1922-01-19 Pumpkin Center, California, USA
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)
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Los Angeles Plays Itself | Cliff Harper in Till the End of Time (archive footage) | 2004-07-28 |
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Red River | Bill Meeker, Rancher | 1988-04-10 |
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The Rebels | Lt. Mayo | 1979-05-14 |
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When the West Was Fun: A Western Reunion | Self | 1979-06-05 |
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Where's Willie? | Tony Flore | 1978-04-12 |
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Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood | Star at Screening | 1976-07-26 |
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The Pacific Connection | The Old Man | 1974-11-14 |
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Il baco di seta | Robert, Smeralda's ex-husband | 1974-03-01 |
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Reverendo Colt | Reverend Miller Colt | 1970-12-24 |
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Comando al infierno | Major Carter | 1969-06-07 |
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Un posto all'inferno | Major Mac Graves | 1969-01-10 |
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I diavoli della guerra | Capt. George Vincent | 1969-12-19 |
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La battaglia dell'ultimo panzer | Lofty | 1969-01-23 |
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I lunghi giorni dell'odio | Martin Benson | 1968-04-05 |
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L'invincibile Superman | Prof. Wendland Wond | 1968-01-26 |
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Testa di sbarco per otto implacabili | Capt. Jack Murphy | 1968-08-13 |
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LSD - Inferno per pochi dollari | Rex Miller | 1967-02-02 |
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Il figlio di Django | Father Fleming | 1967-05-26 |
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Devilman Story | Mike Harway | 1967-06-30 |
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Sette winchester per un massacro | Colonel Thomas Blake | 1967-04-14 |
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Bang Bang Kid | Bear Bullock | 1967-11-14 |
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I cinque della vendetta | Tex | 1966-01-01 |
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Das Vermächtnis des Inka | Jaguar / Karl Hansen | 1965-09-08 |
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L'avventuriero della Tortuga | Alfonso di Montélimar | 1965-08-12 |
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Il vendicatore mascherato | Massimo | 1964-05-10 |
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I misteri della giungla nera | Souyadhana | 1964-12-27 |
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Desafío en Río Bravo | Wyatt Earp / Laramie | 1964-11-19 |
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Old Shatterhand | Capt. Bradley | 1964-04-30 |
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Sandokan contro il leopardo di Sarawak | Yanez | 1964-10-18 |
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Sandokan alla riscossa | Yanez | 1964-08-13 |
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Il boia di Venezia | Rodrigo Zeno | 1963-09-19 |
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Le prigioniere dell'isola del diavolo | Henri Vallière | 1962-07-27 |
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La schiava di Roma | Marco Valerio | 1961-02-02 |
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Rosmunda e Alboino | Amalchi | 1961-08-24 |
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Jet Over The Atlantic | Brett Murphy | 1959-11-04 |
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Bullwhip | Steve Daley | 1958-05-25 |
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Not One Shall Die | Stefan Gross | 1957-01-01 |
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The Hard Man | Steve Burden | 1957-12-01 |
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On the Threshold of Space | Capt. Jim Hollenbeck | 1956-03-29 |
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Reprisal! | Frank Madden | 1956-11-02 |
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The Beast of Hollow Mountain | Jimmy Ryan | 1956-08-01 |
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Hilda Crane | Russell Burns | 1956-05-08 |
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Phantom Trails | Wild Bill Hickok | 1955-05-08 |
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Timber Country Trouble | Wild Bill Hickok | 1955-05-08 |
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The Last Frontier | Captain Glenn Riordan | 1955-12-07 |
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5 Against the House | Al Mercer | 1955-06-10 |
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The Matchmaking Marshal | Wild Bill Hickok | 1955-05-08 |
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The Tilted Tenderfoot | Wild Bill Hickok | 1955-05-08 |
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The Two Gun Teacher | Wild Bill Hickok | 1954-12-26 |
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Marshals in Disguise | Wild Bill Hickok | 1954-12-26 |
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The Command | Capt. Robert MacClaw | 1954-02-13 |
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Outlaw's Son | Wild Bill Hickok | 1954-12-26 |
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Trouble on the Trail | Wild Bill Hickok | 1954-12-26 |
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Two Gun Marshal | Wild Bill Hickok | 1953-11-15 |
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Secret of Outlaw Flats | Marshal James Butler 'Wild Bill' Hickok | 1953-11-15 |
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Six Gun Decision | Marshal James Butler 'Wild Bill' Hickok | 1953-11-15 |
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Border City Rustlers | Wild Bill Hickok | 1953-11-15 |
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The Charge at Feather River | Miles Archer | 1953-07-11 |
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Trail of the Arrow | Wild Bill Hickok | 1952-11-02 |
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The Ghost of Crossbone Canyon | Marshal James Butler 'Wild Bill' Hickok | 1952-11-01 |
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Behind Southern Lines | Wild Bill Hickok | 1952-11-02 |
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The Yellow Haired Kid | Wild Bill Hickok | 1952-11-02 |
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Red Snow | Lt. Phil Johnson | 1952-07-07 |
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Drums in the Deep South | Maj. Will Denning | 1951-09-01 |
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Massacre River | Larry Knight | 1949-06-26 |
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Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven | Eddie Tayloe | 1948-07-16 |
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Honeymoon | Corporal Phil Vaughn | 1947-05-17 |
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Till the End of Time | Cliff W. Harper | 1946-07-23 |
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Since You Went Away | Sailor Harold E. Smith | 1944-06-30 |
