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IMDbPro

Richard Carlson(1912-1977)

  • Actor
  • Director
  • Writer
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Richard Carlson
Trailer for this western meets dinosaur thriller
Play trailer2:39
The Valley of Gwangi (1969)
15 Videos
99+ Photos
The son of an attorney, Richard Carlson had an introspective quality to his performances and looked every inch the academic he first aspired to be. Following his graduation from the University of Minnesota with a Master's Degree in English, the tall, dark-haired youth had a brief stint as a drama teacher at his alma mater. However, deciding on the performing arts instead, he invested his money in buying his own theatre in Minneapolis and featuring himself as the star. By the age of 23, he had gained sufficient acting credentials to perform on Broadway opposite Ethel Barrymore, Jimmy Durante and Ethel Merman. Sidelining as a writer, he enjoyed moderate success publishing a number of short stories, but his play "Western Waters" was a flop on Broadway, closing after just seven performances. Just when it seemed, Richard's fortunes were on the wane, he was offered a contract as actor/writer/director by the producer David O. Selznick.

After being encouraged by leading actress Janet Gaynor to make his screen bow in her motion picture The Young in Heart (1938), Richard moved to California on a permanent basis. During the next few years, he made several films (primarily at RKO), invariably in the part of the diffident juvenile. Many of these were forgettable second features, such as the supernaturally-themed Beyond Tomorrow (1940), or commercial failures, like the nostalgic Anna Neagle musical No, No, Nanette (1940). There was, however, one stellar performance: his newspaperman David Hewitt in William Wyler''s brilliant adaptation of Lillian Hellman's southern melodrama The Little Foxes (1941). This was followed by another decent role in the fruity (but highly enjoyable) melodrama White Cargo (1942), and the lead in a cliched, run-of-the-mill crime picture, Highways by Night (1942). Then World War II intervened and Richard did his tour of duty. When he returned to the screen, it was without the intensity and vigour which had characterised his pre-war performances.

After several years of indifferent acting parts, Richard found renewed energy for his third-billed appearance in MGM's lavish Technicolor remake of King Solomon's Mines (1950). Perhaps surprisingly, this did not lead to further roles in A-grade features. Instead, Richard Carlson found himself the unlikely star of several sci-fi features, which have attained cult status over the passing years. Pick of the bunch was Jack Arnold's seminal It Came from Outer Space (1953) (based on a story by Ray Bradbury), with Richard in the role of a well-meaning, rather arcane astronomer, witness to an alien presence which turns out to be benign. The sincerity of his performance led to similar parts in The Magnetic Monster (1953) (with similar moralistic undertones) and the atmospheric Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954).

Though his original contract with Selznick had stipulated directing as well, Richard did not work behind the camera until 1954. Then, he unwisely accepted charge of a silly pseudo-scientific premise entitled Riders to the Stars (1954), a low-budget enterprise bogged down by verisimilitude and technobabble at the expense of drama. In the course of the next twelve years, he directed some better second features, including the westerns Four Guns to the Border (1954) and Kid Rodelo (1966), as well as a number of television episodes. He also wrote the occasional TV script, as well as contributing articles on non-fiction subjects to several magazines.

During the early fifties -- with America in the grip of McCarthyist paranoia -- Richard gained a wider audience as the star of I Led 3 Lives (1953), playing the role of Herbert A. Philbrick (1915-1993) (on whose book by the same title the series was based), who infiltrated the Communist Party on behalf of the FBI. The show proved popular enough at the time to run for three years and 115 episodes. Richard had yet another recurring part, as stalwart Colonel Ranald Mackenzie, taming the south-western frontier in Mackenzie's Raiders (1958). For the remainder of his acting career, he guested in western and detective series, including The Virginian (1962), Perry Mason (1957), The F.B.I. (1965) and Cannon (1971) . After his retirement in 1975, Richard lived the last two years of his life in Sherman Oaks, California.
BornApril 29, 1912
DiedNovember 25, 1977(65)
BornApril 29, 1912
DiedNovember 25, 1977(65)
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
  • Awards
    • 1 win

Photos221

Cary Grant, Irving Bacon, Richard Carlson, Richard Gaines, George Houston, J. Anthony Hughes, Claude King, Alan Marshal, and Emmett Vogan in The Howards of Virginia (1940)
Richard Carlson in It Came from Outer Space (1953)
Richard Carlson and Charles Drake in It Came from Outer Space (1953)
Richard Carlson in It Came from Outer Space (1953)
Richard Carlson in It Came from Outer Space (1953)
Richard Carlson, Charles Drake, Kathleen Hughes, Virginia Mullen, and Barbara Rush in It Came from Outer Space (1953)
Richard Carlson in It Came from Outer Space (1953)
Richard Carlson, Russell Johnson, and Barbara Rush in It Came from Outer Space (1953)
Richard Carlson and Joe Sawyer in It Came from Outer Space (1953)
Richard Carlson, Russell Johnson, and Barbara Rush in It Came from Outer Space (1953)
Richard Carlson and Barbara Rush in It Came from Outer Space (1953)
Richard Carlson, George Eldredge, and Bradford Jackson in It Came from Outer Space (1953)

Known for:

Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
Creature from the Black Lagoon
6.9
  • Dr. David Reed
  • 1954
Richard Carlson, Charles Drake, Kathleen Hughes, and Barbara Rush in It Came from Outer Space (1953)
It Came from Outer Space
6.5
  • John Putnam
  • 1953
Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard in The Ghost Breakers (1940)
The Ghost Breakers
7.0
  • Geoff Montgomery
  • 1940
Bette Davis, Richard Carlson, and Teresa Wright in The Little Foxes (1941)
The Little Foxes
7.9
  • David Hewitt
  • 1941

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actor

  • Jackie Cooper in Mobile One (1975)
    Mobile One
    • Bill Quinton
    • TV Series
    • 1975
  • Khan! (1975)
    Khan!
    • TV Series
    • 1975
  • Freedom 2000 (1974)
    Freedom 2000
    • (voice)
    • Short
    • 1974
  • Arthur Hill in Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law (1971)
    Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law
    • Al Downes
    • Elliot Cord
    • TV Series
    • 1973
  • Cannon (1971)
    Cannon
    • Mr. Archibald
    • Owen McMahon
    • TV Series
    • 1972–1973
  • Lancer (1968)
    Lancer
    • Judah Abbott
    • TV Series
    • 1969
  • Elvis Presley and Mary Tyler Moore in Change of Habit (1969)
    Change of Habit
    • Bishop Finley
    • 1969
  • The Valley of Gwangi (1969)
    The Valley of Gwangi
    • Champ Connors
    • 1969
  • The F.B.I. (1965)
    The F.B.I.
    • Harold David Dewitt
    • TV Series
    • 1969
  • It Takes a Thief (1968)
    It Takes a Thief
    • Daniel K. Ryder
    • TV Series
    • 1969
  • George Hamilton, Richard Carlson, Arthur O'Connell, and Suzanne Pleshette in The Power (1968)
    The Power
    • N. E. Van Zandt
    • 1968
  • Bonanza (1959)
    Bonanza
    • Arch Hollinbeck
    • TV Series
    • 1968
  • The Doomsday Flight (1966)
    The Doomsday Flight
    • Chief Pilot Bob Shea
    • TV Movie
    • 1966
  • Raymond Burr in Perry Mason (1957)
    Perry Mason
    • Clete Hawley
    • Anthony Fry
    • TV Series
    • 1964–1966
  • Kid Rodelo (1966)
    Kid Rodelo
    • Link
    • 1966

Director

  • Kid Rodelo (1966)
    Kid Rodelo
    • Director
    • 1966
  • The Detectives (1959)
    The Detectives
    • Director
    • TV Series
    • 1961–1962
  • Fred Astaire in Alcoa Premiere (1961)
    Alcoa Premiere
    • Director
    • TV Series
    • 1961
  • Loretta Young in The Loretta Young Show (1953)
    The Loretta Young Show
    • Director
    • TV Series
    • 1960–1961
  • Thriller (1960)
    Thriller
    • Director
    • TV Series
    • 1961
  • This Man Dawson (1959)
    This Man Dawson
    • Director
    • TV Series
    • 1959–1960
  • The Aquanauts (1960)
    The Aquanauts
    • Director
    • TV Series
    • 1960
  • Men Into Space (1959)
    Men Into Space
    • Director
    • TV Series
    • 1959
  • The Man and the Challenge (1959)
    The Man and the Challenge
    • Director
    • TV Series
    • 1959
  • Mackenzie's Raiders (1958)
    Mackenzie's Raiders
    • Director
    • TV Series
    • 1959
  • Rory Calhoun and Beverly Garland in The Saga of Hemp Brown (1958)
    The Saga of Hemp Brown
    • Director
    • 1958
  • Hemo the Magnificent (1957)
    The Unchained Goddess
    • Director
    • TV Movie
    • 1958
  • Joanna Moore and George Nader in Appointment with a Shadow (1957)
    Appointment with a Shadow
    • Director
    • 1957
  • Rory Calhoun, John McIntire, Colleen Miller, George Nader, and Jay Silverheels in Four Guns to the Border (1954)
    Four Guns to the Border
    • Director
    • 1954
  • Herbert Marshall, Dawn Addams, Richard Carlson, Martha Hyer, and William Lundigan in Riders to the Stars (1954)
    Riders to the Stars
    • Director
    • 1954

Writer

  • Mike Connors in Mannix (1967)
    Mannix
    • Writer
    • TV Series
    • 1974
  • Arthur Hill in Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law (1971)
    Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law
    • written by
    • TV Series
    • 1972
  • David Janssen in O'Hara, U.S. Treasury (1971)
    O'Hara, U.S. Treasury
    • writer
    • TV Series
    • 1971–1972
  • Island of the Lost (1967)
    Island of the Lost
    • screenplay
    • story
    • 1967
  • Off to See the Wizard (1967)
    Off to See the Wizard
    • screenplay
    • story by
    • TV Series
    • 1967
  • Daktari (1966)
    Daktari
    • writer
    • TV Series
    • 1966–1967
  • The Man and the Challenge (1959)
    The Man and the Challenge
    • written by
    • TV Series
    • 1959
  • Mackenzie's Raiders (1958)
    Mackenzie's Raiders
    • written by
    • TV Series
    • 1959
  • Richard Eyer, Coleen Gray, and Stephen McNally in Johnny Rocco (1958)
    Johnny Rocco
    • story
    • 1958
  • Kraft Theatre (1947)
    Kraft Theatre
    • story
    • TV Series
    • 1955
  • Hal Baylor, Hans Conried, and Chuck Hicks in Schlitz Playhouse (1951)
    Schlitz Playhouse
    • teleplay
    • TV Series
    • 1952

Videos15

Trailer
Trailer 1:45
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 1:30
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 2:14
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 1:40
Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 2:20
Official Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 2:03
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 1:57
Trailer
Too Many Girls
Trailer 1:23
Too Many Girls
The Helen Morgan Story
Trailer 2:44
The Helen Morgan Story
The Valley of Gwangi
Trailer 2:39
The Valley of Gwangi
The Little Foxes
Trailer 1:24
The Little Foxes
King Solomon's Mines (1950)
Trailer 3:30
King Solomon's Mines (1950)

Personal details

Edit
  • Height
    • 6′ (1.83 m)
  • Born
    • April 29, 1912
    • Albert Lea, Minnesota, USA
  • Died
    • November 25, 1977
    • Encino, California, USA(cerebral hemorrhage)
  • Spouse
    • Mona CarlsonJune 10, 1939 - November 25, 1977 (his death, 2 children)
  • Parents
      Henry Clay Carlson
  • Other works
    Active on Broadway in the following productions:
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Interview
    • 6 Articles

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Mr. Carlson's acting experience was utilized by the U.S. military as he made several service training films. In one of these, produced for the U.S. Army, entitled :"For God and Country" he appeared with Ronald Reagan.
  • Nickname
    • Dick

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