Richard Stapley(1923-2010)
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Richard Stapley, aka Richard Wyler, not only enjoyed great success as
an actor and writer on both sides of the Atlantic, but managed to do it
under two names as well.
A descendant of Sir Richard Stapley, noted in history for signing the
death warrant of King Charles I, Stapley was born in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex,
England on June 20, 1923 and made his first stage appearance at the age
of 15 at Theatre Royal, Brighton. He played juvenile leads at several
regional theaters until an audition for Laurence Olivier led to a
contract to appear in two leading roles at London's famous Old Vic.
With the heightening of World War II, however, he enlisted in the Royal
Air Force and learned to fly solo.
In 1946, he wrote his first novel, I'll Wear It On My Head," which was
published in England, and sailed for America, armed with letters of
introduction to Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne from his friends John
Gielgud and Cathleen Nesbitt.
Through the Lunts, he landed a lead in a Broadway play, "Darling,
Darling, Darling," in which he was spotted by a talent scout and signed to
star in "The Challenge" for the small Eagle Lion studio. MGM bought his
contract and he quickly co-starred with Lana Turner and Gene Kelly in
"The Three Musketeers" and in "Little Women" with June Allyson, Janet
Leigh, Margaret O'Brien and Elizabeth Taylor.
He was menaced by Boris Karloff in the cult classic "The Strange Door,"
and made a dashing action hero in such films as "Charge of the Lancers"
with Paulette Goddard and Jean-Pierre Aumont, "King of the Khyber
Rifles" with Tyrone Power, "The Iron Glove" with Robert Stack, "Jungle
Man-Eaters" with Johnny Weissmuller, "Target Zero" with Charles Bronson
and "D-Day The Sixth of June" with Robert Taylor.
Between movies, he was a frequent guest on TV dramatic shows and
returned to Broadway in two plays, "Second Threshold" at the Morosco
and the Theatre Guild's production of "Jane" with Edna Best and John
Loder.
Stapley also teamed up with composer Dickson Hughes to write a musical
revue, "About Time," and three songs for the film "The Restless Breed,"
starring Anne Bancroft. They were then commissioned by Gloria Swanson
to write a musical version of "Sunset Boulevard," in which she hoped to
make a stage comeback. Production plans fell through, but Swanson did
perform one of the songs, "Those Wonderful People Out There in the
Dark," in a major production number on the Steve Allen TV show.
Disheartened by the whole Swanson incident and ready for a change, he
returned to England, where he was offered the starring role in a new TV
series, "The Man From Interpol," with the new screen name of "Richard
Wyler". The show was a tremendous success throughout the world, but he
also found himself type-cast in that one role. He took two years off
and bought three racing motorbikes and was soon competing with such
champions as Mike Hailwood, Phil Read, Jim Redman and Luigi Tavieri.
He returned to films in "The Barbarians" with Jack Palance and
continued to star in a series of European action films including
"Identity Unknown," "The Rattler Kid," "The Exterminators," "The Bounty
Killer," "Two Pistols and a Coward," "The Girl From Rio" with George
Sanders and Shirley Eaton and the popular spy picture "Dick Smart."
While shooting "Connecting Rooms" with Bette Davis and Michael
Redgrave, he showed the producer, Dimitri de Grunwald, a short story
he'd written that was published in a collection that included stories
by John Lennon and Romain Gary. Grunwald, who'd formed a new production
company with Sir Peter Hall and Robert Bolt (writer of "Dr. Zhivago"
and "Lawrence of Arabia"), optioned the story as their first movie
project.
Since then, Stapley, reverting back to his birth name, combined acting
with his new love of writing and for 10 years was even featured in
three long-running commercials for Imperial Leather soap, which was
chosen as one of the best-ever British TV ads and also shown in
selected U.S. cities.
A chance meeting with Monte Cook at an acting audition led to their
collaborating on the novel "Naked Legacy," which Stapley wrote based on
Cook's life story. Stapley also completed an additional novel,
"Tomorrow Has Been Canceled," as well as his memoirs, "To Slip and Fall
in L.A." A new musical, "Swanson On Sunset," was also written with
former partner Dickson Hughes, based on their adventures while writing
the ill-fated musical version of "Sunset Boulevard." A private demo
recording of the complete score, featuring Swanson in her original role
of "Norma Desmond" was recently released on CD by Stage Door Records.
an actor and writer on both sides of the Atlantic, but managed to do it
under two names as well.
A descendant of Sir Richard Stapley, noted in history for signing the
death warrant of King Charles I, Stapley was born in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex,
England on June 20, 1923 and made his first stage appearance at the age
of 15 at Theatre Royal, Brighton. He played juvenile leads at several
regional theaters until an audition for Laurence Olivier led to a
contract to appear in two leading roles at London's famous Old Vic.
With the heightening of World War II, however, he enlisted in the Royal
Air Force and learned to fly solo.
In 1946, he wrote his first novel, I'll Wear It On My Head," which was
published in England, and sailed for America, armed with letters of
introduction to Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne from his friends John
Gielgud and Cathleen Nesbitt.
Through the Lunts, he landed a lead in a Broadway play, "Darling,
Darling, Darling," in which he was spotted by a talent scout and signed to
star in "The Challenge" for the small Eagle Lion studio. MGM bought his
contract and he quickly co-starred with Lana Turner and Gene Kelly in
"The Three Musketeers" and in "Little Women" with June Allyson, Janet
Leigh, Margaret O'Brien and Elizabeth Taylor.
He was menaced by Boris Karloff in the cult classic "The Strange Door,"
and made a dashing action hero in such films as "Charge of the Lancers"
with Paulette Goddard and Jean-Pierre Aumont, "King of the Khyber
Rifles" with Tyrone Power, "The Iron Glove" with Robert Stack, "Jungle
Man-Eaters" with Johnny Weissmuller, "Target Zero" with Charles Bronson
and "D-Day The Sixth of June" with Robert Taylor.
Between movies, he was a frequent guest on TV dramatic shows and
returned to Broadway in two plays, "Second Threshold" at the Morosco
and the Theatre Guild's production of "Jane" with Edna Best and John
Loder.
Stapley also teamed up with composer Dickson Hughes to write a musical
revue, "About Time," and three songs for the film "The Restless Breed,"
starring Anne Bancroft. They were then commissioned by Gloria Swanson
to write a musical version of "Sunset Boulevard," in which she hoped to
make a stage comeback. Production plans fell through, but Swanson did
perform one of the songs, "Those Wonderful People Out There in the
Dark," in a major production number on the Steve Allen TV show.
Disheartened by the whole Swanson incident and ready for a change, he
returned to England, where he was offered the starring role in a new TV
series, "The Man From Interpol," with the new screen name of "Richard
Wyler". The show was a tremendous success throughout the world, but he
also found himself type-cast in that one role. He took two years off
and bought three racing motorbikes and was soon competing with such
champions as Mike Hailwood, Phil Read, Jim Redman and Luigi Tavieri.
He returned to films in "The Barbarians" with Jack Palance and
continued to star in a series of European action films including
"Identity Unknown," "The Rattler Kid," "The Exterminators," "The Bounty
Killer," "Two Pistols and a Coward," "The Girl From Rio" with George
Sanders and Shirley Eaton and the popular spy picture "Dick Smart."
While shooting "Connecting Rooms" with Bette Davis and Michael
Redgrave, he showed the producer, Dimitri de Grunwald, a short story
he'd written that was published in a collection that included stories
by John Lennon and Romain Gary. Grunwald, who'd formed a new production
company with Sir Peter Hall and Robert Bolt (writer of "Dr. Zhivago"
and "Lawrence of Arabia"), optioned the story as their first movie
project.
Since then, Stapley, reverting back to his birth name, combined acting
with his new love of writing and for 10 years was even featured in
three long-running commercials for Imperial Leather soap, which was
chosen as one of the best-ever British TV ads and also shown in
selected U.S. cities.
A chance meeting with Monte Cook at an acting audition led to their
collaborating on the novel "Naked Legacy," which Stapley wrote based on
Cook's life story. Stapley also completed an additional novel,
"Tomorrow Has Been Canceled," as well as his memoirs, "To Slip and Fall
in L.A." A new musical, "Swanson On Sunset," was also written with
former partner Dickson Hughes, based on their adventures while writing
the ill-fated musical version of "Sunset Boulevard." A private demo
recording of the complete score, featuring Swanson in her original role
of "Norma Desmond" was recently released on CD by Stage Door Records.