby
1960s
*'' Vice Raid'' (1960) as Narrator (uncredited)
*''The Tom Ewell Show
''The Tom Ewell Show'', also known as ''The Trouble With Tom'', is an American situation comedy that aired on CBS during the 1960-61 television season. It depicts the challenges a husband and father faces as he resides in a household otherwise co ...
'' (1961) as Newton Pickering
*'' Maverick'' (1961) as Luther Cannonbaugh
*'' The Canadians'' (1961) as Frank Boone
*''Gunsmoke
''Gunsmoke'' is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centers on Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central character ...
'' (1961 episode "The Squaw") as Hardy Tate
*'' The Twilight Zone'' (1961 episode "The Jungle") as Alan Richards
*''The Chapman Report
''The Chapman Report'' is a 1962 American Technicolor drama film starring Shelley Winters, Jane Fonda, Claire Bloom and Glynis Johns. It was made by DFZ Productions and distributed by Warner Bros. It was directed by George Cukor and produced by D ...
'' (1962) as Geoffrey Harnish
*'' The Virginian'' (1963 episode "To Make This Place Remember") as Frank Sturgis
*'' The Virginian'' (1963 episode "Echo of Another Day") as Bleeck
*'' Critic's Choice'' (1963) as S.P. Champlain
*'' The Andy Griffith Show'' (1963 episode "Aunt Bee's Medicine Man") as Colonel Harvey
*'' The Twilight Zone'' (1964 episode "Mr. Garrity and the Graves") as Jared Garrity
*''Youngblood Hawke
''Youngblood Hawke'' is a 1962 novel by American writer Herman Wouk about the rise and fall of a talented young writer of hardscrabble Kentucky origin who briefly becomes the toast of literary New York City. The plot was suggested by the life ...
'' (1964) as Scotty Hawke
*'' Combat!'' (1964) as Gen. Armand Bouchard
*'' The Baileys of Balboa'' (1964–1965) as Commodore Cecil Wyntoon
*''The Wild Wild West
''The Wild Wild West'' is an American Western, espionage, and science fiction television series that ran on the CBS television network for four seasons from September 17, 1965, to April 11, 1969. Two satirical comedy television film sequels w ...
'' (1965) as John Maxwell Avery in "Night of the Casual Killer" and (1966) as Colonel "Iron Man" Torres in "The Night of the Steel Assassin"
*'' The Hallelujah Trail'' (1965) as Narrator (uncredited)
*''Hogan's Heroes
''Hogan's Heroes'' is an American television sitcom set in a Nazi German prisoner-of-war (POW) camp during World War II. It ran for 168 episodes (six seasons) from September 17, 1965, to April 4, 1971, on the CBS network, the longest broadcast ...
'' (1966 two part episode “A Tiger Hunt in Paris”) as Colonel Backscheider
*'' The Helicopter Spies'' (1968) as Dr. Parviz Kharmusi
*'' The Beverly Hillbillies'' (1968) as Dr. Rex Goodbody
*''Stiletto
A stiletto () is a knife or dagger with a long slender blade and needle-like point, primarily intended as a stabbing weapon.Limburg, Peter R., ''What's In The Names Of Antique Weapons'', Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, , (1973), pp. 77-78
The stile ...
'' (1969) as District Attorney Frank Simpson
*'' The High Chaparral'' (1969) as Gar Burnett
1970s
*'' Quarantined'' (1970) as Dr. John Bedford
*'' Tiger by the Tail'' (1970) as Sheriff Chancey Jones
*'' The Cheyenne Social Club'' (1970) as Clay Carroll (uncredited)
*'' Dirty Dingus Magee'' (1970) as Brig. Gen. George
*''Support Your Local Gunfighter
''Support Your Local Gunfighter'' is a 1971 American comic Western film directed by Burt Kennedy and starring James Garner and Suzanne Pleshette. The screenplay was written by James Edward Grant. The picture shares many cast and crew members an ...
'' (1971) as Colonel Ames
*'' Slaughterhouse-Five'' (1972) as Prof. Rumfoord
*'' The Day of the Dolphin'' (1973) as Ben Wallingford – Foundation
*'' The Missiles of October'' (1974) as Former Secretary of State Dean Acheson
*'' Kolchak: The Night Stalker'' (1975) as Capt. Vernon Rausch
*'' The Killer Inside Me'' (1976) as Bob Maples
*''Guardian of the Wilderness'' (1976) as John Muir
*'' Fun with Dick and Jane'' (1977) as Jane's Father
*'' The Lincoln Conspiracy'' (1977) as Col. Lafayette C. Baker
*'' The Boys from Brazil'' (1978) as Henry Wheelock
1980s
*'' Nothing Personal'' (1980) as Senator
*'' Airplane II: The Sequel'' (1982) as The Commissioner
*'' The Winds of War'' (1983) as Admiral Ernest King
*'' The Right Stuff'' (1983) as Henry Luce
*'' Jagged Edge'' (1985) as Judge Carrigan
*'' Creator'' (1985) as Paul
*'' War and Remembrance'' (part VII of miniseries
A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...
, 1988) as Admiral Ernest King
Notes
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dehner, John
1915 births
1992 deaths
20th-century American male actors
20th-century American pianists
American male film actors
American male pianists
American male radio actors
American male television actors
Animators from New York (state)
Artists from New York City
Deaths from diabetes
Deaths from emphysema
Disney people
Male Western (genre) film actors
Male actors from New York City
People from Los Angeles
People from Staten Island
Western (genre) television actors
20th-century American male musicians