Background

Richard Dutoit Carlson was born on April 29, 1912 in Albert Lea, Minnesota, United States; the youngest of four children born to Henry Clay Carlson, a corporate attorney. When Richard was four his family moved to Minneapolis.

Education

Richard was a bookish youngster who became a high school prodigy, a scholar-athlete who edited the school newspaper, led the drama club, wrote a play later adopted by dozens of other high schools, and even attempted a novel about Africa. He maintained his academic success at the University of Minnesota while writing, acting in, and directing over twenty plays, one of which was an adaptation of Joseph Conrad's Victory. He graduated summa cum laude, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and then earned a master's degree.

Career

Carlson taught briefly in Minnesota's English department but quickly left the position and used a $2, 500 scholarship grant and a loan from his father to establish the Minnesota Repertory Company in St. Paul. When the group failed six months later, Carlson left for California, where he joined the Pasadena Community Playhouse in 1936. He starred in Henry IV and directed Richard II there before deciding to move on to Broadway. In New York City, Carlson visited a college friend, working as the assistant stage manager of Three Men on a Horse, and immediately won a role in that show's road company. According to theater lore, legendary producer George Abbott intervened to give Carlson a role because it amused him to employ an actor with a Phi Beta Kappa key, but in fact a bit player had to be quickly replaced. Whatever the case, Carlson's career benefited and in March 1937 he made his Broadway debut in Now You've Done It. While acting, he wrote a play called Western Waters and found backing to produce it even as he began to appear opposite Ethel Barrymore in The Ghost of Yankee Doodle. He quit that role to direct his own play, but it closed after seven performances. Brooks Atkinson remarked that before Carlson "writes and directs another [play], this column fervently prays that he try and pull himself together. " The crushed playwright appeared in White Oaks early in 1938 but soon decided that the West Coast offered him greater opportunity. In 1938 the "triply talented" Carlson was hired by David Selznick as a writer, but in typical Hollywood fashion he soon had a movie career. Janet Gaynor insisted he appear (in kilts) with her in The Young in Heart; a major role in The Duke of West Point quickly followed. Carlson was unhappy playing the juvenile, friend-of-the-hero roles in which he was typecast and left Hollywood to appear on Broadway with Ethel Merman in Stars in Your Eyes in February 1939. That decision might inadvertently have cost him true movie stardom, for he was unable to accept the lead in Golden Boy, which went to William Holden and launched his long career as a leading man. After 1939, Carlson returned to Hollywood, where he played lightweight romantic leads for years. He was consistently employed, but rarely moved beyond B picture rank.

His early films included Winter Carnival (1939) and The Howards of Virginia (1940), and during 1941 he acted in five more, notably Back Street and The Little Foxes. Late that year he and Mona moved to a home in the San Fernando Valley that he had designed; there they established the first "victory garden" in Hollywood. Carlson's film interests expanded in 1943 when he began to collect movie memorabilia; in time his holdings included Charlie Chaplin's derby, Harold Lloyd's horn-rimmed glasses, and the leopard skin Elmo Lincoln wore as Hollywood's first Tarzan. With the rank of lieutenant, Carlson served in the United States Army from 1943 to 1946, writing and directing war documentaries. Meanwhile, his articles and stories appeared in such varied publications as the Minnesota Quarterly, Good Housekeeping, American Magazine, Women's Home Companion, McCall's, and Reader's Digest. The postwar years saw his film career decline; one harsh critic noted that Carlson had "played the juvenile role for so long he had nothing to give to mature roles. " Carlson thereafter transformed himself into a character actor worthy of featured roles, and often starring ones in B movies. He remarked that he had no desire to be "either a playboy or a star, " but believed film success would allow him to test other areas of creativity. During these years he was extensively involved in the Screen Actor's Guild, serving almost continually on its board or as an officer from 1947 to 1953. In 1950, Carlson was featured in King Solomon's Mines and chronicled the film company's experience in articles on Africa for Collier's and the Saturday Evening Post. Once again he was "hot" as an actor, and he made use of the opportunity to create well-made science fiction features that he variously wrote, directed, or helped produce. The Magnetic Monster and It Came from Outer Space appeared in 1953, with Riders to the Stars and Creature from the Black Lagoon following in 1954. Carlson was among the first Hollywood personalities to recognize the potential of television. His own production company created shows for the Japanese market and a television pilot, Poor Richard's Almanac, that was deemed too intellectual by the networks. He declared that TV was a "gold mine" for actors: he asked and received $2, 000 per show. After many guest appearances on such shows as "Studio One, " "Schlitz Playhouse of the Stars, " and "Climax, " he achieved TV stardom and financial success with "I Led Three Lives, " which ran from 1953 to 1956. This docudrama was based on the true story of Herbert Philbrick, a Boston advertising executive who for nine years did lead three lives: as an average citizen, a member of the Communist party, and a spy for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. With its pro-FBI, anti-Communist sentiment, the show reflected the right-wing paranoia of the McCarthy era. Carlson lectured widely, discussing the show and the Cold War. He used the profits of stardom to finance and direct several sci-fi thrillers. In 1958 and 1959 he starred in and directed many episodes of "Mac-Kenzie's Raiders, " in which he played a cavalry officer pursuing Mexican bandits in the 1870's.

Carlson belonged to the Actors, the Directors, and the Writers guilds and maintained his activity in all three fields during the 1960's. His last movie role was in 1969, but he continued to appear in, write, and direct TV shows such as "Perry Mason, " "The Virginian, " and "Owen Marshall. " He lived quietly with his wife, wrote poetry, traveled extensively, was active in community affairs and served as president of an animal rights organization, Actors and Others for Animals. His active pace in three creative areas sapped his strength, and he died in Encino, California, of a cerebral hemorrhage at age sixty-five.

Achievements

• American actor who was brought to Hollywood by David O. Selznick as a scriptwriter before he went into film acting, playing lead in some 50 pictures. On-screen from 1938, his films include "The Duke of West Point, " "The Little Foxes, " and "King Solomon's Mines. " He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6333 Hollywood Blvd.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Winter Carnival

    (WINTER CARNIVAL stars: Ann Sheridan, Richard Carlson, Hel...)

  • The Magnetic Monster Blu-ray

    (Newly re-mastered in HD! When a young scientist's experim...)

  • It Came from Outer Space
  • The Howards of Virginia
  • King Solomon's Mines

Views

Quotations: He confessed that he enjoyed doing TV because "I love money. The more of it the better. I want prosperity for my family, and television gives it to me. "

Connections

On June 10, 1939, he married Mona Mayfield; the couple had two sons.

Father:

Henry Clay Carlson

Attorney

Wife:

Mona Mayfield