American actor
Wright King
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![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f2/Wright_King_in_Suspense_%28Death_Drum%29.jpg/220px-Wright_King_in_Suspense_%28Death_Drum%29.jpg) |
Born
| Wright Thornburgh King
(
1923-01-11
)
January 11, 1923
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Died
| November 25, 2018
(2018-11-25)
(aged 95)
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Occupation
| Actor
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Years active
| 1946?1987
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Spouse
|
June Ellen Roth King
(
m.
1948; died 2008)
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Children
| 3
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Wright Thornburgh King
(January 11, 1923 ? November 25, 2018) was an American stage, film and television actor whose career lasted for over forty years.
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
He is best known for playing Jason Nichols in the
television series
Wanted Dead or Alive
(1958?1961).
Early life and career
[
edit
]
King studied acting at the St Louis School of Theater, from which he graduated in 1941, before enlisting in the
United States Navy
during
World War II
, in which he served in the South Pacific campaign from 1943 to 1945.
[5]
With
Vivien Leigh
in
A Streetcar Named Desire
(1951)
King made his small screen debut in 1949 as Midshipman Bascomb in the television series
Captain Video and His Video Rangers
.
Throughout his career, he worked in both the United States and in the United Kingdom.
[6]
King was cast in numerous
westerns
and is particularly known for his role in the 1951 film adaptation of
Tennessee Williams
'
A Streetcar Named Desire
, starring
Vivien Leigh
(whom his character kisses). Prior to that, he had appeared in the original stage production, a performance which was lauded by drama critic
Harold Hobson
.
[7]
In 1958 King appeared as the Kiowa Kid/Nevada Jones on the TV western
Cheyenne
in the episode "Ghost of the Cimarron."
[
citation needed
]
In 1957 King starred as Joe Digger, a falsely accused horse thief who was hanged but saved, then hanged again after he killed one of his original executioners in the
Gunsmoke
episode "Born to Hang". King also appeared in eleven episodes of the television series
Wanted Dead or Alive
starring
Steve McQueen
, often playing a young
sidekick
named Jason Nichols. He also appeared in S2 E13 "No Trail Back" as Joe Hooker, the brother of a wanted man, who was bitten by a rabid dog. It aired 11/26/1959.
Other noteworthy film credits included roles in
Cast a Long Shadow
(1959),
King Rat
(1965),
Planet of the Apes
(1968),
Finian's Rainbow
(1968) and
Invasion of the Bee Girls
(1973).
In 1974, he played U.S. Senator
Richard B. Russell Jr.
of Georgia in the TV movie
The Missiles of October
, a dramatization of the
Cuban Missile Crisis
of 1962.
[8]
He appeared in the television series
Johnny Jupiter
, was in two episodes of the TV series
The Silent Service
(S01 E10 "The Pampanito" and S01 E20 "The Squailfish"). He appeared with
Richard Boone
in
Have Gun ? Will Travel
in the episodes "Helen of Abajinan" and "A Knight to Remember". He also appeared with James Arness in
Gunsmoke
in the 1959 episode “False Witness” (S5Ep14), the 1961 episode "Colorado Sheriff" (S6E38), the 1964 episode “No Hands” (S9E19) and the 1965 episode "The Bounty Hunter" (S11E7).
Personal life
[
edit
]
King married June Ellen Roth in 1948. The couple had three sons, Wright Jr., Michael, and actor Meegan King.
[9]
He died in
Motion Picture Home in Woodland Hill, California
on November 25, 2018, at the age of 95.
[10]
[11]
Filmography
[
edit
]
Selected television
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
1930 US Federal Census for Wright T. King, retrieved from
Ancestry.com
- ^
1940 US Federal Census for Wright T. King, retrieved from
Ancestry.com
- ^
U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947 for Wright Thornburgh King, retrieved from
Ancestry.com
- ^
"Wright King, Actor in 'A Streetcar Named Desire' and 'The Twilight Zone,' Dies at 95"
.
The Hollywood Reporter
. 3 December 2018
. Retrieved
24 May
2019
.
- ^
"Ex-Mt. Vernonite Wright King in "Streetcar" Cast"
. Mt. Vernon Register News. March 27, 1952. p. 6
. Retrieved
June 4,
2016
.
- ^
"Wright King In Grenada Movie"
. Mt. Vernon Register News. December 7, 1956. p. 8
. Retrieved
June 4,
2016
.
- ^
"Mt. Vernon Actor Is Praised by London Critic"
. Mt. Vernon Register News. December 15, 1949. p. 2
. Retrieved
June 4,
2016
.
- ^
"King of the 'Streetcar'
"
.
The Times-Picayune
. March 22, 2008
. Retrieved
August 3,
2014
.
- ^
"Births"
. Mt. Vernon Register News. November 22, 1949. p. 2
. Retrieved
June 4,
2016
.
- ^
"Find Local Obituaries Online"
.
Dignity Memorial
. Retrieved
24 May
2019
.
- ^
"Wright King, Actor in 'A Streetcar Named Desire' and 'The Twilight Zone,' Dies at 95"
.
The Hollywood Reporter
. 3 December 2018
. Retrieved
24 May
2019
.
External links
[
edit
]
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International
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National
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Other
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