Background
Denning, Richard was born on March 27, 1914 in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Son of Louis Andrew and Anna Marie (Bohrmann) Denninger.
Denning, Richard was born on March 27, 1914 in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Son of Louis Andrew and Anna Marie (Bohrmann) Denninger.
Dee. Master of Arts in Business Administration magna cum laude, Woodbury College, 1934. Actor, Paramount Pictures, Hollywood, California, 1936-1945. Free-lance actor stage, screen, radio and television, from 1945.
Motion pictures include Adam Had Four Sons, 1941, Beyond the Blue Horizon, 1942, An Affair to Remember, Day The World Ended, 1956, Black Scorpion, 1957, Gun That Won the West, 1955, Seven Were Saved, 1946, Crooked Web, 1955, Lady Takes a Flyer, 1958, Desert Hell, 1958, Emergency Squad, Golden Gloves, 1940, Black Beauty, 1946, Twice Told Tales, 1963.
Others; star: television series Mr. and Mistress North, 1952-1954, The Flying Doctor, 1959, Michael Shayne, 1960-1961, Karen, 1965. Featured actor as the governor in: television series Hawaii Five-O, from 1968.
Denning also appeared in the film An Affair to Remember (1957) with Cary Grant and on radio with Lucille Ball, as George and Liz Cooper, in My Favorite Husband (1948–1951), the forerunner of television"s I Love Lucy. He became an actor, best known for his recurring starring roles in various science fiction and horror films of the 1950s. In later life, he had a recurring role as the fictitious governor of Hawaii, Paul Jameson, in the Columbia Broadcasting System television crime drama series, Hawaii Five-O (1968–1980), starring Jack Lord.
He also starred as the title character in the detective series Michael Shayne (1960–1961) and shared title billing with Barbara Britton in the detective series Mr. and Mistress
North (1952–1954). He was later cast as Doctor Greg Graham in the 1959 series, The Flying Doctor. He appeared three times on the American Broadcasting Company religion anthology series Crossroads, as Doctor Ira Langston in "Chinese Checkers" (1955) and as the Reverend George Bolton in "The Bowery Bishop" and as the Reverend Lloyd East. Williams in "The Pure White Orchid" (both 1956).
According to Denning, his military service during World World War II in the United States Navy, effectively disrupted his acting career, and after his discharge from military service it would be another year and a half before Paramount Pictures offered Denning any more acting work. During that time period, Denning and his family lived in a mobile home that he alternately parked at Malibu and Palm Springs.
His period of unemployment ended when he was hired to star on the radio opposite Lucille Ball in My Favorite Husband.
Denning later appeared in several "B" crime drama films before starring in a number of science fiction and horror films. In 1957, he began the first of what would become a steady series of television appearances, usually as a supporting character, though he did star briefly in two television dramas, The Flying Doctor (1959), and Michael Shayne (1960-1961).
Member of executive board Maui council Boy Scouts American, from 1970. Served with United States Naval Reserve, 1942-1945. Member Gamma Sigma Pi, Phi Gamma Kappa.
Member Christian Church (deacon, moderator, lay reader).
Clubs: Maui Country, Newport Sailing, Kamaole Skin Divers.
Married Evelyn F. Ankers, September 6, 1942.