Guy Madison
Handsome American leading man Guy Madison stumbled into a film career and became a television star and hero to the Baby Boom generation. As a young man he worked as a telephone lineman, but entered the Coast Guard at the beginning of the Second World War. While on liberty one weekend in Hollywood, he attended a Lux Radio Theatre broadcast and was spotted in the audience by an assistant to Henry Willson, an executive for David O. Selznick. Selznick wanted an unknown sailor to play a small but prominent part in Since You Went Away (1944), and promptly signed Robert Moseley to a contract. Selznick and Willson concocted the screen name Guy Madison (the "guy" girls would like to meet, and Madison from a passing Dolly Madison cake wagon). Madison filmed his one scene on a weekend pass and returned to duty. The film's release brought thousands of fan letters for Madison's lonely, strikingly handsome young sailor, and at war's end he returned to find himself a star-in-the-making. Despite an initial amateurishness to his acting, Madison grew as a performer, studying and working in theatre. He played leads in a series of programmers before being cast as legendary lawman Wild Bill Hickok in the TV series Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok (1951). He played Hickok on TV and radio for much of the 1950s, and many of the TV episodes were strung together and released as feature films. Madison managed to squeeze in some more adult-oriented roles during his off-time from the series, but much of this work was also in westerns. After the Hickok series ended Madison found work scarce in the U.S. and traveled to Europe, where he became a popular star of Italian westerns and German adventure films. In the 1970s he returned to the U.S., but appeared mainly in cameo roles. Physical ailments limited his work in later years, and he died from emphysema in 1996. His first wife was actress Gail Russell. Date of Birth 19 January 1922, Pumpkin Center, California Date of Death 6 February 1996, Palm Springs, California (emphysema)
Known For
Credits
- 2004 · Los Angeles Plays Itself as Cliff Harper in Till the End of Time (archive footage)
- 1989 · Crossbow: The Movie as Gerrish
- 1988 · Red River as Bill Meeker, Rancher
- 1979 · When the West Was Fun: A Western Reunion as Self
- 1979 · The Rebels as Lt. Mayo
- 1978 · Where's Willie? as Tony Flore
- 1976 · Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood as Star at Screening
- 1974 · The Pacific Connection as The Old Man
- 1974 · The Silk Worm as Robert, Smeralda's ex-husband
- 1970 · Reverend's Colt as Reverend Miller Colt
- 1969 · The War Devils as Capt. George Vincent
- 1969 · Hell Commandos as Major Carter
- 1969 · The Battle of the Last Panzer as Lofty
- 1969 · A Place In Hell as Major Mac Graves
- 1968 · Hell in Normandy as Capt. Jack Murphy
- 1968 · This Man Can't Die as Martin Benson
- 1968 · Superargo and the Faceless Giants as Prof. Wendland Wond
- 1967 · The Bang-Bang Kid as Bear Bullock
- 1967 · The Devil's Man as Mike Harway
- 1967 · Son of Django as Father Fleming
- 1967 · Payment in Blood as Colonel Thomas Blake
- 1967 · LSD Flesh of Devil as Rex Miller
- 1966 · Five for Revenge as Tex
- 1965 · Legacy of the Incas as Jaguar / Karl Hansen
- 1965 · Adventurer of Tortuga as Alfonso di Montélimar
- 1964 · Kidnapped to Mystery Island as Souyadhana
- 1964 · Gunmen Of The Rio Grande as Wyatt Earp / Laramie
- 1964 · Return of Sandokan as Yanez
- 1964 · Sandokan Fights Back as Yanez
- 1964 · Gentlemen of the Night as Massimo
- 1964 · Old Shatterhand as Capt. Bradley
- 1963 · Blood of the Executioner as Rodrigo Zeno
- 1962 · Women of Devil's Island as Henri Vallière
- 1961 · Sword of the Conqueror as Amalchi
- 1961 · Slave of Rome as Marco Valerio
- 1959 · Jet Over The Atlantic as Brett Murphy
- 1958 · Bullwhip as Steve Daley
- 1957 · The Hard Man as Steve Burden
- 1957 · Not One Shall Die as Stefan Gross
- 1956 · Reprisal! as Frank Madden
- 1956 · Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre as Jericho - Federal Agent
- 1956 · The Beast of Hollow Mountain as Jimmy Ryan
- 1956 · Hilda Crane as Russell Burns
- 1956 · On the Threshold of Space as Capt. Jim Hollenbeck
- 1955 · The Last Frontier as Captain Glenn Riordan
- 1955 · 5 Against the House as Al Mercer
- 1955 · Phantom Trails as Wild Bill Hickok
- 1955 · Timber Country Trouble as Wild Bill Hickok
- 1955 · The Matchmaking Marshal as Wild Bill Hickok
- 1955 · The Tilted Tenderfoot as Wild Bill Hickok
- 1954 · The Two Gun Teacher as Wild Bill Hickok
- 1954 · Trouble on the Trail as Wild Bill Hickok
- 1954 · Marshals in Disguise as Wild Bill Hickok
- 1954 · Outlaw's Son as Wild Bill Hickok
- 1954 · Climax! as
- 1954 · The Command as Capt. Robert MacClaw
- 1953 · Six Gun Decision as Marshal James Butler 'Wild Bill' Hickok
- 1953 · Border City Rustlers as Wild Bill Hickok
- 1953 · Secret of Outlaw Flats as Marshal James Butler 'Wild Bill' Hickok
- 1953 · Two Gun Marshal as Wild Bill Hickok
- 1953 · The Charge at Feather River as Miles Archer
- 1953 · General Electric Theater as Adam Tenney
- 1952 · Trail of the Arrow as Wild Bill Hickok
- 1952 · The Yellow Haired Kid as Wild Bill Hickok
- 1952 · Behind Southern Lines as Wild Bill Hickok
- 1952 · The Ghost of Crossbone Canyon as Marshal James Butler 'Wild Bill' Hickok
- 1952 · The Ford Television Theatre as John Harpurhey
- 1952 · Red Snow as Lt. Phil Johnson
- 1951 · Schlitz Playhouse of Stars as
- 1951 · Drums in the Deep South as Maj. Will Denning
- 1951 · The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok as Wild Bill Hickok
- 1950 · What's My Line? as Self - Mystery Guest
- 1949 · Massacre River as Larry Knight
- 1948 · Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven as Eddie Tayloe
- 1947 · Honeymoon as Corporal Phil Vaughn
- 1946 · Till the End of Time as Cliff W. Harper
- 1944 · Since You Went Away as Sailor Harold E. Smith