Person
Guy Madison
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…
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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)
Filmography
Movies and shows, newest first
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1989
Crossbow: The Movie
Movie Gerrish
-
1988
Red River
Movie Bill Meeker, Rancher
-
1987
Crossbow
TV show
-
1979
When the West Was Fun: A Western Reunion
Movie Self
-
1978
Where's Willie?
Movie Tony Flore
- 1977
-
1976
Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood
Movie Star at Screening
-
1974
The Pacific Connection
Movie The Old Man
-
1974
The Silk Worm
Movie Robert, Smeralda's ex-husband
-
1970
Reverend's Colt
Movie Miller Colt
-
1969
The War Devils
Movie Capt. George Vincent
-
1969
Hell Commandos
Movie Major Carter
-
1969
The Battle of the Last Panzer
Movie Lofty
-
1969
A Place In Hell
Movie Major Mac Graves
-
1968
Hell in Normandy
Movie Capt. Jack Murphy
-
1968
This Man Can't Die
Movie Martin Benson
More credits
-
1968
Superargo and the Faceless Giants
Movie Prof. Wendland Wond
-
1967
Bang Bang Kid
Movie Bear Bullock
-
1967
The Devil's Man
Movie Mike Harway
-
1967
Son of Django
Movie Father Fleming
-
1967
Payment in Blood
Movie Colonel Thomas Blake
-
1967
LSD Flesh of Devil
Movie Rex Miller
-
1966
Five for Revenge
Movie Tex
-
1965
Legacy of the Incas
Movie Jaguar / Karl Hansen
-
1965
Adventurer of Tortuga
Movie Alfonso di Montélimar
-
1964
Kidnapped to Mystery Island
Movie Souyadhana
-
1964
Gunmen Of The Rio Grande
Movie Wyatt Earp / Laramie
-
1964
Return of Sandokan
Movie Yanez
-
1964
Sandokan Fights Back
Movie Yanez
-
1964
Gentlemen of the Night
Movie Massimo
-
1964
Old Shatterhand
Movie Capt. Bradley
-
1963
Blood of the Executioner
Movie Rodrigo Zeno
-
1962
Women of Devil's Island
Movie Henri Vallière
-
1961
Sword of the Conqueror
Movie Amalchi
-
1961
Slave of Rome
Movie Marco Valerio
-
1959
Jet Over The Atlantic
Movie Brett Murphy
-
1958
Bullwhip
Movie Steve Daley
-
1957
The Hard Man
Movie Steve Burden
-
1957
Not One Shall Die
Movie Stefan Gross
-
1956
Reprisal!
Movie Frank Madden
