Background
Archer was born Ralph Bowman in Osceola, Nebraska, the son of Eunice Melba (née Crawford) and Joseph Emmett Bowman.
Archer was born Ralph Bowman in Osceola, Nebraska, the son of Eunice Melba (née Crawford) and Joseph Emmett Bowman.
He attended Hollywood High School and the University of Southern California, where he studied cinematography, expecting work behind the camera.
Archer moved to California at the age of five. When finding work in the field of cinematography proved difficult, Archer drifted into acting, working as a radio announcer and actor, including one year (beginning in 1944) in the starring role of Lamont Cranston in The Shadow. Archer appeared on Broadway in The Odds on Mistress
Oakley (1944), One-man Show (1945), A Place of Our Own (1945), The Day Before Spring (1945-1946), This Time Tomorrow (1947), Strange Bedfellows (1948), and Captain Brassbound"s Conversion (1950-1951).
On December 3, 1999, aged 84, Archer died from lung cancer in Redmond, Washington.
In a radio contest sponsored by Jesse L. Lasky, he won the top prize, an Radio-Keith-Orpheum contract in the name of "John Archer." He appeared in the films: Hello, Frisco, Hello. Guadalcanal Diary; White Heat. Destination Moon; Rock Around the Clock. Ten Thousand Bedrooms. Decision at Sundown; Blue Hawaii. And How to Frame a Figg.
